Is Scarlet my color?

[Luis Filipe Cunha]

Friends, this is my first post.
Be kind with me please; I´m no video pro.

After waiting for a decent video+stills solution from other brands like Nikon (today another big disappointment with D300s), Canon, Panasonic, Sony (nothing yet), etc; everything is crap. Bad ergonomics, bad codec, bad compression, jello, delivery formats instead of editing formats, bad, bad, bad. Crippled cameras.

I´m tired, very tired, after more than a year dreaming of something really good and affordable for film and stills. In my mind this convergence is only natural. I use film, stills, drawings, painting, sound, etc; to express myself and sometimes all this stuff ends as a small movie or series of movies.
I would like to spend 2500 USD/Euro max. but if Scarlet fixed lens is the answer I´ll save a bit more to reach it.

As I said I´m not a video pro; I´m an artist/designer. I make movies without camera, but I need a camera now. I need also a good stills camera like a Nikon D300 or F. Frame format Nikon D700.
I donºt make money with movies. It´s a need and pleasure to express myself.

So, after just long readings on this website I still have some questions. Need your help:

1. If I choose to buy Scarlet fix lens (3750 USD), am I able to shoot out of the box and inject the footage into my Mac? Or do I need some more RED parts?

2. Is it possible to think about this Scarlet camera as a good stills camera like those Nikon examples I´ve pointed?

3. How (and when?) can I buy my Scarlet in Europe?

A word to the RED team: finally I found a company with a vision, with dreams, with a will to change things. Your industrial design is beautyfull. The images produced on films (RED ONE) are amazing too. Expectations are so high, so high...
I wish I can have a tiny part of your adventure in my hands to reach my goal as an artist.

Sorry for this huge post.
Thank you very much, all.
Regards

Luis

 

[Jason Badham]

Hi Luis,

Welcome to REDUser.

To answer your first question, yes - if you purchase the Scarlet Fixed lens camera, you should be able to get it out of the box and start shooting. I haven't been in these forums in a while but the last time I checked that was the goal of the fixed lens Scarlet from day 1. For your Mac, as long as you have a fairly recent (i.e. Intel) Mac, you should be okay as well - I've heard of people editing R3D files in iMovie even, so if that is what you use you'll be okay.

As for your second question, no one can say at the moment. We haven't seen any images from the 2/3 chip Scarlet will be using so it's hard to say how close a still image from Scarlet will be to a Nikon or Canon DSLR. If stills from the RED One are any indicator (and so far the consensus is that Scarlet will outperform the current RED One's imager) then it just might look better than a DSLR image. But again, this cannot be confirmed until the camera or at least the sensor is out and shooting images for us to see.

To answer your third question, I don't know (Sorry not much of an answer). We are still waiting for the non-fixed lens Scarlets here in the states. Jim has confirmed that the estimated shipping dates have been pushed back, but we don't know yet when they will be here.

If you need something now for a paying gig, then it may be best to get something that will get you through now and satisfy your customer, then sell it when the camera comes out - if it's only a hobby, then save your money I'm sure you will be glad you did. Hope this helps.

 

[Luis Filipe Cunha]

Hi Jason,
thanks for welcome me and for your quick reply.

For your words:

1. That´s excellent news. Now I can think that with a fixed amount of money (3750 USD) I can start shooting. As a NLE I use an Intel MacBook Pro 2.33 with a 1TB FW 800 external disk as my scratch disk and a second Eizo monitor CG series (amazing color I must say).
I use, iMovie, F.C. Express and now learning F.C. Pro. And vectorial programs like Illustrator and old Freehand; even Keynote is a help. I publish my video work online but the future could be different so quality is important.
Quality and space are never enough ,-)
I invite you (all fellow redusers) to see my crazyness www.samarcandalab.com

2. I understand. Could you point me some RED ONE stills online, please? Just to get a small flavor of the future.

3. I see. I´ll wait. I´m the artist and customer ,-) I will use my photos and my footage connected to my design work only when I´m able to do a pro job with decent tools. Otherwise I can´t ask for money. Meanwhile I´ll learning and waiting.

It was of great help.
Thanks a lot.
L.

 

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

I'm not sure if a 3K camera is really going to be that great for digital stills, at least compared to something like a Nikon D90. But the S35 5K Scarlet will look fantastic for stills.

 

[Dancsó Péter]

1. Keep in mind, the Fixed Scarlet comes with only an 8GB RED CF card, so you'll be able to record only about 8-10 minutes with it. And editing is a headache (at least on pc, I don't own a mac, so I can't tell that).

 

[Stephen Gentle]

1. Keep in mind, the Fixed Scarlet comes with only an 8GB RED CF card

Source?

And editing is a headache (at least on pc, I don't own a mac, so I can't tell that).

Editing in what? Doesn't CS4 just let you import native REDCODE files? As for Final Cut studio, you should just be able to log and transfer the files and use them natively.

 

[Dominic Jones]

We haven't seen any images from the 2/3 chip Scarlet will be using

Not entirely true!

http://redgrabs.com/izzy/

There was a still up as well, but it seems t have been taken down...

