Can Red make a "simple" 2/3" Fixed Scarlet?

[Terry VerHaar]

Let's define soon- that would be by Labor Day. I might go even further- with manufacturing in question, besides some cameras already produced, I don't think we are going to see any units o the selling block this year at all. So for this November ski shoot I am actually placing an order for another EX1 next week plus 3 Nanoflash units. Anyway, after long wait for elusive Scarlet my partners and myself- we simply gave up.
Also since we have some super16 lenses we might look into getting a new Ikonoscop camera at later date. However I want to see some actual footage and see how the post production would work for our set-up.
I know it is difficult to develop a whole new camera, but I am disappointed in the hype crated and a complete lack of delivery. I think companies have to be careful how much hype they create, as this is completely backfiring on RED.

Well, I readily agree with you about the time frame. I very much doubt there will be a Scarlet before September but I thought that was the case even before the software bug was announced. If you have been sitting around without a camera and plan to shoot soon, I can't for the life of me guess why you WOULDN'T buy something else. Maybe I am missing that simple fact in a lot of these frustrated posts by people who say "I've had it... i refuse to wait any more.!" See, I am assuming that 95% of the people on this board are busy shooting with a camera they already own (or are in a situation where they regularly rent). In your case, it sounds like you need a second camera right away. Again, of course you need to buy something else. But why get angry at RED for that. It's simply an unfortunate case of timing. I am going to be shooting 2 or 3 short films and numerous other projects before year end but I am certainly not waiting for my Scarlet to get started.

I don't mean to pick on you, but I have a hard time understanding the tendency to blame RED for not meeting your personal deadlines. It seems like they just can't win - if they keep people posted about plans and progress, everyone gets excited and starts to anticipate all the great things they are going to do with their new tool. But, then RED says "oops, we made an error" or they misjudge something and everyone feels like they've been abused. Let's remember these are all people and I have yet to meet one who is infallible.

Many people accuse RED of "hype." They may not be 100% innocent of that but I assume most of us are adults here and don't have to resort to blaming them for getting us so excited about their products that we are blinded by their enthusiasm and make irresponsible decisions as a result. Where is the personal responsibility here? (Your Honor, Jim made me do it.) No one at RED is lying.

I was a fairly early Oakley watcher and one of Jim's great successes was at bringing his product a very high profile using a combination of a super high quality product, a very high "coolness" factor, and a lot of buzz with honest claims about the high quality materials and optics and some made up terms like "unobtanium" etc. And did I mention modularity was a big theme! He is a certified business genius (a la Steve Jobs, only as far as I can tell, quite a bit nicer!) and, in my book, deserves a lot of respect for what he has done and what he is attempting to do now. (And, without doubt will succeed.) What drives me crazy are the people who think they know better. Maybe I am wrong but I sincerely believe there is not one single individual on this forum who is better suited as a business person, product developer, camera expert, or team leader to accomplish the goals RED has set for themselves. If there is such a person, I hope he/she speaks up (directly to RED - or let me know, I know a recruiter who does work for RED!!). In the mean time, why doesn't everyone keep it constructive and SUPPORT the honest efforts of a company that has already changed many people's lives for the better and, I honestly believe, will do so many more times. Personally, I am counting on it. Thank goodness Jim isn't the kind of guy who hears all this garbage and finally says "F*#k it, I don't need this crap. Let these people use the half-baked camera that the other guys are making. I have an island to tend to. I'm outta here!". At least, I sincerely hope he's not that kind of guy. I want my Scarlet. :thumbup:

 

[Scott Crawley]

Like you Terry, I am supportive, but I also identify with the frustration that is being voiced with increasing frequency. That is the double edged sword that comes with the hype machine. It would be nice if everyone were as patient as you seem to be, but that just isn't the nature of people in my estimation.

In this case it reaches such a pitch for two reasons;

First the gear is very cool and it promises to reach a market that has been terribly under served and even neglected.

Second is the fact that this is a new experience for us. Most of us have absolutely no idea how arduous a task it is to bring complex technologies to market, so we just are not prepared to take the company's justifiably enthusiastic estimates and put them into a realistic context.

Because this market has been so neglected, there are legions of folks (I believe.) who, like me have been aching for cameras just like this long before Red was even a twinkle in Jim's eye. That only feeds the fervor.

