Well, you're right, we're definitely off topic now, but you've just de-railed yourself there.

I'm not sure why you're mentioning the 16GB Extreme III Compact Flash cards for $210. Your argument was "RED works with Compact Flash cards," and my counterpoint was that RED works with only some Compact Flash cards, and the Extreme III card that you just referenced sure isn't one of them. Extreme III cards aren't fast enough for RED, which needs a card with a speed of at least 300x, in other words, if we're talking about the SanDisk brand, it needs to be an Extreme IV card since Extreme III won't cut it. So I don't understand why you're pointing to an Extreme III card for $210, since it sure isn't compatible with a RED One and therefore does not support your argument. Jim Jannard himself said "The guaranteed minimum write speed has to be greater than 30+MB per second" and Extreme III doesn't measure up to that. More importantly, Jannard has also pointed out that not all 300x cards work as advertised, so only those that are tested and approved by RED Digital Cinema will be guaranteed to work with RED One.

So let's be very clear here:

$17.5K RED One: 8GB 300x Compact Flash for $200: yields 4 minutes of 4K video at $50 per minute
$8K PMW-EX1: 8GB SxS Express Card for $500: yields 25 minutes of 1080p video at $20 per minute

Still very much an apples-to-oranges comparison (camera costs aren't equal, markets are not the same, native resolutions aren't equal, etc.), but I think it manages to clearly demonstrate that Express Card recording isn't nearly as costly and evil as you're trying to spin it.

Sowing seeds of discontent...
 

I've really wanted to go for the EX1. I've got a Z1 and have custody of an HVX200. Or am I having an affair with the HVX? Whatever. Mixed metaphors can be dangerous - beat until stiff, as they say.

Cut a long story/debate short: if I want to shoot footage that looks like expensive Super16 to the client, but need 4:3 and SD for legacy, and do a lot of run-and-gun as well as chromakey and talking heads, should I (shudder)...

...Consider getting a Brevis or M2 plus a clutch of nice Nikkor primes for the DoF, four 16 GB cards (close to the cost of SxS anyway), a good set of NDs and a really good follow focus system rather than go for the EX1?

As a Sony FanBoy, I feel it's a totally evil plan, but if a 1/2" sensor isn't going to be that noticable from 1/3", are my clients going to care about how many lines of resolution turn up on a chart?

[QUOTE=Matt Daviss;748486
...Consider getting a Brevis or M2 plus a clutch of nice Nikkor primes for the DoF, four 16 GB cards (close to the cost of SxS anyway), a good set of NDs and a really good follow focus system rather than go for the EX1?

As a Sony FanBoy, I feel it's a totally evil plan, but if a 1/2" sensor isn't going to be that noticable from 1/3", are my clients going to care about how many lines of resolution turn up on a chart?[/QUOTE]

I got a feeling I'm gonna go crazy from all the speculation and "what if..." supposing that is going on surrounding this camera, but so many of these issues simply can't be resolved, or even addressed, until working models get into users hands. In the meantime, have a look at the stills that Chris posted here, just today.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=104053

Specifically, check out the two labelled keyboard and organist, if you want to check out DOF issues. If these weren't shot with a DOF adaptor, then none of us have any reason to worry about DOF, which is just one of many film-look attributes. Others I noted were the wakeboarding 720p24 for sharp detail in fast action, and the overly aggressive GradND in the desert shot, clearly visible.

Personally, the specs and feature set, as they are revealed, continue to impress me. I'd like to see a clip of a whip pan settling on a crowd or on a tree, as that will tell me a lot compared to my observations on HDV codec cameras, which don't handle that particular action very well in my experience. If it passes that test, I am on board.