
RED has managed to create a flurry of activity by teasing a major new product announcement for July 6th at noon ET.
We don't often cover rumors here at NoFilmSchool. Nonetheless, here it is: we've discovered a little post on the popular RedUser forum announcing a livestream on July 6th. The post has managed to kick off some fascinating speculation in the filmmaking world as to what, precisely, RED is going to announce. One small line hints at what it won't be: "This is a new product category. It does not impact your RED camera."
Is this just a RED herring?
For those who don't remember the original announcement of the RED Epic and RED Scarlett cameras, it caused a tremendous hubbub, since it contradicted the announcements surrounding the release of the original RED ONE. A large part of the original marketing was the line Making obsolescence obsolete, which left many who invested large sums of money in the original RED ONE platform disappointed that their cameras were, in fact, going to become obsolete with the release of more compact, sophisticated camera bodies.
B&H has gone live with a series of new item links, but it is just a RED herring. It is, of course, news that RED products are now being carried by B&H online, which will make purchasing easier for those working at institutions who need to go through preferred vendors. But the products are all the same price as they would be on the RED store, even the pricy Carbon Fiber Weapon is $49,500, identically priced to the RED site. Further, as far as we can tell, there aren't actually any new products in the links. While it will help with convenience for some to be able to order these items at B&H online, it seems unlikely that this is what Jim Jannard was teasing.
Newshooter has done a great deep dive into recently published patents attached to Jannard's name, and the site is speculating that RED will announce a product that involves some sort of cell phone functionality. This is based on a patent for a modular device that has cellular connectivity and a variety of resolutions. It's common knowledge that cell phone cameras are getting insanely good, from shooting everything we see on Instagram to Sundance feature films, but other attempts to dive into the phone space with an amazing camera, like the Lumia 1020, have flopped. This cell phone approach seems possible, but unlikely, though we do appreciate the insight and research into the patents brought by the Newshooter team.
Here at No Film School, our guess is VR. A VR camera could be modular and needs a variety of resolutions, fitting with the patent applications. Enabling cellular functionality with VR would help with livestreaming or perhaps AR applications—and it doesn't threaten existing camera bodies the way an amazing camera phone might. Plus, in 2017, if a tech company says it has a big announcement coming, VR is always a safe bet.
NFS reached out to Jeff Flynn at RED to find out more, but he's being cagey, too. You can be sure we'll be back on July 6th to report the verdict.
Your Comment
17 Comments
But, will it have skulls engraved on it, and have accessories with names like "bomb"?
June 28, 2017 at 12:24PM
And will they be ridiculously priced? Because I really need to feel like I'm just throwing all my money at stupid stuff so my films will be good.
June 28, 2017 at 1:55PM
I only buy cameras with the aesthetic of Nebraska truck stop hoodies so I hope so
June 30, 2017 at 5:29AM
I think this could be a drone.
June 28, 2017 at 1:08PM
a few years ago they were talking about tech that was "like lytro", it could be a depth camera used for things like VR.
June 28, 2017 at 1:24PM
Yep, I'm betting it will be a light field modular camera of some kind as well.
June 29, 2017 at 9:02AM
Jim has said it's not AR/VR
he's also said it will have no effect on current red cameras and that it's in a new product category.
I think it's a display technology of some sort - perhaps with some type of cellular connectivity / maybe holographic.
Could be way off though
June 28, 2017 at 1:44PM, Edited June 28, 1:44PM
What if it will be a stills camera with the possibility of using a smartphone as its brain and brain only...
June 28, 2017 at 2:24PM
It's a projector
June 28, 2017 at 2:28PM
haha! burn!
oh... seriously? They tried that years ago...
June 28, 2017 at 2:29PM
Film Camera
June 28, 2017 at 3:30PM
Anyone else when the Scarlet was first announced? "3K for 3k" was the marketing slogan.
June 28, 2017 at 5:56PM
So is this just a marketing stunt to keep their name in the "news" ? This is what a company that is in second place with no chance to be the leader does.
June 29, 2017 at 5:21AM
LOL. RED doesn't need to keep their name in the news...they are already overly popular as it is.
June 29, 2017 at 9:00AM
A tiny bit of research will tell you it has nothing to do with VR. Jannard already nixed that idea.
June 29, 2017 at 7:51AM, Edited June 29, 7:51AM
They're abandoning 8k and jumping to 12k.
And every lens except medium format/65mm motion picture size will vignette.
June 30, 2017 at 4:17PM
Today 6 July... Where is announce...?
July 6, 2017 at 8:43AM