Red Digital Cinema Camera Company

Red Digital Cinema Camera Company
Private
Industry Digital cinematography
Headquarters Irvine, California, United States
Key people
 Jim Jannard
Deanan DaSilva
Jarred Land
Products Red One, Epic, Dragon, Weapon, Scarlet cameras
Owner Jim Jannard
Website www.red.com

The Red Digital Cinema Camera Company is an American company that manufactures digital cinematography and photography cameras and accessories.

The company’s headquarters are in Irvine, California, with studios in Hollywood, California. It has offices in London, Shanghai and Singapore, retail stores in Hollywood, New York and Miami as well as various authorized resellers and service centers around the world.[1]

History

Red Digital Cinema was founded by Jim Jannard, who had previously founded Oakley. The company started with the intent to deliver an affordable 4k digital cinema camera.[2]

At the 2006 NAB show, Jannard announced that Red would build a 4K digital cinema camera and began taking pre-orders.

In March 2007, director Peter Jackson completed a camera test of two prototype RED ONE cameras, which became the 12-minute World War I film Crossing the Line.[3] On seeing the short film, director Steven Soderbergh told Jannard: "I am all in. I have to shoot with this." Soderbergh took two prototype RED ONEs into the jungle to shoot his film, Che.[4] A short documentary, Che and the Digital Revolution was made about the Red camera technology that was used in the film's production. [5]

Red Digital delivered the first RED ONE production cameras in August 2007, capable of capturing 4K images at up to 60 frames per second in the proprietary Redcode format.

The RED ONE provided filmmakers customizable features and out-of-the-box functionality with "feature film quality" comparable to 35mm film cameras.[4][6]

In 2009, Red released Redcine-X,[7] a post-production workflow for both motion and stills, the R3D Software Development Kit,[8] and introduced the concept of "DSMC" (Digital Stills and Motion Camera).[9]

In 2010, Red offered a sensor upgrade to owners of the original Mysterium sensor to the newer "M-X" sensor. Also in that same year, Red acquired the historic Ren-Mar Studios in Hollywood, and renamed it "Red Studios Hollywood".[10]

In 2013, Red began taking pre-orders for their newest camera, the Epic Red Dragon.[11]

In 2015, Red announced a new camera body called DSMC2. The Weapon 8K VV and Weapon 6K were the first two cameras announced within this line of cameras followed by Red Raven 4.5K and Scarlet-W 5K. All of these cameras leveraged Red Dragon sensor technology.

In 2016 a new 8K S35 sensor, called "Helium" was introduced with two new cameras Red Epic-W and Weapon 8K S35. In early January 2017 this was given the highest sensor score ever, 108, by the DxOMark website.[12] Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was the first film to be released that was shot on the Weapon. The film was shot at the camera's full 8K resolution, and featured an equivalent workflow, supplanting director David Fincher's Gone Girl as the film with the highest-resolution post-production workflow.

Cameras

Red Epic-X with hexacopter, 2011

Red One

The Red One was Red Digital Cinema’s first production camera.[13] It was able to capture up to 120 frames per second at 2K resolution and 30 frames per second at 4K resolution.[14] Later an upgrade to new sensor with 14 megapixel sensor was offered.

DSMC system

The DSMC camera system was introduced with the Epic-X as a professional digital stills and motion capture camera with interchangeable lens mounts. After this a new camera line called Scarlet was introduced that provided lower end specifications at a more affordable price. Initially equipped with a 5K imaging sensor, upgrades to a 6K sensor with higher dynamic range were announced later.

DSMC2 system

The DSMC2 family of cameras was introduced in 2015 as the new form factor for all cameras up to 2020. ("...making a commitment right now that the DSMC2 form factor will stay the same until at least 2020.")[15] Besides smaller size ProRes and DNXhd support were notable additions.

Red Weapon Helium 35.4 Megapixel CMOS 8K Image Sensor Full Frame Image with 6K, 4K, 3K, HD and Instagram® native resolution frame overlays. Captured through a Canon FD 135mm f. 1:2.8 lens.

