Well, it now it looks like December 3 will bring another big change to the DSMC system, but I doubt it could possibly be as huge as their last one!

Well, there’s still about eight hours to go until the big announcement, but RED’s Jim Jannard has posted some new pictures of both the RED Scarlet 3K camera, and the 5K RED Epic. Like all the images posted since the redesign, they are small, really close up, and probably just leading speculation away from the truth. Some of these look like parts of the new cameras, but the first one looks like it could be of a new lens – possibly indicating that Scarlet has interchangeable lenses?

Still, it remains to be seen what RED come up with, and I, like most people who have been constantly refreshing REDUser and ScarletUser for weeks, can’t wait!

All images in this post are copyright © Red Digital Cinema Company. Full size images can be seen at Jim’s post on RedUser

More Images and Updates

This is interesting. Jim has let slip that “Scarlet® and RED EPIC® are part of the same DSMC system”. This new image seems to be of Epic, but given this new information, it could actually be a hybrid of components from both the cameras.

This one could also be a RED Scarlet camera configured as an SLR. This would probably mean that Scarlet will be able to have interchangeable lenses, and that it is probably full frame. If speculation is correct though, it could be, on the other hand, an Epic sensor module.

As it was announced, Scarlet was going to have a 3K resolution sensor (that’s more than two and a half times the size of Full HD!), shoot frame rates of up to 120 frames per second, with the ability to do very short bursts of 180 (where one second of motion becomes seven and a half seconds of video – think ultra-slow, ultra-smooth video), and record onto compact flash cards or an external hard drive using RED’s very efficient and high quality REDCODE codec. And, all of this for just US$3000! But in August, Jim Jannard, owner of RED Digital Cinema, dropped a bombshell:

We have changed everything about Scarlet because the market has changed and we have discovered a lot of things in the process. We have a new vision.

Wipe you minds of the past announced Scarlet. Forget the design and forget the price. It is all different now. We think you will be surprised. Glad we didn’t take any deposits…

Well, after two months of wild speculation, with the only information about the new design being gathered from a few very close up, disorienting shots, RED have announced that they will be releasing the new specifications and prices tomorrow. I’m certain that we will see new renders, and possibly prototypes of the cameras. Whether we’ll see any images or video shot with the camera remains to be seen.

Jim was very optimistic about the announcement, saying on Sunday that “We are so excited that we can hardly stand it. The whole RED team has been working more than I could have ever imagined on this. Probably because we are so motivated by the program.”

Whatever they announce, there will be some disappointed people – as some were even disappointed with the original Scarlet’s amazing specifications. But for those with realistic expectations, and, judging by Jim’s posts, those who are expecting the impossible, Thursday is going to be very exciting indeed.