New Scarlet-X Owner Reality Check

[Erich Ocean]

For people new to the S35 world, here's a reality check on actually using a RED camera to do real stuff, from someone just like you (only years later, and wiser). This individual ended up selling their Red One when the MX upgrade was announced, and after his experience, I don't think the drop in price from $26K for the Red One MX to $10K for the Scarlet-X would have made much of a difference in his conclusion.

Hi George,
That's a good question - one I have been pondering since early in my ownership of the Red (I ordered my camera the DAY I first saw footage from a home user of his daughter trampolining in slow-motion). Many of my issues with being a red owner were brought on by my ignorance, so I have nobody else to blame. But some of my issues are towards Red as a company and others towards the camera itself. I'll share my feelings here, because you asked, but also because making my previous post (contemplating selling) was one of the most uncertain things I have ever done (the opposite of when I first ordered the camera: I WAS 100% CERTAIN)

I had never really used a CINEMA camera before, besides some tests at film school - all my experience was with HDV, minidv and 16mm. I'm primarily a screenwriter but have spent the past 12 years shooting my own stuff, so I am also vicariously a producer, cinematographer and Director (and dolly grip, wardrobe etc.. lol) To me the Red was nothing more than a perfect paintbrush (albeit a really damn expensive one). It was as if I was trying to paint the Sistine Chapel with a sledgehammer and then all of a sudden a paintbrush was handed to me crafted with hairs plucked delicately from the nether-regions of the Swedish bikini team, the shaft formed from the ivory of the Last Unicorn and then dipped in liquidized unobtanium and hardened over the fiery flames of Mordor by Peter Jackson himself (his short film being, in fact, a selling point.) Suffice to say, over night, my paintings went from being obscene finger paintings to - well let's put it this way - the first film I ever shot with my red won second place in the world in YouTube's project direct and I went with it to Sundance... And for that unforgettable, blue-ball of an experience, I have to kindly thank Red. (no but really it was amazing and the camera did put us on top of the competition)

Anyways, the writer in me is getting a little excited so I'll get back to the question at hand. Why would I sell my red and better yet, What would I replace it with?

I am a starving artist and I have no job. I find out that this amazing technicolor dream camera is coming out and for the low price of 17,500 I can own this camera for myself and make the art I have always dreamed of. No processing, no developing - no waiting - no renting - just Art and for the price of a honda. I order the camera. I wait - I think it was a year and a half - and my camera is coming in June. I decide to go to NAB in April and see if there's any accessories I can learn about to get with the camera. Nab costs me 3000 in travel. On the morning I arrive Red releases the stats on their new camera's the Epic and the Red... apparently obsolescence was not so obsolete after-all. The scarlet starting at 3,000 and the epic at 28 or something. So I practically have a heart attack - I mean I've just signed the paper-work on the small mortgage I've taken with the bank (the biggest debt I have ever had in my life) and for 3000 a newer smaller camera with several seemingly better features is about to come out. Red had promised to release some great new things that day. Here I am expecting some great new accessories like a bigger cf card, a new work-flow that didn't involve 10 trillion hours of rendering, a 4k monitor - yet no, red wasn't working on making the red better they were working on making it obsolete. I felt cheated before my camera even arrived. So I stormed over to the Red tent and spoke to several people trying to assure myself I wasn't being stupid - here's a snippit of the convo I had with one rep:

Ben: I'm a little confused - why am I going to wire you like 35,000 I don't have when the scarlet's gonna be almost as good or better for like 1 20th the price?
Red Rep: Scarlet is 3k red is 4k
Ben: I'm a low budget indie guy I think 3k is good enough for me considering Starwars was 1080p
Red Rep: Well Scarlet is 2/3 sensor red is super35
Ben: Battlestar Gallactica was shot on a 2/3 size sensor - certainly if its good enough for Starbuck...
Red Rep: Well - it's only gonna shoot for short amounts of time on cf cards and it probably wont come out for a long time.
Ben: FML!

The quoted text continues on the next post...

 

[Erich Ocean]

Anyway I went with my gut and ordered the camera nevertheless.
Camera arrives - and here are the following surprises that someone, not so well versed in CINE camera's discovered.