Waiting sucks, but it hurts so good. ;-)

 

[Robert Rogoz]

Terry, imagine you have a paying client and you promise this client to deliver video content. In the meantime almost two years pass and the client is still waiting for the video. Would you blame if the client moved on? Even more- it's very likely they would not give you good references if someone asked for such. I think there is a difference between creating a buzz to gain interest in your product and pure hype. I think RED shot themselves in the foot with this one. It's also funny how many pages and pages are written up about the camera that doesn't even exist.
Yes I am busy shooting, I was interested in Scarlet for the next projects, but like many others I had enough. Anyway, enjoy talking about a camera that doesn't exist, I just wanted to voice my user opinion and let RED know they lost the sale for now.
Maybe for the future RED should re-think their marketing strategy.

 

[Kevin Marshall]

Anyway, after long wait for elusive Scarlet my partners and myself- we simply gave up.[...]

[...]I am disappointed in the hype crated and a complete lack of delivery. I think companies have to be careful how much hype they create, as this is completely backfiring on RED.

If you're "waiting" for a camera, you're doing it wrong.

Here's the thing - I think people are going about this all the wrong way. People are used to having a product revealed when it's near completion, maybe teased once before that at a trade show or something. This can be great, because then you know what you're getting, when you're getting it, and everything's pretty concrete. But this also means any user issues generally wait until the next product cycle to be resolved.

RED, instead, revealed their products at inception. This is great for some people, because it allows an open dialog during the development of the product, yielding a better final product.

However, many people aren't used to being so in-the-loop. This can cause targets to be misconstrued as promises. People take it as "this is what we've done" versus "this is what we're trying to do."

If RED operated like many other companies, I don't think EPIC and Scarlet would have even been announced until this summer. Which development method is better is not a simple matter.

 

[Terry VerHaar]

Terry, imagine you have a paying client and you promise this client to deliver video content. In the meantime almost two years pass and the client is still waiting for the video. Would you blame if the client moved on? Even more- it's very likely they would not give you good references if someone asked for such. I think there is a difference between creating a buzz to gain interest in your product and pure hype. I think RED shot themselves in the foot with this one. It's also funny how many pages and pages are written up about the camera that doesn't even exist.
Yes I am busy shooting, I was interested in Scarlet for the next projects, but like many others I had enough. Anyway, enjoy talking about a camera that doesn't exist, I just wanted to voice my user opinion and let RED know they lost the sale for now.
Maybe for the future RED should re-think their marketing strategy.

Sorry, but I respectfully submit that your analogy, and your analysis, is all wrong. If you said to your client "I would like to produce a video about this subject for you, but there are several things that have to happen before I can deliver." Then, you went on to carefully detail the process you have to go through to make this happen. And, you are careful to tell them that there are things beyond your control that could change things - more than once. But, your client is convinced that you can do the very best job with their project and you seem pretty sincere (in fact, you ARE sincere and you have been responsible in your disclosures), so they are, at least for now, going to stick with you.

Now, you work earnestly and diligently to work out the "issues" so you can deliver your project. But, you keep them informed. You even apologize for the delays, and you make sure they understand that if their time frame is constrained by you, they may have to move on because you still can't give them any guarantees. Now, keep in mind, you have promised them a superior product in the end - if they can afford to wait - but you have NEVER guaranteed when that end would come. All you have done is keep them informed as to your progress - the ups, AND the downs.

Would I blame the client for moving on at some point? Absolutely not. But I would think it highly unfair and uncalled for if they demeaned and belittled me, my business acumen, my professionalism and called into question my competence - all in a very public and indignant manner. What I would hope is that they would come to me personally and privately and say, "I think what you are striving to do is terrific and quite worthy, but the timing just isn't going to work for me. Thanks for your efforts and for keeping me informed, but I am moving on. Best of luck." It's just a matter of respect.

And one last note - as to RED's marketing strategy. I go back to my claim that Jim probably has it over every single individual person on this forum when it comes to business and marketing skills. He's done it. Have you achieved the business success that he has? I certainly haven't. "The proof of the pudding is in the tasting" and like it or not, financial success is one huge measure of business success. I think he has a few billion reasons why he shouldn't have to take grief about his business skills from any of us.

