Red Digital Cinema Camera Company

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Red Digital Cinema Camera Company
Type Private
Founded
Headquarters United States Lake Forest, California, USA
Key people Jim Jannard
Industry Digital cinematography
Products Red One
Red Cine
Website www.red.com

Red Digital Cinema Camera Company is the developer of a digital video camera called the Red One, which the company says will be capable of recording resolutions up to 4520 x 2540 using a super 35 sized CMOS sensor. The company was founded by Jim Jannard, founder of the Oakley company. The Red One will be priced extremely aggressively, and as a result many people believe it will change the landscape in the digital cinematography market significantly, bringing the quality of high-end digital cinematography to comparatively low-budget productions.

Contents

[edit] Technical Specifications

[edit] Sensor

  • 12 Megapixel CMOS (brand name: Mysterium)
  • 24.4mm x 13.7mm
  • 4520x2540 active pixels
  • 4900x2580 full pixels
  • 66dB dynamic range

The Mysterium sensor has the same active area as a Super 35 film frame (masked to a 16:9 aspect ratio), allowing the same shallow depth of field to be produced in conjunction with lenses designed to cover the 35mm format. The camera also allows the sensor to be used in a 'windowed' mode, in which the sensor can emulate the active area of a Super 16 film frame while capturing 2K footage. This allows the camera to be used with lenses designed to cover the the super 16 format.

Mysterium is a proprietary sensor design, about which little is known.

[edit] Recording formats


Frame Rate Supported Resolution
1 – 60 fps 2540p, 4K, 2K,1080p, 720p
1 – 120 fps 2K, 720p (windowed sensor)
50 / 59.94fps 1080i, 720p


Red does not natively capture standard definition formats at all, though its higher definition formats can easily be scaled down in post production, and should yield extremely high-quality standard definition output. The sensor also does not record 1080i natively. However, the camera can record 1080p60, from which 1080i can be extracted in-camera.

[edit] Compression & Workflow

The Redcode RAW codec will allow 4K sensor data to be recored at 24 frames per second with a data rate of around 27.5 MB/s (220 megabits per second). This data rate is low enough that on-camera recording (for example, to a Red-Drive digital magazine containing a 2.5" hard drive) will be possible. Redcode only functions at up to 30 frames per second at 4K. To achieve higher frame rates at 4K, uncompressed video must be recored to an external RAID.

Redcode is a wavelet codec, like JPEG2000, so many of the blocking artifacts associated with digital video compression should be absent. Red has claimed Redcode RAW is visually lossless.

Because Redcode RAW will be recording RAW bayer sensor data, the footage may not be usable on desktop editing systems without additional processing. Red has announced an application called Redcine[1] to serve this function. The camera may also be able to shoot in non-RAW formats, possibly using other variants of the Redcode codec. Little public information exists about such options at this time.

Red recommends a 3.0 GHz Apple Mac Pro with 4 GBs of Random access memory for editing footage.[2] Red states that Redcode will work with any Quicktime supporting application.

[edit] Audio

The Red One will be able to shoot 4 channels of uncompressed 16/24 bit 48KHz sync sound.

[edit] Weight, Dimensions & Body Design

The Red One camera body is expected to weigh under seven pounds. Dimensions have not been given. The camera is based around a modular design concept. It has many mounting points, and accessories like recording devices, viewfinders, etc. are mounted to the camera, rather than being integral parts of the body.

[edit] Footage

Red previewed footage from their 4K Mysterium sensor at the International Broadcasting Convention. The footage was shown on a Sony SRX-R110 4K projector; at the time, the only 4K projector model on the market. Reports from Mike Curtis of the HD for Indies site indicate the footage looked extremely clean, with impressive dynamic range, and good rendering of skin tones and highlights [3].

Stills and 1K video clips from the camera can be found here. This is footage from a prototype camera, and has not undergone much of the processing that digital camera footage usually undergoes before viewing, such as dead pixel correction, so it is probably not representative of the full quality the final product will be capable of.