1) The basic production package that cost me nearly 2000 had only one handle!!!!!! yes - it's in the picture but whose really paying attention, surely every damn person spending this kind of chedder needs two handles!
2) The redrock shouldermount and follow-focus I ordered for almost 1200 dollars don't work with the red - the follow focus needs 15mm rods (rods who knew) and the shoulder mount buckles under the weight of the camera. Several hundred more in adapters to utilize the follow focus.
3) There is no AC adapter. Sort of like buying a car without a key. You pay for the car and then they say oh and don't forget we need another $200 bucks to turn it on.
4) There was no manual, sorry let me rephrase - the manual was green. “To save the environment” they put it online.... Yet my 17,500 honda came with a leatherbound manual.
5) When I placed the RED on my manfrotto 503 tripod head it seemed to work... for about a week until I stripped all the gears - yes - the camera looked really small on the website, but alas - it is damn heavy - so all
of my support gear was rendered useless - my 503 was trashed, my jib arm was useless as well as my steadicam and my car mount etc... so I spend another 1600 and upgrade to the 526 (manfrotto claims it can handle
the red) my 526 is essentially the cheapest tripod that can hold the red, which it barely does, sort of iike a mini cooper pulling a trailer full of hummers (H1's). Nevertheless $1600 I never wanted or intended on spending.
6) Focus - my sony pd150 which lasted for ten years without a hitch (and came with a monitor, battery and AC ADAPTER) had led me to believe that everything I filmed that wasn't 16mm was easy to shoot. Basically – on the red sensor anything I shot required a camera assistant or ten times more FOCUS. Made my kind of guerilla shooting much more difficult. This isn’t red’s fault – it’s just an aspect of shooting on a big sensor which has made the camera great for some shoots and terrible for others.
7) My camera arrived and recorded the worst audio I had ever heard. I was told at this point – after asking, not ordering – that the audio boards were crap and were going to be replaced. In the order that we ordered the camera – in other words I had to wait for 2339 people to get served before me. And in Other words I just paid 17,000 for a Honda and it arrived with a broken sound system and instead of fixing it for me I had to wait for 2400 other people – then I need to send my camera back across the boarder to be repaired!!! I assure you, I never would have taken the camera if I knew about this problem.
8) CF Reader was essentially required – I had intended on recording to a red drive only – apparently this was necessary – another 500 bucks.
8) Rendering has been a nightmare – my red arrived and the 4000 dollar PowerPC mac I had purchased a year and a half earlier wouldn’t work with red software – cause red requires the intel processor to work – BAM – I spend another 5000 on a desktop and 2400 on a laptop. The early redcine is disgustingly unfinished – course it is, they were busy making other camera’s – but it does something unbelievable – Right on set I can do a one-light color correction with the footage PLAYING!!! Clients are blown away and so am I. But still a day of shooting takes a day to several days to render – eating away at my energy bill and time. Then to make things better some dude releases crimson workflow – a pathetically complicated, ugly and buggy way to offline edit and then render my footage afterwards – costs 300 bucks more – screws up two jobs. So, then red did something that blew my mind – they release the redrocket and redcine – x. The redrocket was a 5000 card promising to render lightning fast and redcine – x a complete upgrade. Well here’s the lowdown – redcine – x no longer grades with the footage playing! Further more, when I tried to re-install the old red-cine which I loved so dearly despite its bugs – the computer didn’t let me – Something, or someone, was keeping me from going back. So basically to get the same performance I would have to shell out another 5000 on a card. I was about to, until and editor friend of mine told me she had one at her office and the results were not impressive (although to be fair I’ve heard from others that it is great – again – it’s like being sold a Honda and then being told afterwards – hey you know how your car takes 200 hours to get you where your old car got you in real-time – pay us 1/3rd of the cost of your vehicle and we’ll give you a little boost that will make it run the way it is supposed to.
9) Proprietary Cords: Worst part of the red. Cords are made by red – cords are crappy and break all the time, as are the battery mounts – you cannot go to the store and buy new cords you must order them from RED and more often than not they are back-ordered. Does this sound conducive to the rigorous world of being on a set? I was forced to replace several cords, bars and handles – just to make the camera run – this cost me another, let’s say $4000 – including a “break-out-box” from element technica – which is basically a 700 plus duty and shipping accessory that allows you to plug in a monitor. So essentially, my Honda came with European plugs and then I had to purchase an adapted (after literally breaking 9 35 dollar monitor adapter cords that had to be purchased through red)
10) The iso was crap on the camera – virtually useless without lights – my sony pd150 could shoot in darker rooms.

