Scarlet At $10K

[Mark Kenfield]

Originally Posted by Robert Turchick

Red...$14k package without a lens, and a just a single 64gb ssd?
To shoot in the real world it's gonna be $20k but at least it'll do 4k and some higher frame rates at 30p..

I wouldn't say quite $20k, throw in 4-packs of batteries and 64GB SSDs (at which point you'd have about enough kit for a full day's shoot) and it comes to $16,400.

She ain't cheap, but she's a heck of a deal for what you do get.

I just got off the phone with Jeromy from Atomos and apparently they just tested the Samurai HD-SDI recorder with an Epic today and the results are terrific. I'm heading over there in 2 weeks to take a look at it.

If the Samurai can give me high-quality 1080p in Pro Res from the Scarlet, that'll pretty much seal the deal for me (I have serious concerns about the ability of my current Mac Pro editing suite to handle Red Code footage).

It would allow you to do all your recording to much cheaper media, and also make your initial start up costs about $2k cheaper (than the all Red route), which in turn would allow you to stagger the purchase of Red SSDs for recording REDCODE... that's if you can accept miserly 1080p resolution in Pro Res or DNxHD

[Sean Seah]

Specs wise it blows the Canon C300 in some ways. Red pricing sounds good but I wonder what the actual price would be when fully configured.

[Tim Kerigan]

Just my guess (prices off RED's store:

Scarlet Package (Brain, two RedVolts, 1 64gb SSD, 5" LCD and sidegrip: 14,015
4-pack of 64gb SSD's: 3250
4-pack of REDVOLT's: 750
BOMB EVF: 3200 or considering they're probably back-ordered, Zacuto EVF for 950

21,215 (with BOMB EVF) or 18,965 (with Zacuto EVF)

That gives you a roughly an hour of record time at full-res I believe (REDuser's down so going off cached google pages)

Assuming power draw is roughly the same as the Epic your 6 redvolts would get you roughly 180 minutes of run time.

That's probably about as close to bare minimum as you could get, though if you had AB or V-lock batteries already you could just power it that way I suppose. You could also swap out the SSD's for the CF card module though who knows what things would be disabled then.

[Jonathan Shaw]

Looks great, would have been awesome to have had atleast 120 fps at 2k like a Red1,

[Brian Drysdale]

It looks a great spec for someone who wants RAW with a S35 sensor at a lower budget. With a tighter economic situation people do need to be more careful in the their decision making. Although, the timing is very much a reaction to the F3 and the possible impact of what is now the Canon C300. However, it may hit their Epic sales because this camera will meet the needs of those people who don't need higher frame rate and other features of the Epic.

I don't really get this cage idea that they're pushing again.

Hopefully, they'll bring out the 2/3" Scarlet, which will meet the needs of a large number of productions that shoot for HDTV. That broadcast spec isn't going 4k anyway soon and people need cameras that allow them to have an option other than the traditional video cameras.

[Mark David Williams]

Somehow I think Red lost their way The Scarlet was I thought to be for the masses. The dream of getting past crippled cameras, to keep selling customers the same thing with another bell on it on a yearly basis continues as bad as ever. If the Scarlet is a competitor to the F3 it shoots itself in the foot at the same time.

Guess we'll have to wait until NAB and maybe new models for the FS100 and AF100

Maybe it's time for a new way of thinking which is don't buy a camera until you're ready to shoot and sell it straight after. Although hang on isn't that what pro's have been saying for years RENT your camera. Priced up an alexa for rent for a 7 week shoot £40,000 including lenses.

I wonder if there are trainee's who start work at their new camera factory and say something like I have a great idea. And are promptly told we dont make cameras the customers want. We make cameras that make lots of money on a sustainable drip process. Of course that's fair enough really and that's business I guess though in these recession miserable days and everything going up in price thanks to greedy bankers and corrupt governments

It would have been nice if for once something really wonderful and ground breaking had happened like Canon promised

[Henry Coll]

The Scarlet looks like a very nice S35 RAW camera at a very interesting price point. The only question now is how reliable it will be. Let's hope RED has learnt something and "beta status" and firmware issues are a thing of the past. For good.

All RED cameras released at this point have had such issues and have therefore damaged RED reputation, at least among pros. Over here pretty much all REDs have been replaced with ALEXAs for this very same reason.

[Brian Drysdale]

That could depend on how long this camera has been in development, presumably well under wraps and if the bugs have been ironed out during that process. Presumably much of it is derived from the Epic, so you'd assume those aspects of the camera have already been debugged.

[Jeremy Naus]

For what Scarlet is giving it is the best deal available.
Oh, Scarlet is out of my price range (was hoping for whole package deal at max $10'000). But I find it funny when people say "damaged RED reputation, at least among pros".

I just saw Peter Jackson (he is a pro, no?) talking in the Hobbit production videoblog #4 about the RED camera's they are using. I don't think he thinks RED's reputation to be damaged. The whole videoblog is the best advertisement for RED camera's.

How many companies keep listening to their customers and keep updating firmware with new features?

Ah well, I'll have to keep do with my Canon's until I've made enough money for a Scarlet...

[Brian Drysdale]

The Scarlet Canon AI package price is $14k, no doubt you'll still need a few more bits above that.

Film & Digital Times has an article, with comments by people who have shot with the C300.

http://www.fdtimes.com/news/canon/canon-c300/

[Brian Drysdale]

The Scarlet Canon AI package price is $14k, no doubt you'll still need a few more bits above that.

[Mike Marriage]

Very few clients care about the difference between HD and 4K. However, every single one cares if the camera doesn't work. Absolute priority for a work tool is that it is reliable and suitable (i.e. does the job).

How pretty the pictures are is far more dependent on the crew than the camera specs.

I would never blindly order a camera based solely on web announcements. But the cult following that Red has built is more like a religion than a user group of a professional tool. Many seem to make decisions based solely on faith. I can foresee a lot of people spending money that they can't afford to spend on Scarlett because they are not making a rational business decision.

[Glen Vandermolen]

I'm thinking that within a year, we'll start seeing more than a few used Scarlets (with very low hours) on the market. I think some people will eagerly place orders, with no real business plan for using them. A $14-15,000 investment is no small matter, no matter how dedicated you are to a certain company.
Can the orders be cancelled and the deposits returned?

But the Scarlet seems to be a really nice camera, even though I actually like the idea of a $6,000 3K, 2/3" Scarlet a whole lot more. Maybe some day, I will own my own, but I'll wait and see what spills over to the used market. Patience, patience....

[Jeremy Naus]

Anyway, on paper the Scarlet seems a great camera for a good price (on paper it looks far better than the C300). But for me the price is higher than I am willing to spend at the moment.

PS: seems that the $14K package is a ready to shoot package only need a microphone with mini-jack to record sound and for the rest you are good to go.

[Don Miller]

Hasn't Scarlet really become the Red One replacement? From that point of view it's an excellent price cut for what is likely a more robust and modern electronics package.
The upside of the silly early Scarlet announcements from Red is it may have pushed the actual Scarlet price down a few $$.