Scarlet Announcement

[Otis Grapsas]

Otis... you, like Jim Jannard, are trying to launch a camera that will compete, in some respect, with the DSLR marketplace.

I mean this is the best possible way as I am rooting for your company.... but I think for the sake of credibility, it is best to avoid sounding like you are bashing the DSLRs.

2/3" is a fantastic format for alot of purposes. There will be a market for Drama, Ikon, Scarlet etc... so don't worry about DSLRs (this applies to RED too).

I'm signing with my name so I see no problem with providing a comparison or stating a fact. If that's bashing in your book, I can do nothing about that. You can credit that to me directly at least What about all those guys financed by the companies behind the dSLR "revolution", the puppets that are bashing proven production tools by Sony and Panasonic, misinforming the public and destroying your investment in a good camcorder in the eyes of the public? Those with no career or leftovers of a career that use the dSLR publicity and marketing money flow as a vehicle? You should be more worried about them, not someone like Jim Jannard or me. We are saying go out, rent the good camera and rent a dSLR and simply compare. At least we are direct, everybody knows what we are involved with and everybody knows that we are only expressing our personal opinion and we are on nobody's payroll.

Drama is a very small project targeted to a tiny niche. It has niche written all over it, uncompressed workflow in 2010, 1080p only, CCD in 2010, etc. I assure you there are no worries about dSLRs. Those who want a 2,000 euro camcorder cannot afford Drama or Scarlet or even a good prosumer camcorder, so there is no competition, there is no market there for Drama or Scarlet. Frankly, if a customer ever said to me that he is satisfied with dSLRs but considering a Drama, I would convince him out of purchasing one. He would try to return the Drama package in a few days and get a 7D instead or wait for a camera that is not yet produced, and he would even come to a dvxuser thread to bash the Drama without even trying to shoot with it, simply based on cost.

What I'm worried about is that dSLR misinformation could lead some projects to chose a dSLR over a more capable 1/3" or 1/2" camcorder. If that sounds like bashing and that reflects badly on me, I have no problem with that, I always take the good with the bad. Everybody knows I'm an opiniated sob, right? Many people I respect are opiniated sobs.

 

[Otis Grapsas]

The only thing I can say is that it's peculiar that you keep making the same argument over and over about the inferiority of DSLRs to other cameras costing many times the amount, and eschewing the rest of the discussion, or delays of Scarlet.

I'm reminded of all the filmmakers that refuse to shoot digital anything, as it's not that much of a savings over film. So, why shoot video at all, really?

Ok, the Scarlet will delay a few months. We have established that. I'm just saying that the Scarlet is not competing with dSLRs. It's competing with 2/3" cameras with intraframe formats. There is nothing planned for that market by Sony or Panasonic or JVC or anyone (except the small digital cinema projects by Ikonoskop and me), that can compete with Scarlet in price. Isn't that relevant to the thread?

Film can also make sense in the digital age. If you can shoot at a low shooting ratio and you plan a film output anyway, film is not very expensive by comparison.

 

[snowleopard]

Ok, the Scarlet will delay a few months. We have established that.

Except Scarlet has been repeatedly delayed a few months. So much so, it's impossible to know when the camera will come out. We're not talking a few months from now - as in September release. As I noted before, we may not see this camera until 2012, and who knows that the other makers have planned for that time because unlike Red, they don't announce what they have on the drawing board.

 

[Otis Grapsas]

Except Scarlet has been repeatedly delayed a few months. So much so, it's impossible to know when the camera will come out. We're not talking a few months from now - as in September release. As I noted before, we may not see this camera until 2012, and who knows that the other makers have planned for that time because unlike Red, they don't announce what they have on the drawing board.

For Scarlet I believe 1 year is possible. But the larger companies started announcing products quite early themselves. They let some info out at very early stages of development lately, which is very different from their traditional approach to marketing. The new Sony hybrid will not be ready in September, right? Perhaps Red made a mistake by announcing their future plans for an affordable digital cinema camcorder. 3d renderings make consumers perceive a product as it's just around the corner, in a tangible form, even if it's still an idea. Ikonoskop also had a beautifully finished machined shell at IBC in 2008. It's how the market is at the moment. Every company is desparate for early interest, preorders, publicity. Early publicity can certainly work against you, we will see how that goes.

I believe the new crop of affordable digital cinema camcorders ($10,000 to $15,000) will be out from January 2011 to January 2012 which is why I never bothered to publish official info on the Drama or even put info on an official website. Info on development problems always leaks in this market, nothing is top secret really, we just can't discuss any of that on a forum, even when someone shouts to you about your product not being ready while product A or B is "ready".