RED has announced a number of new products that are very modular, and can do moving pictures (video) and stills (photography). Their line-up has two tiers, Scarlet and Epic. Epic is the more advanced and expensive line.
Sensor sizes start at the familiar 2/3″ (remember all the 2004-era prosumers like the Minolta A2, Sony F828, Olympus C8080?). Other sensor sizes? 35mm full frame (FF35), 645, 617, as well as S35, which is 30x15mm. See the two tables below for more geeky details.
The sensors at 35mm full frame and above are 6 micron, while the S35 is 5.4 micron. The smaller 2/3″ sensor has 3.2 micron pixels.
Red’s announcement today is the media technology equivalent of Barack Obama saying that not only is he going to deliver on his campaign promises, he’s going to offer every American a lifetime of high-quality universal health care, a top-notch education through college, and balance the budget and grow the economy… in the first year. And by the way, we’re pulling out of Iraq which is going to stay peaceful and democratic. But any of this is subject to change – count on it. So it’s a lot to swallow from a credible source. What separates this announcement from vaporware hype is Red’s proven track record in already delivering a revolutionary motion picture camera and post-production workflow.
As far as megapixels:
- the 35mm full frame sensor has 24-megapixels (hello Sony Alpha A900)
- the 645 sensor has 65 megapixels
- the 617 sensor has 261 megapixels
- the 2/3″ sensor has an anti-climactic 4.9 megapixels
