The Red User Forums at reduser.net are abuzz with news that revised details about the Red Scarlet, the “cheaper” next-generation high definition camera from Red Digital Cinema, will be released on Thursday, November 13.

And yes, we seem to be Red fanboys now.  It’s not like anyone else reads this, so what are you complaining about?

Seriously, though, the original specifications were fairly impressive for a “entry level” high quality, high definition camera.  Last month Red announced they’d revised their plans for both the Scarlet, as well as the super-high-end Epic camera, based on “market changes” in the HD camera space.  Many believe that this is in response to the latest Nikon and Canon (and as Trey pointed out in the previous post, Panasonic) still cameras that can shoot HD video with amazing depth of field capability.

We’ll be watching and waiting, and probably commenting on it ourselves when Thursday the 13th rolls around.

Just a quick post here. Mainly in response to the “Scarlet Dreams” post. (Thanks Ryan!)

On the speculative side of things, I wonder if RED’s dslr replacement, the DSMC, is going to be marketed in place of the the old Scarlet design.

In other words, the DSMC would sell at the $3000 or less price-point. I’m thinking probably less in order to better compete with Nikon, Canon, and Panasonic. (Ooh, here’s another from Panny. Hey why not?!)

The DSMC would first-and-foremost be a still camera, but with uberslayer digital cinema functionality. This would be an easier bout than with the Scarlet_ver.1 against the dslrs’-with-video that are emerging.

And then, the new Scarlet_ver.2 could be positioned between Ye Olde Scarlett/DSMC and the Red One. The full-on still imaging capabilities of the DSMC could easily be integrated into Scarlet, Red One, and Epic, but the primary purpose for these cameras would be for digital film.

Starting from the least expensive, the line-up would be DSMC – Scarlet – Red One (Two?) – Epic.

In this hall of camera valhalla I could see how, even if you owned an Epic, you would still want a DSMC or even Scarlet for that matter.

Another random thought, I wonder if the DSMC and the Scarlet could be flipped in this theoretical product line. Interesting…

Anyway, all of this is merely a fast and dirty spec’ing deluge, but I am curious what others think. I’m not looking to lobby a serious discussion of course, just someone to take long walks in the rain wit- er, I mean, uh…

Whew! Got a little sidetracked there. But as I was saying, I’d like to hear from others. Especially those that actually climb down the bottomless pit of the the internet to read the crap we chunk down here. Especially the ones that never ever leave a comment. Hmm… Maybe we’ll even do a survey.

Ryan?

Yes, I’ve still relatively recently purchased my own HV30 camera, and it’s doing a wonderful job with what I’m using it for (I’m actually anxious to start some more demanding productions to really put it through its paces). But lately, my camera aspirations have turned to RED.  Specifically our oft-discussed budget camera from RED, the Scarlet. Read the rest of this entry »