Finally, Red offers an upgrade program – cause they are fulfilling their promise to keep obsolesce obsolete. I can basically pay 10,500 dollars more (plus duty and shipping and tax etc…) to get the epic. I think, great – I have to spend another 11,000 that I don’t have. I have to cause half of my rentals are being lost to mx-sensors and freaking Mark 2’s. So I figure screw it, I’m already hooked, I’ll do the upgrade. Then, my red drive starts acting wonky. I go online to see if there is any info on the problem I’m having – low and behold the reddrive has been discontinued. Conveniently replaced by ssd’s that require a new port on the camera and a reader for the computer – I priced the readers and two cards to cost about 6 grand…

So. If I upgrade to Epic I spend the following: 11,000 plus duty and shipping for the upgrade. 5-7 grand for the ssd’s and then, I should hazard a guess – another 4-10 grand for basic accessories and adapters just to make the camera work: Cheeseplates, cords, monitors, handles, rods, rod adapters etc.. so that would be in
A best case scenario another 20,000 and a worst case – 28,000 +

Let’s not forget my original loan for 35,000 ended up being about 60 with all the new tripod’s and computers and breakout boxes. (plus interest) So with another 20-28 (we’ll say 24) I’ve now spent 84,000. Let’s go back three years:

I’m unemployed. I’m a starving artists. A magical paintbrush is dangled in front of me – for the low price of 84,000 I can have it… This is my point. What started as a Honda has become a Porsche. In fact I saw an Astin Martin, slightly used last week for 50 g’s. So check this out.

Ben + Epic = 84,000 debt and basically the best camera in the world so all of my art is pretty.

Ben sells Red and buys Astin Martin = Ben is knee deep in tail until the car dies – In debt yes, but the tail makes it worthwhile.

Ben sells red buys Astin Martin for 50 and a sony super35mm camera for 5 grand. The camera works on his tripod – has a viewfinder AND a monitor built on – no proprietary parts. Accessories available locally – takes all his Nikon lenses with a cheap adapter. NO RENDERING. NO BS. Ben rents his package for 300-500 a day (same as he got for the red). Ben does not have the best camera in the world – but a damn awesome one – yet still gets the tail cause he purchased the Astin(This is metaphorical tail – just incase my wonderful girlfriend reads this lol).

Summary.
If you are very rich and money doesn’t matter but 2 epics and shoot a movie in 3d. If you are like most indie guys – The Epic is by far the best – but let me ask you something, considering that 99.98 percent of what we shoot ends up online or on dvd and not in the theatre? Do we really need 4k? and furthermore – if for the price of the stupid RED ROCKET I can purchase an entire camera package from sony that has a bigger sensor than Battlestar Gallactica had and the same resolution as Jar Jar Binks than why wouldn’t I sell my camera?

Red had me with the upgrade – they lost me with the SSD’s – The SSD’s reminded me that there is always a catch ordering something that I can’t play with or purchase locally… My indieslider claimed it could hold a ton – it flexes under my red $700 down the toilet. I think I’ll sell my red – get out of debt – purchase a sony for fun and then 5 years from now when the scarlet comes out – I’ll buy the cheapest one. Or, if the recent trends (sony, Panasonic 4/3’s, canon mark 2 etc) keep getting better, I’ll just stick with them… Oh and finally, let’s not forget that red must be doing something with all the Red One’s that are being upgraded – Can anyone say BATTLE TESTED – they’re gonna sell red ones for 5-9 grand on the website – Maybe if it’s not too outdated by then I’ll buy one.

Well, I hope that answered your question, it took me nearly 2 hours to write lol.
Cheers.
Let me know what you think?

Plan accordingly: the price for a Red Rocket has gone up from 1/3 the brain to 1/2 the brain. Simply put, outfitting Cine S35 cameras in the real world is not cheap, so be prepared – you need a lot more $$$ than you think you do!

 

[Benoît-Joan Clariana-Roig]

Scarlet-X is a cam for cinema sets with a dedicated team & a solid budget. You can't expect using a Scarlet-X somewhere else.

 

[Paul Cook]

One of he best posts I've read. I love red but this could have easily been me with the scarlet. $10k seemed like a steal until reality set in. I had $13k in the budget, I didn't have $16k....certainly not $20k or more. People need to really think before hitting BUY but that's so true for most anything in life. One day EPIC will be mine...until then my art will have to slum it...but that's an art in itself isn't it?

 

[hans de vries]

main lesson here: don't start buying expensive equipment before you know exactly what you are doing; especially if you are a "starving artist."

