Red Digital Cinema Camera Company

RED Digital Cinema Camera Company
legal form	Partnership
founding	2005
Seat	Foothill Ranch, California , United States;
Branch	digital cinema camera , cinema lenses
Website	www.red.com

The RED Digital Cinema Camera Company ( RED for short ) is an American manufacturer of digital cinema cameras , lenses, viewfinders and software. The company was founded in late 2005 by Jim Jannard, the former owner and founder of Oakley Inc.

Products

The company manufactures devices in the following product groups:

The Red One is a digital camera with a twelve megapixel CMOS sensor aimed at the film production industry. It is available with Arri PL , Nikon and Canon lens mounts.
The Epic-X and Epic-M are also digital cameras with a fourteen megapixel CMOS sensor (5K). They are available with Arri PL lens mount or EF Canon lens mount . The "M" model is z. T. manufactured manually.
The Scarlet-X is also equipped as a little sister of the Epic cameras with a fourteen-megapixel CMOS sensor and sec limited compared to this only in the maximum achievable frame rate of 12 frames /. Recordings in 4k are possible up to 30 frames / sec.
The Helium is a digital 8K camera with a Super 35 sensor.
Lenses with PL lens connection for feature film production: zoom lenses 17–50 mm, 18–50 mm, 18–85 mm and 50–150 mm as well as fixed focal lengths with 18, 25, 35, 50, 75, 100 and 300 millimeters focal length. RED has ceased production since 2013.
Accessories for digital cinema production, for example color viewfinder, screens, batteries, chargers, grip / tripod systems and storage solutions.
RED offers software for post-processing of the RED-RAW data for download free of charge. The original conversion tool RED Alert has since been replaced by Redcine X and, in addition to editing metadata, etc. a. a three-way color correction, digital re-sharpening, trimming of the R3D files, etc. The edited film clips can be exported in different formats (QuickTime, DPX, TIFF, etc.) for further processing.

Industrial partnerships

Red announced industrial partnerships with various manufacturers from NAB 2007, the most popular trade fair for film and television production:

Adobe : As of version CS4, Adobe Premiere Pro is the first and only editing system to process REDCODE RAW data from cameras in full quality. The After Effects compositing software and the Speedgrade color correction system from the same manufacturer offer the same function.
Apple : The image sequences recorded by the camera can be processed directly with Final Cut Pro X version 10.0.0.6. RED also announced that it would use Apple's QuickTime video subsystem . The two manufacturers then held a US-wide roadshow where they demonstrated the interoperability of their products.
Assimilate: The US manufacturer Assimilate developed the free program Red Cine , which is based on the Scratch film mastering system and also works directly with the images from the RED camera.
Cooke Optics: The English Cooke Optics, one of the two market leading manufacturers of lenses with fixed focal lengths for cinema production, announced that Red cameras and lenses and Cooke lenses will be completely compatible using the "i" interface.
Angénieux : The leading manufacturer of zoom lenses for cinema production, specially developed lenses for the Red One.

Other manufacturers announced products for Red, including Birger Design (adapter for Canon lenses) and Viewfactor Studios ( compendiums , motion control , distance meters ).

According to Jim Jannard, RED forbade direct support for the camera by other manufacturers until April 2008. The REDCINE software supplied with the camera supports other manufacturers such as Avid , Autodesk , Quantel, etc. RED officially justified this with the further development work required on the camera's file system until March / April 2008. In the meantime, however, it has been confirmed by the company's founder, Jim Jannard, that marketing and contracts with Apple actually forced the company to only support Apple / Assimilate until April 2008.

Digital cinema camera "Red One" (2007-2010)

1st generation RED ONE (mystery sensor):

The RED ONE was Red's first digital cinema camera. The camera was shipped from the end of August 2007. The first hundred cameras still had manufacturing defects. Red recalled the cameras that had been built until November 2007 and exchanged them.

Red One camera

In retrospect, the Red One is seen as a milestone that has significantly advanced the change from analog to digital cinema. It was the first widely used digital cinema camera to use 4K resolution on a super 35 mm sensor. Competitors like ARRI or Sony used 2K or HD resolution at that time . Sometimes even with smaller sensor sizes that did not have the same depth of field as classic 35mm film. It was also the first digital cinema camera that was able to record RAW compressed. For this purpose, RED developed its own Redcode RAW format, which is still unique in the market today because it is able to maintain the advantages of RAW recording despite data compression and to be visually lossless. RED still holds a patent for this, which makes it impossible for other competitors to implement a "Compressed RAW" format in their cameras. As a result, film productions that use systems from competitors have to work with significantly larger amounts of data in post- production.

Even after it was released, the camera has been continuously improved with free firmware updates. Nevertheless, the system was limited by the 4K image sensor "Mysterium" at the time. Most filmmakers were bothered by the limited contrast range (which was significantly worse than with analog 35mm film). Many were also dissatisfied with color science and the rendering of colors (e.g. skin tones).

2nd generation RED ONE MX (Mysterium-X sensor):

Therefore, RED developed an improved new image sensor called "Mysterium-X". Starting in 2009, customers could send in their old Red One cameras and have the sensor replaced by a hardware upgrade at a cost. From 2009 onwards, all newly sold Red One cameras were only delivered with the new Mysterium X-Sensor.

The improvements of the Mysterium X sensor over the Mysterium were:

Higher resolution: 4.5K instead of 4K
Larger contrast range
Better color science (color rendering)
lower image noise

After RED launched the successor model "Red Epic" in 2010, sales of the Red One MX were discontinued shortly thereafter. As part of a time-limited, chargeable exchange program, customers could send in their old Red One camera and exchange it for the new Red Epic model.

