The Red Camera

[MelissaRodwell]

So I'm thinking of buying one of these Scarlet Red Cameras when it comes out. Do you guys have any thoughts on it? Here's a link to their site in case you haven't heard of it. For the price, it seems it's going to give PhaseOne's and 'Blads a run for their money. http://www.red.com/epic_scarlet/

[DanaPennington]

The Red Camera's are phenomenal. They're causing quite a stir in the imaging world. Megan Fox's recent cover shot in Esquire was done with a Red One. The Scarlet seems pretty phenomenal too. Im sure if you end up with one you'll be on the cutting edge for sure!

[MelissaRodwell]

Thanks, Dana. It just seems for the price and the quality, it's a better bet than the PhaseOne. I shot with that recently and wasn't overly impressed. And it's so damn expensive. Think I'll hold out for the Scarlet!

[MorganMoller]

I think this company and the one's it will inevitable spin-off are going to change the game consistently. With the coming of video-ads in magazines, HD movie pictures like the Esquire cover are going to play a significant role towards the future. Nikon, Canon , Hasselblad, PhaseOne, they're all going to have to hang on tight and evolve with it. Adopt or perish will be the moto for the times to come...

[DanaPennington]

I honestly think holding out for the Red might pay dividends in the future. If you look at how multi-media centric the news/journalism industry has become, what's to say that the same cant/wont happen with fashion, and having a system that offers versatility in addition to extreme quality can only help. Ive been using a Leaf on a Mamiya 645 recently and am not overly impressed either.

[Alex]

Personally, I think that chasing the latest technology is a losing game. To be on the bleeding edge means investing A LOT of money on an asset that will depreciate dramatically in just a year or so.
Many Phase One owners who paid 5 figures for their equipment new are lucky to get 1/3 of it's value a couple years later.

To me, it is content is king. Iconic images have been shot with lesser equipment. That money would be more wisely spent on better wardrobe,set, and the like.

I am not saying that the Red is not a great piece of gear, but you have to look at where you are in the game and think to yourself " Is the camera going to take me to the next level? Or is developing my skill? "

Remember that in the real world, no one gives a sh*t what camera it was shot with... the image must be great. Especially in this economy, no one will pay you extra because you have an expensive camera.

If video is the reason you want the RED, the 5D mkII and Panasonic GH-1 are excellent for far less money.

Just my 2 cents

[DonB]

I am very happy with my Nikon D3. I find that the ability to shoot at very high ISO speeds with low noise has really enhanced my ability to use available light on location shoots, and come out with great images.

A comment with regard to camera depreciation: Once you get a camera that will make the images you want, you can be less concerned about obsolescence... unless and until you have personally changed your style so you now need "more" of something... pixels, speed, glass, whatever, and can justify it on a $ basis. What your camera is "worth" is less important than will it do the job you need!

[grahamdunn]

I've worked with the current RED camera quite a bit (it's shooting 4K, so maybe in the neighborhood of 10-12 megapixels, interpreted?). The best Scarlet goes to 6K, which is way less information than a current (or even a year or two old) Phase One back provides.

It's an amazing camera, especially when used with nice cinema lenses, but the post side of things could be difficult at times (shooting stills would probably be much simpler). We also used it to pull stills for print campaigns. While the video quality was unbelievable, especially for the price, as print stills, it was definitely lacking something in my opinion. It's kind of like how 35mm movies can look amazing, but fashion photographers don't shoot a ton of 35mm stills because of the resolution.

There was something in the sharpness that was lacking, sometimes a bit of noise, and definitely unable to compete with a D300 or something similar. The latitude seemed smaller than shooting RAW. The Scarlet might be amazing, but I just don't know how optimized it will be for still shooting in terms of flash sync, sharpness, noise, etc. It seems like renting a digital back might be the way to go. If I had to choose, that's what I'd do.

Also, not to dog on RED too badly because they've created something really amazing, but there are lots of delays and backorders due to excitement over their products. You might be waiting a while. Maybe try renting the current RED and use it for a test?

Hope that helps.
—Graham

[admin]

Graham I have heard mixed things and understand what you are saying as well... But I have also heard the Scarlett is going to have different sensor sizes... I think the highest it goes to is 168 x 56mm... I have no idea what this in megapixels... but would love to find out...

[grahamdunn]

Yeah, I know they're building a whole variety of new chips, so this could totally change things. If so, a mix n' match kit like that would be amazing. It's like Legos!
On the one hand, it's tough to compete with established camera manufacturers and systems. On the other hand, they basically did just that in the motion world, so why not stills?