 

[Sergio Perez]

One thing one has to remember is that the Scarlet is a second generation Red Product. The Red One was Red's first camera. Those that bought it went through the whole development process of the camera- its also why Red One owners are so cherished and have such a good deal in the Epic and MX upgrades. Bt being the pioneers of 4K, the first red owners also had to go through the rough road with Red. It was part of the astonishing deal of, in 2006/7 being on the cutting edge, shooting 4K raw and being ahead of the competition. Many companies were built around the Red One, and by being Red Owners, many former users of HDV and prosumer level gear independent producers "went up the ladder". I know some of them.

Now we are in 2011. Computer power is MUCH, MUCH more effective for 4K than it was back in 2006/7. Editors completely support native Red workflow, and Red has built software that truly makes working with Red files less and less requiring the Red Rocket card. With Redcine pro X you can work like you do, for example, with Magic bullet Looks, and export a prores or whatever flavor you want for your edit. You can keep your 4K masters for an ONLINE edit later.

The Red One was a big, bulky camera. The Scarlet is more user friendly. With so many rail manufacturers out there, you can easily get rails and a configuration for the Epic/Scarlet. Yes, SSD's are more expensive than CF cards, but they also store more GB's. buy 2 or 3 64GB's and you can hot swap them- not much different in price to my HVX and P2's back in 2005, when I bought it.

Is it more expensive to own and operate compared to, say, the F3 with its SXS in 4:2:0? Yes. Does it produce picture quality on par with the likes of Contagion, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc on a F3 like budget? Absolutely. And with recorders like the pix, the samurai, etc, you can get similar workflow to the "honda's" the quoted starving artist was using. So, I think the reality check should also go to those doubting this is a stellar deal: this is truly revolutionary for the price point. Its going to truly change the landscape.

 

[Emanuel A.]

Scarlet-X is a cam for cinema sets with a dedicated team & a solid budget. You can't expect using a Scarlet-X somewhere else.

Sure we can.

This will be the 3rd time, at least, I'll post it. How many times I will again? LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98lueg1ZItI
(choose the highest 1080p HD version available please)

Not exactly a trailer, the editor was too much enthusiastic when wrote that
This is the 1st part of a major project, shot on Canon 5D Mark II until last month in NZ, looking for (FF!) 35mm DOF on budget as much as possible. Miles away to only be a choice of mine.

Original score.

E

 

[Mark Phelan]

One thing one has to remember is that the Scarlet is a second generation Red Product. The Red One was Red's first camera. Those that bought it went through the whole development process of the camera- its also why Red One owners are so cherished and have such a good deal in the Epic and MX upgrades. Bt being the pioneers of 4K, the first red owners also had to go through the rough road with Red. It was part of the astonishing deal of, in 2006/7 being on the cutting edge, shooting 4K raw and being ahead of the competition. Many companies were built around the Red One, and by being Red Owners, many former users of HDV and prosumer level gear independent producers "went up the ladder". I know some of them.

Now we are in 2011. Computer power is MUCH, MUCH more effective for 4K than it was back in 2006/7. Editors completely support native Red workflow, and Red has built software that truly makes working with Red files less and less requiring the Red Rocket card. With Redcine pro X you can work like you do, for example, with Magic bullet Looks, and export a prores or whatever flavor you want for your edit. You can keep your 4K masters for an ONLINE edit later.

The Red One was a big, bulky camera. The Scarlet is more user friendly. With so many rail manufacturers out there, you can easily get rails and a configuration for the Epic/Scarlet. Yes, SSD's are more expensive than CF cards, but they also store more GB's. buy 2 or 3 64GB's and you can hot swap them- not much different in price to my HVX and P2's back in 2005, when I bought it.

Is it more expensive to own and operate compared to, say, the F3 with its SXS in 4:2:0? Yes. Does it produce picture quality on par with the likes of Contagion, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc on a F3 like budget? Absolutely. And with recorders like the pix, the samurai, etc, you can get similar workflow to the "honda's" the quoted starving artist was using. So, I think the reality check should also go to those doubting this is a stellar deal: this is truly revolutionary for the price point. Its going to truly change the landscape.

Agreed 100%. In 2007 I took a HUGE leap of faith for someone who was having to make a career shift. Along with the economy and other events, it has been a rough road. But the trip has been everything I had hoped. Coming from the corporate world, it was a big gamble for someone like me. But I saw what the future of the direction Jim was wanting to take the company and I was all in. Did not want to see another opportunity pass by to miss being on the ground floor of a sea change. I saw the possibilities of using the camera for still work, way before the Epic or Scarlet was discussed or debuted. To me, it wasn't just a cinema camera, it was the new direction for corporate stills and print work. There would be a blurring of the lines. And this continues.

