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NAB 2015 - Lies, damn lies and rampant speculation

Trevor Meier

Trevor Meier

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It's that time of year again. With two months to go until NAB 2015 it's time we all put on our nerdy wish-list hats and dream up what it is Red will reveal come April.

I, for one, would be reaaaaaaally excited to see a new, lighter-weight camera body for the Dragon with much lower power requirements. I'd even take a lower-res version of the Dragon just to make it possible

What do you want to see?

Jarred, any hints about what you have up your sleeve?
 
:eek6:
 
more OLPFs, a new REDlink bridge that can be used as a adaptor module instead of a dead end, maybe a high speed "phantom" dragon?
 
Low cost dslr sized camera that records to CF cards. Dragon dynamic range (at least 14 stops) but with much higher native ISO (5000ISO) and cleaner image due to the 12mp sensor. Can shoot 4k up to 120fps. But the best thing is it shoots to CF cards like the Red One used to do so no more high cost ssd's for this camera. Great entry level camera to get people into the RED ecosystem and challenge the lower end market which is being dominated by Sony, Panasonic, and Black Magic Design. This camera would blow away those competitors and offer 4k 10bit 422HQ output via hdmi 2.0 up to 60hz. Would be great to have on any set.

Well, this is my hope ;)
 
I think there are many things people want and certainly no one answer.

A new sensor or body? Maybe. Red seems to be on a 3 year cycle however and Dragon is still very much "happening" and isn't being competed against too badly just yet. However, I do want to see Red continue to push the boundaries and pave the road that others will strive to.

I can see many pros sticking to the general DSMC style body that Epic and Scarlet have utilized through Mysterium-X and now Dragon. Accessory compatibility across several lines of cameras has been very smart and doesn't require a significant investment from the owners side to kit back up. Also, Red cameras get used in a lot of more specialty arenas where this form factor as a "control" has been powerful. In fact this is the one really strong point for maintaining something "similar".

Every time I see this ergonomic thing just freaks me out at this point. Get some rods, slap the battery back there. You have a nice and happily balanced rig. It's being done on productions everyday when they need the camera rigged that way.

A smaller and lighter weight camera? Maybe. But not too much I hope. There are downsides to going too light weight for standard shooting and lens operation. The Carbon Dragon is nice sweet spot really for the brain. Power is what makes the camera heavier at this point.

I know what I'm looking for overall from a digital cinema camera. Dragon is so alarmingly close to that. Like 85% of the way there. I'm invested in Red because I know they are going to top off my tank with the other 15% at some point. Don't know if it's this year, but who knows.

I'm sure Red's got a lot up their sleeves. They've been very quiet in terms of showing off in development gear and they should be at this point of the game in reality.
 
I remember a Jarred Facebook post saying:

"Our Ninja Engineers @ RED just took everything to a whole new level today. One of those epic " we figured it out " moments...."

Something about Low light capabilities may probably come? Or something about the price production has been figured out which will low the price of all Red bodies cameras?

@Phil: I'm surprised to hear from you that "Maybe a new sensor or body will come this year", of course it would be a huge crazy great news but, i have no hope for that as the Dragon sensor is too young for now.. But who knows? Canon and Panasonic are coming this year, why not Red? ...
 
Mendes Nabil said:
I remember a Jarred Facebook post saying:

"Our Ninja Engineers @ RED just took everything to a whole new level today. One of those epic " we figured it out " moments...."

Something about Low light capabilities may probably come? Or something about the price production has been figured out which will low the price of all Red bodies cameras?

@Phil: I'm surprised to hear from you that "Maybe a new sensor or body will come this year", of course it would be a huge crazy great news but, i have no hope for that as the Dragon sensor is too young for now.. But who knows? Canon and Panasonic are coming this year, why not Red? ...
Click to expand...


I totally agree. And based on the past evidence Red seems to float on that 3 year camera cycle. I'm secure and happy with Dragon. We likely have time before a new sensor and/or body drops. And of course it's fun to think there are Red One's out there churning out images. One thing Red has done right is make cameras that last for those that go that route.

Panasonic has dropped already. Varicam 35 exists and that's the competitive move into Red's arena for now. Doesn't do raw on board and is a 422 camera when it comes down to it at the moment. Canon is going to do a refresh of the C series cameras and a eventually a 4K video enabled DSLR (5D Mark IV). Likely August release. It won't have the slow motion capabilities, but I expect it to shoot 4K internally to a lossy codec. It won't be as high resolution as the recently announced 5Ds and 5Ds-R, but it will have better low light performance comparatively. The 1DC just took a rather massive price drop. Panasonic will have the GH5 at some point, which will be another MFT body. But these DSLRs don't exactly compare against a Red outfit when it comes to general production use.


I see something happening right now in relationship to resolution and low light performance. Some desire one of those things over the other and at the moment overall it's difficult for both of those features to go truly hand in hand. As exciting as low light performance is, I know I'll need resolution to deliver to modern UHD and DCI standards as well. Dragon's range of ISO 250-2000 is very nice. If we can stay in that range or maybe creep up another smidge there it would make many happy.

I'm certainly going to be as curious as anybody to see what Red has to offer. I'm invested in the system and I've been happy with my images. Happier than ever actually. So the future only excites me at this point.
 
New upgrade "Slow-Mo" path for Epic X, Scarlet X, S Dragon and Epic Dragon. For example two times more FPS for each? Epic with 4K WS at 300fps would be outstanding :-)
 
Jarred and I think Jim both spoke of light field imaging shortly before Jim went low profile. It may be too early for that talk to bear fruit but it is out there.

I think we can reasonably hope to see Redlink integration advance a step or two, including some new and v.2 accessories.
 
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This isn't Reds deal (or maybe it could be) but I'd like to see new smart cine lenses like Canon EFs on steroids, good mechanics and internal motors with long throw so apps like foolcontrol can really shine. I think the future of FF is doing away with external motors and controllers, and will be controlled though the camera with new smart hardware and applications utilizing a hybrid of auto and manual focus.
 
A Redmote that doesn't have to start docked to connect.
A stills mode that has viable DSLR like battery life.
A new way to get the benefits of the low light olpf and skintone olpf at the same time.
Access to the other two audio channels without a massive module on back.
Low cost low latency wireless long range audio/video/timecode/lens motor transmission in one module.
 
There is only one thing I would really love to have. A Redvolt battery that lasts at least twice as long as the current one and charges to full capacity, not less than 80%. There are so many of us who rely on the side handle for power and the Redvolt battery in its present form is just not a viable solution. Other than that, I really love my Dragon.
 
i just got my redvolts back up to 100% :) 32mins ish each

whack them in the freezer over night x2 worked for me but yes better redvolts would be amazing
 
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