 

[Stephen Matthews]

Terry, imagine you have a paying client and you promise this client to deliver video content. In the meantime almost two years pass and the client is still waiting for the video. Would you blame if the client moved on? Even more- it's very likely they would not give you good references if someone asked for such. I think there is a difference between creating a buzz to gain interest in your product and pure hype. I think RED shot themselves in the foot with this one. It's also funny how many pages and pages are written up about the camera that doesn't even exist.
Yes I am busy shooting, I was interested in Scarlet for the next projects, but like many others I had enough. Anyway, enjoy talking about a camera that doesn't exist, I just wanted to voice my user opinion and let RED know they lost the sale for now.
Maybe for the future RED should re-think their marketing strategy.

thing is with that example no one (until now with the epic stage 2) has paid for a scarlet. Red isn't working for you, they don't owe you anything. The other thing is they have made rough dates for when the camera's should come out but never a set delivery date. I always read (probably the first thing) Jim's signature quote and it's all over the web site

"Specifications, prices and delivery dates are subject to change. Count on it.
We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone with a bad attitude."

So I took that as this is not your normal company, and when the product is done they will tell us, and I'm happy they keep having delays it means they are doing it right and not cutting corners like most people in this world. I believe it's what Terry said it is our own fault for letting ourselves get caught up in the hype when if we really thought about this company and what it is trying to do we would all understand where they are coming from and not blame them for announcing a product that we all want so badly badly but can't wait for them to get it right.

yeah it sucks that most likely another winter will go buy and I won't have that great cam for shooting snowboarding, I go to whistler every year to ride, and the past year I said I might be coming with my new red camera (oh how innocent I was) which the year before I drove my housemates nuts talking about all the time. The reality is if they can't get the camera working the way they want it doesn't exist yet, it's not like they are sitting on their thumbs over there. I think we all need to be a little more patient and realistic about this. If not leave this site buy another cam and never look back if you are one of those types of people, because most likely when scarlet and epic drop you'll hear about it.

mah, back to editing

have a good one and play nice.

 

[Marco G. Ferrari]

It's not in the company's nature to make a simple capability camera..Red goes all out..no compromises..
am not sure what it costs to put audio capabilities in the
cameras..probably not much. But...if audio was any significant cost. A video MOS
camera might make sense as an option way down the line.

New to the forum. Its been hard finding any information on the proposed audio capturing component for the Scarlet, and the tech sheet doesn't mention it, unless its #21. Does anyone have any information on this?

 

[Stephen Gentle]

New to the forum. Its been hard finding any information on the proposed audio capturing component for the Scarlet, and the tech sheet doesn't mention it, unless its #21. Does anyone have any information on this?

The camera has two balanced 3.5mm inputs on the front, or you can get one of the IO modules. The Base IO module has Mini-XLR inputs and the Pro IO module has full sized XLR connectors.

 

[Oliver Moereels]

I just hate this attitude. I'm not anti-RED or pro DSLR (or any camera system, for that matter).

I desperately want a Scarlet s35 and fixed.... I know full well how good they will be.

But I am not naive enough to think that another company could not possibly make something just as attractive. Even Jim himself said that sooner or later they will make 4k, raw DSLRs.

Sorry Jim, nothing personal. But I get tired of people saying RED needs to hurry because of competing dslrs. They don't, because they're not competing.
And although Canon, Sony and Panasonic maybe could make a dslr that competes, doesn't mean they will. They sell a lot of video cameras and they are not about to kill their own market. Simple economics.
Maybe Nikon, but they don't have the tech in-house.
And lastly, making such a machine is not easy. Just look at the problems RED needs to overcome and the delays caused by those problems. They would all need to redesign chips, storage, housing... Not going to happen soon. Their answer to RED is 4/3 inch cameras with interchangeble lenses. Which isn't going to compete real well either, but that is a different story.

 

[Oliver Moereels]

Anyway,
to get back on thread:
I don't think RED should make a stripped down Scarlet. Most of the 'extras' will be very usefull, and once you have them you'll wonder how you ever went without. 3k resolution will be handy for stabelizing footage in post. So that means no more expensive stabelizers to rent. And I know I want 3K slowmo footage. As with any technologicly advanced product people think 'I'm not going to use all that'. Untill you play with the features and then you think 'It would be cool if it did that aswell' :lol:
If you want a simple 1080 run and gun camera, there are plenty out there. RED wants to deliver a lot more, so by all means, let them.

 

[Oliver Moereels]

I don't entirely agree. While the two machines don't "compete" technically on the video side, the two companies will be chasing lots of the same dollars in the stills business, and there Red is at a distinct disadvantage.

