Scarlet X

As promised, Jim and Red revealed a new incarnation of Scarlet tonight, Scarlet X. Gone (for good it seems) is the fixed-lens, 2/3” sensor configuration. Instead, Scarlet X is basically an Epic, but with innards that didn’t quite pass muster for Epic’s heavy data throughput. The result? A camera that looks like an Epic, feels like an Epic, and shoots like an Epic—but with reduced resolution and frame rate capabilities. Specifically:

• 1–25 fps at 4K
• 30 fps at 4K “quad HD” (presumably 3840x2160?)
• 48 fps at 3K
• 60 fps at 2K
• 120 fps at 1K

Those are windowed resolutions, so they change your lens’s Angle of View as well as your pixel count.

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Here’s how it’s priced. (Al means an aluminum Canon mount, as Epic X was slated to use; Ti means a titanium mount, which Epic M shipped with and now Epic X as well.) And you can order it now—if you can get through over at red.com.

There’s an FAQ post here with many details.

By all indications, Scarlet X does more than Canon’s C300, for less money. But things are rarely that simple.

Update

on 2011-11-04 04:43 by Stu

Engadget, who have been inexplicably covering all this very well (as if these cameras were “gadgets”), has a nice clear shot of the frame-rate/data-rate/resolution matrix.

Update

on 2011-11-04 07:22 by Stu

Even better.

Canon C300 And Mobius

Canon has announced the EOS C300, a Super-35 digital cinema camera—along with a slew of new cinema lenses. Coverage here.

• Two models: One with a Canon EF mount, the other PL
• 8.3 megapixel 2160–3840 Super-35 CMOS sensor (4K resolution) with Digic DV III processor—enough pixels for 4:4:4 RGB
• Canon XF codec (50Mbps 4:2:2 1080p30 MPEG2 MXF), records to two Compact Flash card slots
• Canon “C-Log” gamma
• SDI out
• Presets and menus similar to Canon XF series
• Exposure and focus control are completely manual—no AE or AF
• Sold as a system, including LCD monitor/XLR audio unit, side grip, top handle, battery & charger
• Availability: Jan. 2012
• Street price: approximately $16,000 USD (Canon mount version)

Vincent Laforet shot a film with it called Mobius, and his first blog post about it is up now.

Here’s the film, and the behind the scenes.

I contributed a few key VFX shots to the film and therefore got to live with the footage up close for days. I’ll have more to say later about this camera and Red’s 10-minutes-nigh announcement, but for now just know that the C300’s footage looks terrific. Great dynamic range, low noise, and a nice, clean image.

New Super 35 Camera

Wow, today is a big day! A new Super 35mm camera has been announced.

Litterally.

Update

on 2011-11-03 21:47 by Stu

I love the low frame rate on the product tour video.

Avid Media Composer 6

Darker. Grayer.

Press release here.

Update

on 2011-11-03 17:56 by Stu

The webcast was worthless, but here’s a nice write-up from @comebackshane at Little Frog in High Def.

Live Unicorn Coverage

Today promises to be a big day. At 3pm PST, Canon will make a product announcement at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. And although the slogan above is theirs, presumed to indicate a digital cinema offering of the kind we’ve been begging them to create, it could equally describe the state of the insular community of future-camera fanatics following Canon’s invitation. Jim Jannard of Red responded by declaring an event of his own later that same evening. At 6pm tonight, the details of Red’s long-awaited (and NAB-demoed) Scarlet will be revealed, possibly having been tweaked to better battle Canon’s offering, but not so much as to prevent Red from taking orders.

Then came the speculation. And the expectations. There’s a great summary of the Sturm und Drang over at FreshDV.

The venerable Mike Seymour will be covering both events and live-blogging them at fxguide. That’s where I’ll be watching.

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Update

on 2011-11-03 08:05 by Stu

Oh, and something from Avid too. Reister here for a 1PM EST webby-streamy thing.

Discover what has professional editors talking and find out how to edit like you’ve never been able to before. Join Avid for an exclusive webcast—Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 1 pm ET (10 am PT).

Update

on 2011-11-03 22:13 by Stu

Fxguide is having server issues, but engadget is covering the event and surviving so far. You can also follow @fxguidelive on Twitter for updates.