Digital cinema camera "Red Epic" (2010–2015)

Red Epic camera

1st generation RED EPIC MX (Mysterium-X Sensor):

In 2010, RED brought the new generation of cameras "Epic" onto the market. They managed to integrate the Mysterium-X image sensor and the technology of the Red One MX into a significantly smaller and lighter, modular camera housing.

The increased computing power compared to the Red One camera platform made it possible to improve the image quality compared to the Red One MX:

Higher resolution: 5K instead of 4.5K (for the first time the full sensor surface of the MX sensor can be read out)
Higher frame rates (for SlowMotion recordings)
Less compression (due to faster data processing)

The compact size of the Red Epic was unique on the cinema camera market at the time and quickly became the camera of choice for native 3D mirror rigs worldwide. This helped RED achieve its final breakthrough in Hollywood major productions.

2nd generation RED EPIC DRAGON (Dragon Sensor):

As with the Red One, RED developed a new image sensor to improve the image quality of the camera. The new Dragon Sensor was installed in all new Red Epic cameras from 2013. The sale of cameras with Mysterium-X sensors was then completely discontinued. As with the previous cameras, you could have the sensor of your Red Epic MX replaced by an upgrade program.

The new Dragon sensor brought the following improvements over the Mysterium-X:

Higher resolution: 6K instead of 5K
Higher contrast range
Better color science / color rendering
Exchangeable OLPFs in front of the sensor to change the image impression (Skintone / Highlight / Lowlight / Underwater)

With streaming providers such as Netflix, which were becoming more and more popular at the time, who demand native 4K material for their own productions, the Red Epic Dragon can establish itself for demanding high-end TV series. Well-known TV series that were shot on camera include Better Call Saul (Season 1), Stranger Things (Season 1), House of Cards (from Season 2), Narcos (Season 1-3), Mr. Robot (Season 1), The Man in the High Castle (Season 1).

Both the Red Epic MX and the Red Epic Dragon were also available in a “monochrome” version for black and white images. There was also a slimmed-down version of the Red Epic for the semi-professional market in the form of the "Red Scarlet".

After RED launched the new RED DSMC 2 Weapon camera platform in 2015, sales of all Red Epic models were discontinued.

Digital cinema camera "Red Weapon / DSMC2" (2015-present)

In 2015 RED brought out a new generation of camera platforms with the "Red Weapon / DSMC2" product line. To date, 4 different versions (each with a different image sensor) have appeared. All 4 versions are still available for sale as each sensor visually takes a different picture. Nowadays directors and cameramen can choose the right sensor depending on the desired look of their film project.

1. Version RED WEAPON / DSMC2 DRAGON (Dragon Sensor):

The Red Weapon Dragon was the first camera of the new DSMC2 platform that RED brought to market in 2015. The Weapon Dragon is the successor to the Epic Dragon. The Dragon Sensor is identical to that in the previous model. There are no differences to the previous camera in terms of image quality. The increased computing power of the new camera, however, enables higher frame rates and lower compressions.

Since RED brought the more modern and better helium and monstro sensors to the market very soon after the Weapon Dragon, comparatively few productions were shot on the Weapon Dragon. Nowadays almost no production is turned on on the Red Weapon with Dragon-Sensor.

2nd version RED WEAPON / DSMC2 HELIUM (Helium Sensor):

RED launched the new Super35mm helium sensor in 2016. With its 8K resolution, the sensor has an extremely high pixel density on Super35. Although the individual pixels are very small as a result, RED has also managed to reduce the image noise compared to the Dragon Sensor. Slight deterioration has to be accepted only in the contrast range.

3rd version RED WEAPON / DSMC2 GEMINI (Gemini Sensor):

With the Super35mm Gemini Sensor, RED brought out a very special sensor in 2018. The resolution is comparatively low with 5K on Super35mm. But this gives the camera a better contrast range than the helium sensor. In addition, RED was able to implement a lowlight mode, which is just as noise-free at 2500 ISO as at 500 ISO.

So far only very few, isolated well-known productions have been shot at RED GEMINI.

Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
McG : Rim of the World (2019)

4th version RED WEAPON / DSMC2 MONSTRO (Gemini Sensor):

In 2017, RED followed the trend towards large format sensors started by its competitor ARRI with the Alexa 65. RED relies on a sensor in the full format known from photography (36mmx24mm). The sensor has a resolution of 8K in full format, but can also be used in the Super35 range with 5K. The Monstro sensor has the highest image quality of all modern RED sensors in all respects.

Current market situation (2020)

The majority of RED camera users work with the Panavision Millennium DXL2 camera. The camera is a cooperation between Panavision and RED. RED uses the same Monstro sensor as in the Red Weapon Monstro. In the DXL2, however, a different low-pass filter is used in front of the sensor as well as a different color science. The camera is not for sale, but can only be rented through Panavisions rental houses. In contrast to the Weapon / DSMC2, the camera is designed as a large studio mode camera for feature films. Most cameramen and camera crews on feature film sets prefer this form factor to the small modular Weapon DSMC 2 housing. Since nowadays no production works with native 3D Spielgelrigs (like in the early 2010s) it is no longer important to have the smallest possible compact camera.

In addition to the Millennium DXL 2 cooperation with Panavision , RED now also offers the RED RANGER cameras as an alternative to the compact DSMC 2 housing. Similar to the DXL2, this is a large studio mode camera. In contrast to the DSMC 2 cameras, RED RANGER cameras are not offered for sale to private individuals. Only larger professional camera rental companies in the film industry can purchase the cameras. As with the DXL2, this is a rental only camera.

Web links

Official website of the manufacturer
RED EPIC-M from the inside. - Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigation.