Red Scarlet makes big-budget filmmaking possible for the cost of a used car
Dan Seitz Got $10,000 burning a hole in your pocket? Always wanted to shoot a major motion picture, but wanted to do it on your terms? Just really want to show up that jerk with the DSLR who’s always gloating about shooting in 1080p? Now you can, courtesy of Red Digital Cinema and their Scarlet, the latest entry in a weird and expensive war over who gets to be the camera the movies of the future shoot on.
Basically, “digital cinematography” is a huge, ongoing peeing match between a handful of elite imaging companies, all of whom very much want to sell Hollywood and people who want to work in Hollywood very expensive cameras. The Scarlet is a dropkick to everybody’s groin because Red, which already has the popular camera the Red One (you’ve probably seen a movie or two shot on it), has a tiny camera that shoots big pictures: 4K resolution, which to give you an understanding of the scale is four times the image quality of a 1080p picture. Yes, you could make your TV four times as big and a 4K image would look as good: it’s what they’re scanning classic movies into to preserve them digitally. And it costs $10k.
Of course, where they get you is the accessories: the Red Scarlet has a whole suite of accessories you can buy ranging from power packs to specialized handles to touchscreens, running between $200 and $1000 or more a pop. And you still have to buy or rent lenses, which can run you thousands.
On the other hand, your average 35mm film camera cost $40,000 or more, film cost thousands, and you still had to rent the lenses for thousands, so we guess it’s getting cheaper all the time.
SCARLET X [Red Digital Cinema]
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