Red Corp, “We got your modular digital Nikon body right here. Choke on it!”
Red finally came out with details on their Digital Stills and Motion Camera (DSMC, as opposed to DSLR) cameras. How long has the “modular” Nikon body rumor been around? I’ve even seen reports from pro’s saying that the thing actually exists, but Nikon keeps it under wraps. What a shame we don’t see things like this coming out of the Nikon labs! Hopefully this will kick Nikon in the butt and we’ll get something like it- I would love to see a replaceable sensor instead of having to buy a new body every 2 years to get the best image quality.
Red Scarlet Modular Body- 1 possible configuration
This shot simply shows a possible configuration- 7 different sensor backs you can choose from depending on the mount, sensor size, FPS! There’ll even be (presumably, this won’t be vaporware) a 28kMP back that does 25fps in 2010.
Oh hey! Notice something else we don’t see in the camera companies- a F’ING CLUE about what they’re likely to bring out in the future- Red’s actually establishing a baseline roadmap for what they expect to achieve in 2 years!
Want to see the rest of the images that you can attach to this camera?
So- to get a minimal Nikon F-mount-based system, you’re looking at:
Scarlet 5k/39fps @ $7,000
Red Handle @ ?
Lens Mount @ ?
Battery @ ?
Electronic Viewfinder @ ?
Recording Module @ ?
Then what you still don’t have is autofocus, so I hope you’re good at that!
If you want a FF 35mm sensor, you’re going to shell out $12k.
Then because all of this dreamy tech wasn’t enough, they decided to cobble together a 3d setup:
3d Scarlet Setup
If I didn’t already have a ton of cash invested in Nikon- this would leave my wondering if investing in Red gear wasn’t the way to go- the fact that they’re able to come out of virtually nowhere a couple of years ago and even have the audacity products like this tells me they’re not going to sit on their asses while people keep begging to buy things like new AF-S primes, updated 70-200mm, Apheric 28 f/1.4, another Noct, etc.
If I was Nikon, I’d change my pants, then ask how much cash we had on hand and maybe make them an offer. Failing that, I’d be dusting off all those cool ideas we’ve been playing with but not actually seriously considering making into a product, and taking some risks!
After all of that was done, I’d have an extremely frank and open discussion with our customers explaining where we’re going over the next years, produce a truthful product roadmap, and set some audacious R&D goals.
If I was Red, I’d figure out how to get autofocus in there- but I’m not a motion guy, maybe it’s not as useful as I’d think. I’d also think about heavily targeting still photographers as soon as the motion guys are satiated.
Tags: competition, modular body, red, scarlet, video
November 16th, 2008 at 01:00
I have no idea what everyone is getting so excited about. No one is buying Leica and Leica looks like a bargain compared to this. In the professional video world, no one buys this stuff – they rent it, so the total cost doesn’t mean that much – it’s what it costs per day that counts. And film budgets far exceed still photography budgets. Any major film from a major studio costs at least $100 million to make. It’s the rare still photography shoot that costs more than a few hundred thousand and those are pretty rare. So what’s the market besides drooling tech nerds who couldn’t afford it in 100 years? And what exactly would they use it for if they could afford it. A camera like this doesn’t exactly lend itself to discrete candid shooting. To me, this camera is the Hummer of photography.
Of course you can upgrade the camera when the “brain” costs more than most other full cameras. The FF Scarlet brain is going to cost $7K (that’s without viewfinder, power supply, storage, lenses, etc.) The FF Epic “brain” is going to cost $35,000 (without all other stuff.)
Nikon couldn’t care less…this is not a market they would ever want to be in. How many is Red going to sell of these? 50? 100?
And let’s take a look at the other sensors. The 2/3″ sensor is 6.3% the size of full frame. The S35 sensor is 52% the size of full frame (about 20% larger than DX). Now the 645 and 617 sensors are impressive, but they’re just drawings. And the 617 sensor creates a 261 MP image. Imagine having to post-process a bunch of those!!
And best of all, this is all vaporware. None (or virtually none) of it exists.
My bet is that in this recession, some of this never gets manufactured.
Much ado about nothing.
November 16th, 2008 at 06:09
Not much ado about nothing. Newsrooms are shrinking. Photo Journalists are increasingly being pressured to use video. Red is one of the few if only outfits that offers a quality product at this low price range. Leica is old news. They are worth nothing. Their name means less and less everyday. Their glass is great and their cameras suck. Product advertisement shots need products like this. Major studios are not using the red setup, they are spending a lot more. Red is targeted at high end indie filmmakers and low end Hollywood – not major motion pictures. Red has spent a lot of money to get names like Peter Jackson using their product. Your statements reveal a blatant ignorance. Just because you would not buy does not mean there are not plenty of people lining up to put money down. I promise if they developed this product they would sell many more than 50 or a 100. You cynicism is a little antiquated.
Nikon could care less like United Airlines doesn’t care about Southwest. They care. Red has a substantial capital backing and I wouldn’t bet on a recession thwarting that. All of it was vaporware 4 years ago, look where they are now.
“Imagine having to post process a bunch of those.” Its a little thing called vision. Imagine digital cameras 8 years ago, 540 x 480? I bet you laughed at a megapixel then too. Much ado about your ignorance and lack of vision.
November 19th, 2008 at 00:12
Roadmaps work when you are introducing an upgradeable system– or when you don’t have existing products in a category.
Nikon produced a roadmap for the introduction of the PC•E lenses. Made sense since it would entice pros to buy the D3 and wouldn’t cannibalize sales of existing lenses (except the 85mm PC-Micro, whose sales were probably negligible).