You have a point there. I still don't look at Scarlet as a stills cam, but that's probably my fault.
But if you see what the video side will be capable of, the stills side should be ok aswell. Autofocus we'll have to see, but taking 120 photos a second can't be bad. Off course serious photographers would like bigger sizes than 3K I guess.
As for accessories, I'm sure there will be plenty made for the REDs or people wil make 'bridges' to use existing gear with new protocols.
But like I said, I still think of it as a videocam first. I don't do much stills though, so that's just me.
But if you want to focus on stills and do a little video, Scarlet isn't your best choice anyway. You can get great stills for less $. The other way around though, it is. You won't get video like that in that pricerange from any other brand. But I'm no fortune-teller either... :smile:

 

[Scott Crawley]

You have a point there. I still don't look at Scarlet as a stills cam, but that's probably my fault.
But if you see what the video side will be capable of, the stills side should be ok aswell. Autofocus we'll have to see, but taking 120 photos a second can't be bad. Off course serious photographers would like bigger sizes than 3K I guess.
As for accessories, I'm sure there will be plenty made for the REDs or people wil make 'bridges' to use existing gear with new protocols.
But like I said, I still think of it as a videocam first. I don't do much stills though, so that's just me.
But if you want to focus on stills and do a little video, Scarlet isn't your best choice anyway. You can get great stills for less $. The other way around though, it is. You won't get video like that in that pricerange from any other brand. But I'm no fortune-teller either... :smile:

Right. The Monstro systems will need to be moving 12 MP at least. By the time they come out, 24 is more likely. That is why I'm so intrigued that Jim is talking smack about line skipping. He isn't known for BS... I think The Nattress has yet to draw the big gun. But a lot of eyes will be on this auto-focus system. It has to kick it.

I think you'll be suprised how useful the stills side of Scarlet will be for household, and even some wedding people. Most candids never print bigger than 4x6.

 

[Oliver Moereels]

N. 21 might fit here...
I just had a peek at the Canon 5d website, where they claim that shooting video is in fact taking 25 stills a second and that capability is shocking. All I see there is 1080 25p.
So by their measurements shooting 120 stills at 3K is the end of the world as we know it. Jim should get in touch with REM...

 

[Steve Wake]

As far as I'm concerned, the simple part should be on the post-processing end. Make color correction and conversion to a standard format that can be edited in FCS (or whatever) quick and easy. The stabilization interface could be as simple as, say Soundsoap. Color correction should be as simple as: shoot a bar-coded color chart, then in post click a button and adjust a couple of sliders. This would be the Scarlet Lite version of RedCine-X. Scarlet Fixed will have xx (or even xxx) times more users than RedOne or Epic. It's worth improving the UI and producing a streamlined version for us less technical, less perfectionist potential users, for whom doing a lot of corrections and other editing in the familiar territory of FCS or whatever will be fine. Possibly other parameters could be tuned just to the Scarlet fixed lens and output characteristics to further streamline and optimize output (look at the extreme stuff the 4/3 system folks do to correct lens distortion, vignetting and noise). Others may want to use Cine-X to the max and all capabilities could still be lurking in the background, or available in the full version if a separate version is required.

More simplification: drop the Scarlet Cinema and focus on the fixed 2/3 and S35. Those miniprimes for the interchangeable Scarlet Cinema look like nice little jewels, but will be low volume and I would imagine low margin items - and they are not even AF. S35 allows people to use a wide range of other glass - which makes a lot more sense for an interchangeable system. S35 is also is much more appropriate for selective focus/limited DOF work since hyper fast lenses are required in the 2/3 format to achieve an equivalent look. Since manufacturing seems to be a problem, streamlining the product line makes the problem that much smaller. This might also help the rental market for S35 Epic (and Scarlet S35 if that comes to pass - and I think it might not for sound business reasons).

Those are my abbreviated, half-baked thoughts this morning. Gotta go.

 

[David Rasberry]

As far as I'm concerned, the simple part should be on the post-processing end. Make color correction and conversion to a standard format that can be edited in FCS (or whatever) quick and easy. The stabilization interface could be as simple as, say Soundsoap. Color correction should be as simple as: shoot a bar-coded color chart, then in post click a button and adjust a couple of sliders. This would be the Scarlet Lite version of RedCine-X. Scarlet Fixed will have xx (or even xxx) times more users than RedOne or Epic. It's worth improving the UI and producing a streamlined version for us less technical, less perfectionist potential users, for whom doing a lot of corrections and other editing in the familiar territory of FCS or whatever will be fine. Possibly other parameters could be tuned just to the Scarlet fixed lens and output characteristics to further streamline and optimize output (look at the extreme stuff the 4/3 system folks do to correct lens distortion, vignetting and noise). Others may want to use Cine-X to the max and all capabilities could still be lurking in the background, or available in the full version if a separate version is required.

