RED: Scarlet. 3k for less then $3k
The great company RED just announced the dream camcorder for each and every indy filmproducer in the low budget market. The RED Scarlet model expected to ship in early 2009 will retail for less then $3000 and will have a 100 frames per second 2/3 capable chip in it. That doesnīt give you the depth of field of a RED:One(4k 35 mm sensor) or even the newly announced RED: Epic (5k probably bigger then 35mm sensor) but is still better then the 1/3rd chip offered by pro-sumer HDV cameras. Its on paar with the next best thing - the HD-CAM Panasonic ($8000) or similar double the price HDV sony camcorders. It will sport image output in RED RAW format - thats a 7:1 at 3k from my calculation (9:1 at 4k) or 1:2 at 1k or fully uncompressed at PAL res (you would want to shoot in 3k and then downscale for postproduction in the format you need to output and work with that) . hmmmm no more shitty bluegreenscreens because of compression artefacts around the edges. 100 frames per second is plenty for normal use and more then anything available at the moment in a price range that is comparable.
This together with the EPIC will change the filmmaking world - it turns it upside down. Add in some of the vfx advancements (especially render times due to multi core computers) of late and tthe production budget shrinks manifold not even to mention that there is zero zip reason to shoot on analog film anymore (except for the dynamic range but with a good camera man and good lightning its a non issue).
I can not say how excited I am about the Scarlet personally (somehow in an almost affordable price range) and the epic on the grand scale. This will upper the quality level of all films and is generally good on so many levels its hard to list them all.
And RED isnīt stopping with just cameras they also announced a storage solution possibly based on blue ray and hd for on set back up of data.
* an artificial lifeform jumping up and down *
UPDATE: A couple of corrections and additions. The frame rate is actually 120fps and 180fps burst mode (whatever that means - probably at lower resolution), the freaking thing has Wifi control - means probably that you can remote control the sucker via a laptop from far away (time lapse! MoControl! stopTrick anims!) and when calculate into MegaPixel we are talking about a 14 Megapixel Camera! Thats right for $3000 you not only get a kickass superior camcorder but also a kick ass surprior PhotoCamera - that captures in 120fps what others capture at maximum of 10fps! Sport photography just lost all its appeal!