This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Scarlet and EPIC
Although the RED ONE is the focus of this book, the company has announced that more cameras are on the way. These include the prosumer-leaning Scarlet and the high-end EPIC. The Scarlet is aimed at the under-$10,000 market, where prosumer high-definition cameras such as the Panasonic HVX200 and Sony EX1 and EX3 have become very popular. The EPIC is intended as a high-end cinema replacement for the RED ONE, with 5K resolution. Here I take a quick look at each of these cameras with a reminder of RED's unofficial motto, "Everything in life changes... including our camera specs and delivery dates."
The Scarlet (Figure 4.27) takes the RED's modular design concept and runs with it. To put together a Scarlet system, you first start with a brain unit (same concept as the RED's body) with a sensor size ranging from a standard 2/3-inch chip all the way up to full-frame 35mm. The rest of the modules give you battery power, monitoring and EVF, recording media, and I/O options. There's a nice wireless remote control unit as well. RED also plans to offer prime lenses designed for the 2/3-inch chip and for the full-frame 35mm camera. The Scarlet's entry-level price is planned to be about $3,000.
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Figure 4.27 The Scarlet prototype on display.
The EPIC (Figure 4.28) lies at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Scarlet. EPIC's sensor options start at Super 35mm size all the way up to a massive 168 x 56mm "Monstro" sensor, capable of shooting considerably more massive frame sizes than any other motion-picture camera ever released. Prices for the EPIC brain modules are expected to start at about $28,000 (or about 40 percent more than the original RED ONE). RED plans to extend a full-price trade-in credit to RED ONE owners who want to upgrade to the EPIC, which should make the transition easier. Many of the original RED ONE accessories are expected to work with the EPIC as well.
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Figure 4.28 The EPIC prototype on display.
Both the Scarlet and EPIC are intended as part of RED's Digital Stills and Motion Camera (DSMC) concept. Though both are designed primarily as digital motion-picture cameras, RED hopes they will be accepted as digital still cameras as well, because of their very high resolution. This reasoning makes a lot of sense, because the digital still and motion-picture camera worlds have been rapidly converging ever since the release of DSLRs such as the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and the Nikon D90, which offered HD video modes in addition to standard still-photography capabilities.