More simplification: drop the Scarlet Cinema and focus on the fixed 2/3 and S35. Those miniprimes for the interchangeable Scarlet Cinema look like nice little jewels, but will be low volume and I would imagine low margin items - and they are not even AF. S35 allows people to use a wide range of other glass - which makes a lot more sense for an interchangeable system. S35 is also is much more appropriate for selective focus/limited DOF work since hyper fast lenses are required in the 2/3 format to achieve an equivalent look. Since manufacturing seems to be a problem, streamlining the product line makes the problem that much smaller. This might also help the rental market for S35 Epic (and Scarlet S35 if that comes to pass - and I think it might not for sound business reasons).

Those are my abbreviated, half-baked thoughts this morning. Gotta go.

Sounds like you are not particularly interested in shooting RAW, more like normal HD video.
At least for me, auto focus and auto exposure are not of much interest. I seldom use either. I use auto focus on by Canon camcorder most of the time because the EVF and LCD are not of sufficient quality to critically judge focus reliably. That should be less of an issue with the quality of Red's EVF and LCD's and the focus assist options. I am more interested in the Cinema version than the fixed myself, using a range of 16mm PL mount glass.

The firmware for the fixed version is possibly more complex due to the lens controls. The Cinema version will be pretty similar to Epic's I expect. Simplified encoded RGB video work flow is supposed to be part of the feature set too in some form or other.

 

[Scott Crawley]

With a realistic entry level price for Scarlet falling in the $6k plus range for 2/3" and $10k plus range for S35, I don't think Red is aiming to compete with other than very top of the line still cameras. These are primarily motion cameras.

That certainly seems to make sense, but I just can't see Mr. Jim "Good enough isn't good enough." Jannard getting into stills photography in a half hearted way. The man claims to own almost every camera ever made after all. I think he qualifies as an affectionado.

He has said that these will be true hybrids. That's got to mean fully competitive on both fronts. They have been tight lipped about the stills specs, that's just the smart thing to do, but expect a still camera that creates a completely new class of tool, because that is what you get from Jim.

If you know any consumer who bought a 20D, 5D, or 1D for their personal use, and also bought an early mini DV camera for a couple grand, then chances are you know someone who will spend $4000 for a single device that does both jobs exceptionally well.

 

[Jay Gannon]

As far as I'm concerned, the simple part should be on the post-processing end. Make color correction and conversion to a standard format that can be edited in FCS (or whatever) quick and easy. The stabilization interface could be as simple as, say Soundsoap. Color correction should be as simple as: shoot a bar-coded color chart, then in post click a button and adjust a couple of sliders. This would be the Scarlet Lite version of RedCine-X. Scarlet Fixed will have xx (or even xxx) times more users than RedOne or Epic. It's worth improving the UI and producing a streamlined version for us less technical, less perfectionist potential users, for whom doing a lot of corrections and other editing in the familiar territory of FCS or whatever will be fine. Possibly other parameters could be tuned just to the Scarlet fixed lens and output characteristics to further streamline and optimize output (look at the extreme stuff the 4/3 system folks do to correct lens distortion, vignetting and noise). Others may want to use Cine-X to the max and all capabilities could still be lurking in the background, or available in the full version if a separate version is required.

More simplification: drop the Scarlet Cinema and focus on the fixed 2/3 and S35. Those miniprimes for the interchangeable Scarlet Cinema look like nice little jewels, but will be low volume and I would imagine low margin items - and they are not even AF. S35 allows people to use a wide range of other glass - which makes a lot more sense for an interchangeable system. S35 is also is much more appropriate for selective focus/limited DOF work since hyper fast lenses are required in the 2/3 format to achieve an equivalent look. Since manufacturing seems to be a problem, streamlining the product line makes the problem that much smaller. This might also help the rental market for S35 Epic (and Scarlet S35 if that comes to pass - and I think it might not for sound business reasons).