[edit] Exposure latitude

Red has made no claims about the exposure latitude of the camera beyond noting that the Mysterium sensor's signal-to-noise ratio is 66dB. Quantifying the usable dynamic range of a camera is not trivial, and the process is somewhat subjective. Several Directors of Photography who viewed Red's presentation at IBC said they believed the footage showed between 12 and 15 stops of latitude [4]. This would be give the Red One significantly larger exposure latitude than most video cameras, and put it in about the same range as film. Note, however, that quantifying exposure latitude is even more difficult with film than with video, because film typically does not 'clip' as sharply. Ultimately, whether the Red One will match film is something that must be determined by looking at images, not by reading specification sheets.

[edit] Accessories

Red has announced several accessories for the camera. Pricing and expected delivery dates are unknown, except as noted.

[edit] Red-Rail

A configurable rail system allowing for shoulder-mounted use. The digital magazine and/or battery are placed at the back of the rails, behind the shoulder, and the length of the rails can be adjusted to counterbalance the camera and lens as needed.

[edit] Red-Cage

A cage for the camera with many mounting points, allowing the camera to be used for crane or studio work, or in conjunction with a large number of accessories. The cage has both a right and a left half, which can be attached independently, and can be used in conjunction with the Red-Rail system.

[edit] Red-Gun

A device for mounting the camera around one's arm, resembling a gun. Pictures of the Red-Gun are not currently posted on Red's web site, as it is undergoing a major redesign.

[edit] RedFlash

A flash memory based "digital magazine" for the Red One. Available in sizes ranging from 32GB to 128GB.

[edit] Red-Drive

A disk-based "digital magazine", using a 2.5" hard drive. Exact pricing and capacities are unknown, but Red has stated prices should start under $1000.

[edit] Monitor

A 720p camera-mountable monitor. Expected to be included with the Red One base package for reservation holders. Whether the display will use LCD, OLED or some other technology is unknown.

[edit] Electronic Viewfinder

A 720p color EVF. The Red One will not have an optical viewfinder, but this is possible on future camera models [5].

[edit] Lens Mounts

The Red One camera will ship with a PL lens mount, a common mount for modern 35mm and 16mm motion picture cameras. The company also has plans to release mounts for manual Canon and Nikon lenses, and for 2/3" B4 lenses. Pricing and availability are currently unknown, but the Canon and Nikon mounts are expected to be available before the 2/3" B4 mount. Other mounts may be available from third-parties.

[edit] Lenses

Red has announced two Red-branded PL-mount lenses.

[edit] Red 300mm f2.8 Telephoto

A 300mm PL-mount lens designed to cover the s35mm format. Expected early 2007.

[edit] Red 18-85mm f2.8 Zoom

An 18-85mm PL-mount zoom lens designed to cover the s35mm format. Expected late 2007.

[edit] Reservation Program

Through October 31, 2006, Red is taking reservations for the Red One camera ($1000 deposit required, $17,500 purchase price, includes a camera-mountable monitor), a 17-85mm zoom lens ($750 deposit required, $9500 purchase price) and a 300mm telephoto lens ($500 deposit required, $4995 purchase price). Deposits are fully refundable at any time. The first thousand camera reservation holders receive a machined titanium 'R' with their serial number engraved on it. On forums where Red is discussed, putting your Red serial number in your signature has become a common way of displaying support for Red's efforts or excitement over the release of the camera.

Red's explanation for closing the reservation program is that it existed primarily to gauge demand, and it has fulfilled this purpose.

It is not known whether pricing for these products will remain the same once the reservation program closes.

[edit] September 2006 theft

On September 24, 2006, the Red offices in Lake Forest, California were broken into by unknown persons. No sensors or sensor information were stolen [6]. Some of the stolen items, including a prototype camera shell, have since been recovered, and some items such as computers containing in-detail information on the Red One have not been recovered as of yet, though Red has not revealed the circumstances of the recovery, due to the existence of an ongoing investigation[7]. Red has offered a $100,000 reward for any information leading to the apprehension of the person or persons responsible [8].

[edit] Competitors

[edit] WikiBooks

[edit] External links


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