To the RED development team,
Just a thought comparing many cameras to a cheap Nikon D50 that my sister bought. The D50 can go from "cold" off to fully operational with the click of a switch, which means virtually no bootup time to ready to shoot. I've worked with some DV cameras that they take around 3-5 seconds to be able to "record." For run and gun or ENG work, having a fast bootup time would be really cool.

But then, you guys probably thought of it already....

Digital still cameras like your sister's D50 record instantaneously primarily because they use solid-state memory. Most DV (and for that matter HD) cameras still use tape and it takes time for the tape to spin up to speed. The HVX which uses P2 SD memory cards can record instantaneously (when recording to P2, there's still lag going to miniDV tape).

Given that RED has lower resolution modes (720p, 1080p), it's conceivable that solid-state memory recording is possible at those resolutions. However, given that P2 cards are only available at 8GB right now, it's doubtful (for now) that recording solid-state at 4K resolution will be a practical solution. A lot also depends on the codec capabilities as 4K uncompressed requires a massive amount of space.

Not much has been said about the recording media for RED; I have a feeling that we'll know a lot more on Monday. Meanwhile, on a related note, I'd like to see a built-in pre-record buffer independant of the removeable media that will allow RED to grab a couple of seconds of 4K (extrapolate out to however much 1080p, 720p etc. that would be).