So November 3rd has come and gone, some of us have been left with, “well what happened to the 5D MIII?” or better yet “Ah heck, another bunch of camera’s out of my range…” or even still “No one cares about us indie guys :-(“, well in any case, technology is allowing us to do so much more than before and even if you still shoot with a 5D MII you are still ahead of the game in most cases, until you get into the “RED” zone. I must admit, when I first saw the RED at an APPLE seminar in Atlanta so many years ago, I wanted it, badly. It was amazing then and still amazing now! Does this mean I’m not a fan of Canon, oh heck no, I love the Canon gear. It actually allowed me to get into the game without spending $50k. But like Ryan Connolly said in one of his episodes, “I want to educate you guys on both DIY INDIE stuff to big name stuff” (yeah I know I paraphrased) but I understood him totally. It was in respond to a loyal viewer’s comment that “if you start filming on the red, I won’t watch you guys any more”…and I understood him too, cause Ryan and the crew and FilmRiot gives us indie guys so much inspiration as well as knowledge on how to make what we “HAVE” work to higher standards. And that is truly important to me. As an up and coming filmmaker.
I have a T2i, it is not as prestigious as the 7D or the 5D MII, but I’ve seen some amazing things done on this camera that rivals some 5D stuff, and that proves my point that it’s not the size of your equipment but how you use it! 🙂 With that said, Let’s get right to it!
Red and Canon decided to have a slugfest on who’s gonna bring the hottest new toy to the playground. SO LET THE GAMES BEGIN:
Canon introduces the Canon Cinema EOS C300
Here are the official specs:
• 8.3 megapixel 2160×3840 Super-35 CMOS sensor (4K resolution) with Digic DV III processor
• Canon XF codec (50Mbps 4:2:2 1080p MPEG2 MXF) records to two Compact Flash card slots
• Canon LOG gamma, SDI, compact body, Custom Presets and menus similar to Canon XF series
• Exposure and focus control are completely manual — there is no automatic exposure or autofocus
• Sold as a system, including LCD monitor / XLR audio unit, side grip, top handle, and battery charger
• Headphone jack (first EOS-branded camera to have this, though it’s obviously necessary
• Uses existing BP-955 and BP-975 batteries
• Lacks dual-link HD-SDI for native 4:4:4 output, though ships with LOG Gamma unlike the Sony F3
Available January 2012
Price: $20,000 (basic configuration)
The RED SCARLET X will do
- 5K resolution at 12 FPS (for still shooting),
- 4K at 1-25FPS, 2K at 60FPS,
- 1K at 120FPS, and also does
- Quad HD (which is popular for down sampling to 1080P since it’s precisely double the resolution in both dimensions).
- It uses REDCODE RAW at 50MB/sec (which is 440 megabits/sec), comes with a side SSD slot,
- Canon lens mount, and will ship December 1st.
Pricing will be $9,750 for the Canon mount version and $11,250 w/ a PL mount lens (and the mounts are interchangeable).
The RED SCARLET-X lists for $9,750 and that is direct from RED: no discounts. However, that is a “brain only” price (though it comes with a SSD recording module, Canon lens mount, and AC adapter). After December 31st, in fact, the RED’s prices will go up. But if you include the prices of the things you’ll need to shoot in each cameras’ most basic configuration, many all of these things are included with the Canon but not with the RED. (A couple of them are not included with the Canon either, where noted).
- Camera Body
- Lens Mount
- Side Handle (RED +$950)
- Viewfinder/Screen (RED’s 5″ LCD is $1,600, though it’s probably nicer than the Canon’s EVF)
- Media Module
- Media for 1 hour of footage (a cheap $100 CF card for the Canon, but two $950 SSDs for the RED)
- Media Reader (a cheap $50 CF reader for the Canon, but a $250 REDMAG for the RED)
- Battery Charger (an extra $150 for the RED, though I’m not clear on whether the included AC adapter can also charge batteries)
- Batteries for a few hours of shooting (an extra $150 battery for the Canon, three $195 REDVOLTS for the RED)