RED Cinema Unveils Their Latest Camera, The Scarlet X, But is it Worth the Price tag?

Hello all! So many of you may be aware that recently, Red Cinema, an independent camera company, has finally released it’s latest in filmmaking wonder, the Red Scarlet. After it’s much anticipated release by indie filmmakers and professionals alike, I’m here to tell you what my thoughts are on the product and who should consider it as a weapon in their creative arsenal.

RED Cinema was founded and financed in 1999 by Oakley founder Jim Jaanard, and currently produces three cameras: Red One, Epic and Scarlet. The Red One was considered a professional workhorse in the professional industry for feature length films due to its impressive image quality, versatility, and price. Its completely digital workflow was unheard of in the industry at such high resolutions in such a small package and it soon grew in popularity. Soon after the RED One’s release the RED EPIC and Scarlet X followed; the EPIC designed for Hollywood while the X designed for the indie filmmaker. The price of the X has finally dropped enough to fall into the hands of semi-pros and amateurs, but is it worth it?

Well to begin, before even considering the camera there are several important points to consider:

·       Your ability as a camera operator and knowledge of theory

·       Your price ceiling, because this thing ain’t cheap!

·       Your target projects

For starters, if you don’t know the difference between an f-stop and an ISO level do not consider this camera. It is a professional camera aimed at a Prosumer market, not for filming your kid’s piano recital. Also, this camera is very pricy. For a fully functioning camera, including items such as batteries, monitors, and media to record on, your price point will be about $18,000. For just the camera brain (image sensor) you will have to drop about $9,000. Once again this is a pro camera.

My advice, go DSLR! DSLR cameras will allow you to achieve the depth of field look while providing a fantastic image sensor for stunning images at a much more affordable price. While you give up the 4K resolution of a RED camera, you achieve a much smaller file size and stunning 1080p video. Unless you are looking to screen your next short in a movie theater, I would hold off on RED cinema’s Scarlet X for a little while.