This company and its products are just now coming into their own. RED is proving to be THE force in the industry and its decisions are affecting everyone. There is a point where you either have to fish or cut bait, so daylight is wasting with the griping, move on and do something by either buying the RED equipment you feel will work or buy something else. But whining and getting your "pound of flesh" about companies and any perceived personal slights is worthless and not helping you one iota.

 

[J Davis]

budget shooters should edit with premiere and pay someone with a rocket to debayer after its cut

 

[Emanuel A.]

Its going to truly change the landscape.

Yes, Sérgio. But you'd rather choose 5K for shooting a landscape than true 3.2k resolution (Scarlet-X 4K mode)

 

[Sergio Perez]

Yes, Sérgio. But you'd rather choose 5K for shooting a landscape than true 3.2k resolution

Sure, but that's 20 000 USD more. I'd ratter shoot 3.2K resolution landscape than 1080p landscape! (However, I'd really like at least 50fps real 2.2K resolution for slow-motion and also 120fps "a bit bellow real 1080p" also for slow-motion, too )

 

[Benoît-Joan Clariana-Roig]

Sure we can.

This will be the 3rd time, at least, I'll post it. How many times I will again? LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98lueg1ZItI
(choose the highest 1080p HD version available please)

Not exactly a trailer, the editor was too much enthusiastic when wrote that
This is the 1st part of a major project, shot on Canon 5D Mark II until last month in NZ, looking for (FF!) 35mm DOF on budget as much as possible. Miles away to only be a choice of mine.

Original score.

E

It's a movie (mostly with static actors & POV) and not a run'n'gun news report, convention, corporate, wedding or personal video. It's easy to control frame/focus when every shot is planned, with rehearsals.

You can't do that IRL with a 5D or a Scarlet-X. Both require a controlled environment.

 

[David Rasberry]

A modest current gen I7 workstation that can handle AVCHD well can handle R3D editing just fine. Unless you are constrained by fast turn fast delivery projects a Red Rocket isn't necessary.

I have been playing with Red work flow on a 3 year old core2 duo laptop and that is workable too. Final rendering to release format is the only thing that takes a bit of time and for short projects like commercials or industrials it is not a serious constraint. I have rendered 4k clips to 16 bit tiffs at about 2 secs/frame and edited these real time in Lightworks Beta. Total software cost: 0

In a recent build and test article in Max PC, a $667 I3 dual core game machine with 4GB ram and a $150 video card rendered Vegas Pro footage and Photoshop sequences at 1/2 the speed of their current reference $5000+ six core high end system. Half the performance for 1/8th the price.

This is not 2007. The camera may be second generation hardware, but it is multiple generations of software ahead. CS5.5 and a modest workstation with lots of storage gives you end to end real time editing capability with the limitation of less than real time rendering to final output formats.

 

[Gary Paul Walker]

I am in the low-no budget catchment, and I am aspiring to do a whole lot more.
From very early on I knew that I was at a huge disadvantage in economic background, geographical location etc, to ever be in a position to take on huge projects, particularly for cinematic releases.
So I took a page out of a Hollywood cliche, but instead of being an actor/waiter, I became a filmmaker/IT Consultant. I've saved hard, made difficult spending choices, kept my overheads low and took stock in the advice of others - particularly here on reduser.com

Having said that, I'm a grown up. My money, my choice. Not for the first time have I read a 'Scarlet X Buyer Beware' post, like the people on this forum are not already making (in some cases) tough decisions about money, packages and investments in projects. I appreciate the personal account of an owners experience, and in some ways, what I take from this is - a camera is a camera, not a production or rental package. Or more bluntly, s**t happens. But then, I found this out years ago when dealing with JVC over a simple matter of them bricking my HD111 when they were doing a firmware update.

In the same way I've read criticism at some who were applauding the merits of the Scarlet X even before a single frame has been seen, I think we should similarly be critical of projecting potential problems on a system that has yet to show the same issues of manufacture or workflow seen in the original anecdote. I would, for example suggest the issues caused with the weight of the camera would not be reflected in either the Scarlet or the Epic - so all the ensuing problems associated with this *may* no longer be valid.

Processing the RAW footage has always been a question from new and existing users. Fortunately there's enough test files about for people to test their own capabilities and make decision accordingly.