Other notable products

Lenses

Red offered S35 PL mount prime and zoom lenses for their cameras.

Redray

Announced in 2012, the Redray Player was the first stand-alone device capable of providing 4K content to 4K displays. Using a 1TB internal drive to store content, Redray can play 4K, 3D or HD media. Additionally, the player supports 12-bit 4:2:2 precision at 4K resolution.[16]

REDray 4K cinema laser projector

Announced and shown at NAB 2012, the prototype has not been released yet.[17]

Lawsuits

On August 18, 2008, Red filed a lawsuit against the electronics company LG over its use of the name Scarlet.[18] Red accused LG "... of taking the 'Scarlet' brand name from the camera company" after Red had denied LG's request to use it.[19]

On September 23, 2011, Jim Jannard announced that his personal email account was compromised by former Arri executive Michael Bravin.[20] A lawsuit against Arri and Bravin was filed at the end of 2011, and settled and dismissed in 2013.[21]

On June 27, 2012 Red sued Wooden Camera, a manufacturer of third party accessories, for patent infringement.[22]

In February 2013, Red filed for an injunction against Sony, claiming that several of its new CineAlta products, particularly the 4K-capable F65, infringed on patents the company held. They requested that Sony not only be forced to stop selling the cameras, but that they be destroyed as well.[23] Sony filed a countersuit against Red in April 2013, alleging that Red's entire product line infringed on Sony patents. In July 2013, both parties filed jointly for dismissal, and as of July 20, 2013, the case is closed.[24]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Worldwide Locations - RED Digital Cinema". www.red.com.
  2. ↑ "The History of RED Digital Cinema". red.com.
  3. ↑ SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain (10 August 2007). "Crossing the Line (2006)". IMDb.
  4. 1 2 "Analog Meets Its Match in Red Digital Cinema's Ultrahigh-Res Camera". WIRED.
  5. ↑ Che: The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray) Archived 21 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine. by Christopher Long, DVD Town, 16 January 2010
  6. ↑ Charlie White. "Red One Digital Cinema Camera Price List Now On Line, Still Not Shipping". Gizmodo. Gawker Media.
  7. ↑ Scott Simmons. "Pro Video Coalition - RED announces REDCINE-X™". provideocoalition.com.
  8. ↑ "Developers". red.com.
  9. ↑ "RED Announces DSMC". outdoorphotographer.com.
  10. ↑ "RED buys Ren Mar Studios in Hollywood". Studio Daily.
  11. ↑ "RED Dragon is Finally Here: Upgrade Schedule Announced, SCARLET Will Get Dragon Upgrade". No Film School.
  12. ↑ DxO. "RED Helium 8K DxOMark Sensor Score: 108 — A new all-time-high score! | DxOMark". Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  13. ↑ "The Red Digital Camera Company". digital-intermediate.co.uk.
  14. ↑ "RENTALS". simdigital.com.
  15. ↑ "Obsolescence...". www.reduser.net.
  16. ↑ "REDRAY Has Arrived". red.com.
  17. ↑ "REDray 4K cinema laser projector and player eyes-on". engadget.com.
  18. ↑ "Red brings the trademark pain against LG's Scarlet HDTV". Engadget. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
  19. ↑ "Head-2-Head News". H2hreviews.com. 2008-10-01. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
  20. ↑ "Michael Bravin Charged with email hacking!". Reduser.net. 2011-09-22. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
  21. ↑ "Movie-Camera Maker Red Accuses Rival Arri of Corporate Espionage". Reuters. 2011-12-29.
  22. ↑ "Red Sues Wooden Camera Over Patent Infringements, Sunglasses & More". Cinescopophilia. June 27, 2012.
  23. ↑ Dent, Steve. "Red sues Sony over patents, wants disputed F-series cameras 'destroyed' (updated)". Engadget.com. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  24. ↑ Krishnan, Bala (2013-07-29). "Sony, Red End Patent Dispute - Intellectual Property Insiders". Ipinsiders.com. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
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