RED S35 or Panasonic AF100

[Tom.Wong]

well the target price range is 6k, a nano flash is about 3 grand, a ki pro is 4 grand ish, plus you would want to invest in some sxs cards. This pushes the camera very close to the price of a full functional scarlet. but added weight and size. It's a really hard toss up, if they could put in intra for an extra 2k, and allow it as an option, ie higher grade camera, than it undercuts the scarlet by half (estimate) and gives a great intra frame 10 bit codec. VERY useful, VERY viable. Huge use for a camera like that. Scarlet will always have the edge cause of RAW, larger sensor size, and modularity. But as far as camera straight out of the box goes, it's going to be very useful. I think both are going to be very successful cameras either way. A true full raster avchd is alright, better than anything the GH1 can put out, and NLE's are adopting it faster for native editing.Camera is supposely 6 months or so away so we'll see. At the moment, AVCHD not a fan, but that's always subject to change. Let's see if Panny can get their mojo back.

[Lawrence Bansbach]

The codec is really not that bad at all and you can always use a nano flash to get a better format.

That adds $3,000, so it does push it closer to the S35 Scarlet.

I'd hope for an upgrade option to AVCIntra, details are not yet finalised and alot of people are asking for Intra.... so you never know.

Panasonic has said that onboard P2 and AVC Intra are out. You could record to an AG-HPG20, but that would cost another $4,200 or so. So for more than $10K you could have a 12.5-MBps (100-Mbps), 10-bit, 4:2:2, 1080p camera system, or, eventually, for a little more a 100-MBps (800-Mbps), 12-bit, RAW, 5K camera (assuming S35 Scarlet's price doesn't increase too much and there is a camera package a la fixed Scarlet).

[wgzn]

i hate to be a debbie downer here. but since neither of these cameras actually exists in a mass production incarnation. seems to me a lot of wasted effort bantering back and forth over what may or may not come to fruition...

[Jim Retar]

Well, Panasonic hit their targets, this WILL ship in December.... that is the very important point here. Especially for those of us with $$$$ burning a hole in our pocket and projects starting in 2011.

[Tom.Wong]

Well I think it's a pretty accepted practice to talk about vaporware, any on set of new technology that can benefit all our careers and even ways of life is worth talking about. The info that can be extracted from the back and forth talk, and educated guess with factual information already released can be invaluable for people looking to save their money for these things.

Plus if you can't geek talk, what can you talk about? jeez... :)

[MichaelHalsell]

that is the very important point here.

Based on Jim's recent optimism, the Epic/Scarlet advisory color has been Elevated to a Yellow status.

I have informed all family members that 2010's Christmas money will be held in escrow until there absolutely is no way the Epic or Scarlet will ship before years end. The cutoff time is around the 1st week of December before reserved funds will be released for holiday usage.

Daddy needs a big Christmas!

[wgzn]

Well I think it's a pretty accepted practice to talk about vaporware

yeah, i guess so. but it seems the tone in a lot of these threads is like an either/or situation. its just hard to get my head around something that i cant get my hands on in the reasonably forseeable future...

ok, ill shut up and mind my own business now : )

[Michael Olsen]

1. In life, one generally pays for what one gets. Scarlet will be a bit more expensive when kitted, but it will be better - at least for my needs.

2. Time may be of the essence. If December rolls around, you have gobs of paying work lined up that could really utilize something like the AF-100 or the Scarlet and the S35 Scarlet isn't out but the AF-100 is...the choice seems simple. Buy the tool you need when you need it. It will work. It may not work as well as a forthcoming product eventually will, but a forthcoming product won't do any work right now.

Edit: The prices above are what I would consider to be "kitted" prices - what I would probably need to spend to get shooting with the camera in a reasonable fashion.

This also doesn't include some of the other neat ideas RED has implemented - touch focus tracking/pulling, timelapse mode, 120fps 3K mode, and whole idea of modularity. It gets to me that I have to purchase a whole new camera when they release the AF-200 even though it will most likely use virtually identical audio, storage, and power components. This, above perhaps everything else, has always made RED a great idea to me.

[Lee Saxon]

RAW vs baked-in. That's the end of the debate for me.

Doesn't matter what codec it is, how high the bitrate is, how much more convenient technophobes find the editing process, baked-in sucks and is a deal-breaker for me.

[Jim Retar]

To make a fair comparison... you have to add in an EVF which runs at around $3200.

The AF-100 - $6000 plus an SD card will get you images = $6050?

S35, LCD, EVF, redmote, battery pack, side CF, plus CF card will get you images = $15000?

Almost 3 times the price.