Like I said, I appreciate and respect what the OP was trying to get across, but the thread title of 'Scarlet-X Owner Reality Check', when all of the post relates to the RedONE and the upgrade path(s) to Epic are perhaps a little disrespectful to the intelligence of prospective owners, capable of assessing their own finances, needs, and projections for the future.

 

[Sergio Perez]

It's a movie (mostly with static actors & POV) and not a run'n'gun news report, convention, corporate, wedding or personal video. It's easy to control frame/focus when every shot is planned, with rehearsals.

You can't do that IRL with a 5D or a Scarlet-X. Both require a controlled environment.

Well, its Red Digital CINEMA, isn't it? Not Red Digital ENG, or Red Digital EVENTS and CONVENTIONS....

 

[Benoît-Joan Clariana-Roig]

Well, its Red Digital CINEMA, isn't it? Not Red Digital ENG, or Red Digital EVENTS and CONVENTIONS....

I'm sure that all the other companies will be pleased to get our money for these.

 

[Jeff Brown]

Like the OP I bought my Red One (serial 708) early on - February 2008 with a total saving of £15,000. It was not an easy decision to make. I too had had a HXV200 and my work had been primarily Corporate/Industrial and personal short film projects etc. I also owned a Power PC tower and not much more in the way or support gear/lenses etc as I always rented.

I went through all of the pains listed.

I now have a company that owns/houses 10 Reds, 6 Epics (and 6 more coming) and 2 ordered Scarlets. We have lenses / accessories and multiple DIT location vehicles (which we use on Red/Alexa/Canon/Photron etc etc shoots). None of this has been financed - all bought cash.

My first Red One (Ruby) has made in excess of £200,000 by rough calculation and is still going strong. It was one of the cameras along with others of mine that shot the UK section of The Social Network (on which I worked for that part).

Red are a camera company. They are not an investment company.

You make your own luck.

The OP's mileage obviously varied.

 

[David Rasberry]

It's a movie (mostly with static actors & POV) and not a run'n'gun news report, convention, corporate, wedding or personal video. It's easy to control frame/focus when every shot is planned, with rehearsals.

You can't do that IRL with a 5D or a Scarlet-X. Both require a controlled environment.

I disagree with this regarding Scarlet at least. With a total available 18 stops of DR Scarlet is more capable of dealing with uncontrolled shooting conditions than any other camera I know near its price. Stick a Canon short zoom with OIS and electronic controls on Scarlet and it will work just fine in most any situation for an unsupported solo shooter assuming some reasonable level of skill as an operator. IMO shooting Redcode raw is actually easier than shooting most video cameras if one is trying to get the highest quality images.

It is a camera for cinematographers and photographers who are skilled enough to make use of its capabilities, not necessarily the best choice if you expect the camera to do all the thinking for you while you concentrate on other things.

 

[Benoît-Joan Clariana-Roig]

I disagree with this regarding Scarlet at least. With a total available 18 stops of DR Scarlet is more capable of dealing with uncontrolled shooting conditions than any other camera I know near its price. Stick a Canon short zoom with OIS and electronic controls on Scarlet and it will work just fine in most any situation for an unsupported solo shooter assuming some reasonable level of skill as an operator. IMO shooting Redcode raw is actually easier than shooting most video cameras if one is trying to get the highest quality images.

It is a camera for cinematographers and photographers who are skilled enough to make use of its capabilities, not necessarily the best choice if you expect the camera to do all the thinking for you while you concentrate on other things.

Then, I'll wait for the feedback from Scarlet-X users.

 

[stu aull]

Here is what I take away from the original post...
THANK YOU early RED Adopters!! You are the pioneers that risked, believed and sweated Blood AND Treasure in founding RED. You have, thru all this pain and angst, made what we have in the SCARLET-X (and Epic of course) possible.

AND - this is a familiar road, prob with a lot of technology, but certainly TV/Video production. My company started off in 1990 with a then breath-takingly expensive $35K BetaCamSP camera and another $25K in 2 Beta VTRs - and a fabulous device called the Video Toaster that somehow made it all work together. BUT - this $$ was CHEAP compared to "traditional" Field & Post of the day where the "Standard" Sony Betacam stuff was more than TRIPLE my investment. Then the slow migration to computer-based solutions (thank you Steve Jobs) over the next twenty years. Lots of Blood and Treasure spent.

The good news: I can STILL use my beloved now-20+yr old Betacam kit for client work on occassion! Talk about amortization...

Thanks to the Early Adopters, I fully expect to be doing the same with the -X for the NEXT 20yrs.

Stu Aull
Alaska