Jarred Land, CEO of Red Digital Cinema teased a new RED camera on his Instagram profile. The camera has never been seen in public before, but the form factor suggests it could be the first model in its lineup. And as usual, the picture gives us tons of information. First, the new camera will be able to shoot in 8K and 120fps.
Long Time No See
The announcement of the development of a new camera came from Jarred Land’s Instagram profile in a typical RED manner. Let’s see what we know of his Instagram post teasing the new camera. The image he posted shows the right side of the camera. The information on the LCD screen says a lot about the specifications of the cameras.
Stormtrooper
Back in 2016, RED sold 50 white RED Helium Stormtrooper cameras in below 2 hours. Four years later, the new RED Komodo, also limited available in white housing, was hot as hell and went sold out super-fast, too. But that’s not the first time Jarred Land teased a picture of a white Stormtrooper camera. There are pictures of his white RED Epic DSMC1 on Facebook far back from 2011.
Something New Is On The Horizon
In 2018, RED decided to unify its camera line with the DSMC2 line, which shared housing but had different sensors. The product lineup consists of the small Komodo, the unified DSMC2 modular cameras, and the big boys, the Ranger cameras. Now the company combines its entire product range with a new camera line.
RED Rumors
In 2020, RED launched the Red Komodo in a new form factor with the white Stormtrooper color, indicating that we are in a new era of RED cameras. Some people have suggested that this camera will be a top-end version of the Red Komodo. Some people think it will be a new DSCM line. But I think it may be a new direction based on all the previous cameras before. It may be a combination of the Komodo and the Ranger that is based on the DSMC2.
What We See
In the picture from Instagram, we can see that it will take the overall functions of the Komodo interface, such as the LCD screen, simplified compression ratio, REDCODE, RAW HQ, MQ, and LQ.
The Framerate
Even though the Red Komodo is an entry-level product, this new camera will be a high-end model in the new range, and the image shows that it will be able to shoot 120 fps at 8K level. The camera shoots in Redcode RAW at 8K / 120fps for demanding tasks that require fast media.
The Ports And Control
We can see that this new camera will include two 12G SDI ports, built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, record four audio channels, and at least two 4.8V phantom power sources. The picture also informs us that the camera will be equipped with an LCD on the right side of the housing, which will act as the 1st ACS built-in RED Sidekick. As seen in the picture above, this camera will record on the CFexpress standard.
Specs:
| Resolution: | Min 8K |
| Framerate: | 120fps at 8K 17:9 |
| Codec: | Redcode R3D RAW |
| Media: | Cfexpress |
| Ports: | Two 12G SDI ports |
| Wifi: | Built-in Wi-Fi connectivity |
| Audio: | Four audio channels, at least two 4.8V phantom power sources |
| Monitor: | One build-in display for right side AC control |
| Control: | Eight fast access buttons plus four buttons for full menu control |
| Cooling: | New airflow architecture |
The Bottom line
More details about the new camera are expected to be released in the next 48 hours. Prices and availability have not yet been specified. Jarred Land captioned his post with the mysterious words: “2 more sleeps…”
So that’s what we know by far. Damn, how long can two days be? I’m really excited. Maybe 12K or 8K VV? Who knows. What do you think?
Do you think that the new RED camera will be the first model in the DSMC3 series? Let us know in the comments below.