Those are my abbreviated, half-baked thoughts this morning. Gotta go.

Lotta good ideas in there for 1st time users. Give them the uber simple interface and let us use RedcineX and a full post workflow with full RAW manipulation.
I think there should be a Cinema 2/3" though to compete against the F700/F800 as a EFP camera.

 

[David Rasberry]

That certainly seems to make sense, but I just can't see Mr. Jim "Good enough isn't good enough." Jannard getting into stills photography in a half hearted way. The man claims to own almost every camera ever made after all. I think he qualifies as an affectionado.

He has said that these will be true hybrids. That's got to mean fully competitive on both fronts. They have been tight lipped about the stills specs, that's just the smart thing to do, but expect a still camera that creates a completely new class of tool, because that is what you get from Jim.

If you know any consumer who bought a 20D, 5D, or 1D for their personal use, and also bought an early mini DV camera for a couple grand, then chances are you know someone who will spend $4000 for a single device that does both jobs exceptionally well.

The whole point of the RED DSMC concept is that there is no difference between still images and moving images on a frame for frame basis. Both are full resolution full quality raw images. It is the requirement of shooting full motion speeds with full still resolution, sensitivity, and dynamic range that increases the cost substantially over most still cameras. It is also very different than a DSLR hybrid like the 7D that shoots 18mp raw stills and 2mp highly compressed video.
Still shooters will use much higher shutter speeds than is typical of cinematography, as the aesthetic requirements are different for the final image. For stills you typically want to minimize motion blur, for movies it is a desirable part of the creative aesthetic. But other than these kinds of sytlistic choices what frame rate you are shooting at, whether single frame time lapse or full motion, will have no direct bearing on the final image quality except where you have to crop to lower resolutions to shoot very high frame rates.
Still photographers shooting in genres like fast action sports will pay the extra premium to get the high frame rates. For others it won't be worth the difference in price. For fine art print photographers, they may prefer to spend the money on larger sensors and higher resolution and forgo the high quality motion capture. Ultimately the cameras that do both, say a 645 medium format that can shoot 40mp frames at 24fps, will be quite expensive. No one camera is going to do it all, especially in the prosumer price range.

 

[Steve Wake]

Sounds like you are not particularly interested in shooting RAW, more like normal HD video.
At least for me, auto focus and auto exposure are not of much interest. I seldom use either. I use auto focus on by Canon camcorder most of the time because the EVF and LCD are not of sufficient quality to critically judge focus reliably. That should be less of an issue with the quality of Red's EVF and LCD's and the focus assist options. I am more interested in the Cinema version than the fixed myself, using a range of 16mm PL mount glass.

The firmware for the fixed version is possibly more complex due to the lens controls. The Cinema version will be pretty similar to Epic's I expect. Simplified encoded RGB video work flow is supposed to be part of the feature set too in some form or other.

Actually, RAW is one of the key features of interest to me. But I know my product is going to be 1080p. The question is, where in MY workflow am I going to make the conversion and why. I have a lot of experience with RAW workflow with stills. White balance/exposure/contrast/shadow/highlight corrections are where RAW really shines for me, and these adjustments can be made quickly using a very simple interface. Nice to have the latitude for major corrections or extreme "looks" but I wouldn't normally need that.

I prefer manual focus and exposure too when I have the time, and different cameras have different aids (the set on the HMC150 is pretty awesome for the money - plus a vectorscope!). But for run and gun sometimes I just have to go auto - nice to have the option. And yeah, nothing beats a great lcd/evf for judging focus quickly, except possibly a big FF SLR viewfinder with an f2 or faster lens.

I just wonder how many potential Scarlet Cinema 2/3" users there are who would absolutely not move to S35 if the Cinema 2/3" was not available. I'm not familiar with 16mm glass, but there is a crop factor involved, isn't there? So can you go wide and fast enough to justify the cost? And are the focal lengths and apertures that much different from and/or superior to the Scarlet fixed?

On the stills issue. 5 MP raw with clean, lightly aliased pixels and 12+ EV's of DR can look pretty good. We'll see what Scarlet looks like - eventually. Add HDR and pano stitching and you have a pretty capable still camera. Yes, it has its limits, but fine for web, probably most 8x10 prints, and much larger with stitching.

If the Fixed lens is as good as I hope it is, I may find Scarlet Fixed an acceptable DSMC for my use. The only problem is the price of a Bomb EVF (is it still called that)?