The images from the 2/3" chips are looking good, but I agree that it might be a little low on pixel count to do battle with a dSLR - you're looking at about 5MP, so pretty low by today's standards.

Still, will be very nice if that 5MP will do you, and for video it will almost certainly eat 5DMkII's for breakfast, never mind a D90...

The problem as I see it will stills/motion convergence is that at the moment you've got motion cameras that do stills (Scarlet/Epic), but carry a motion picture price-tag (in relation to dSLR's, that is), vs stills cameras that do motion, and carry all of the problems of bolt-on video acquisition as previously mentioned - high compression, nasty rolling shutter, line skipping to get read/reset speeds up, etc, etc.

So, in summary, the issue is that either the quality isn't there (Canon/Nikon) or the price is vastly higher than a comparable dSLR for stills (Red's offerings). Now, for me, as a pro motion shooter, the cameras are a fantastic price and have a "free" stills option - great. But if I were coming from a stills background, those price-tags would probably terrify me!!

I think it's a little while until we see anything like "true" video/still convergence, by which I mean no matter which your primary field is, you're looking at the same cameras for your workhorse equipment...

Just my 0.02...
Dom.

 

[Luis Filipe Cunha]

Hi all and thanks for the info.

Editing:
No problem with FCP?!
(Intel Mac 2.33)

Stills:
Can somebody please make an ideia about this:
A 12 MP camera (like Nikon D300) deliver a max. RAW with 4288x2848 with 12 or 14 bit.
What kind/size of RAW stills could a Scarlet Fix Lens deliver?

Video Format:
RED Codec is of course the best (Better than those used by Nikon, Canon and Pana).
But Nikon confuses me with their Motion jpeg choice. Isn´t this an old inferior format to use in 2009? Or am I missing something here? Is there anu advantage on using this format? Because I´m certain that less informed people will buy a nice stills camera with movie mode by Nikon with this idiea that the D-movie as they call it is the best choice to use and Nikon is of trust...
Am I wrong?
Please help me on this thought.

Thanks again.
L.

 

[Dominic Jones]

Scarlet fixed lens will presumably offer a full 3K width of 3072 with an aspect ratio of 16:9, making the full resolution around 5MP with dimensions of 3072x1728 - so significantly lower than a D300.

That said, the chip is much smaller too - a fairer comparison would be the S35 Scarlet, which would presumably have a resolution of 14MP at 5120x2880, and a roughly equivalent sensor size.

I believe I'm correct in saying that they will both be 14-bit...

Editing video from either on FCP with a reasonably good Intel-based Mac Pro should be no problem.

HTH,
Dom.

 

[Jerrod Cordell]

If you want a good still camera, I doubt the Fixed Scarlet will be your best option. It'll make amazing video, way better than today's standards. But as a 5mp camera with 2/3" sensor, I don't know how well the pictures would be.

Now the 5K Scarlet, with its S35mm sensor and a 13.8 mp sensor, it'd be your best bet. But it'd be $7000 for just the body, and with accessories and such to make it workable it'd probably be at least another $1000.

If you need a still camera with video capabilities right now, I would suggest the 5D Mark II. Its the best on the market right now and costs a little over $2500, or just rent the 5D whenever you need it (it all depends on how often you use the camera). Then I'd save up for the 5K Scarlet.

 

[Luis Filipe Cunha]

Thanks for your thoughts; I think I´ll consider Scarlet as a "cinema tool" first and a stills camera second.
It was a nice help ,-)

At least I need the quality/features of a D300 for still work. maybe I start now with a D300s to develope my photographic work and later the Scarlet where I can use my Nikon lenses (the interchangable model of course).
Connected to this, an aditional question:
How Nikon DX lenses (crop sensor) will perform on the Scarlet sensor? Any problems like with the Full Frame issues vs crop sensor? Vigneting, etc?

Last:
Any thoughts about the use of Motion-jepg by Nikon?

Thanks a lot.
L.

 

[Dominic Jones]

It depends which Scarlet you are talking about... Breaks down like this for DX lenses:

2/3" - Will cover fine, but you will be cropping the image some, and so loosing even more field of view. For reference a "normal" perspective lens (i.e. the equivalent of 50mm on a full-frame SLR) is about 20mm on the 2/3" format.

S35 - This will be a very closely run thing - the current Red One S35 sensor is almost identical in size to the DX format, but the Scarlet chip will be slightly bigger. However, some of that space is "look-around" space (i.e. outside of the recorded area), so you may still get away with some - if not all - DX format lenses. Only time and real-world tests will tell, unfortunately.

FF35 - This is the same size as a full-frame SLR sensor (hence the FF designation). DX lenses will definitely not cover this format.

Glad to be of help!...
Dom.

 

[Luis Filipe Cunha]

I can only afford the most tiny Scarlet; maybe just only the fix lens version but if I collect some Nikon lenses it would be interesting to use them for video too. But the factor is an issue.