Jarred Land, RED Digital Cinema company President, posted a hint on Instagram this evening that there is a new camera that records to CFast on its way. Looking at the ports, the mini 3.5mm audio-in seems to point to a compact or pocket cinema camera, perhaps to compete with the wildly successful Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 4k.

Recording to CFast will certainly bring the cost of recording media down to a place that is more reasonable than the price of the current RED Mini-Mag. Cheaper media cost is a big issue for longtime RED customers.

With the release of the Jinn1Mag and videos revealing the technology behind the RED Mini-Mag, RED has been forced to lower their price. Initial reaction to the post seems to be overwhelmingly hopeful (DSMC2 or 3?) with a bit of residual rage at RED over the whole mag issue.

Regardless, the fact that RED is looking to CFast certainly is timely, given the recent controversies. And that the location given for the IG post is London, UK could be a bit of Jarred's savage humor (Jinni.Tech is located there).

In the best RED tradition, they've dropped a bomb on our laps that raises more questions than answers. Especially, if it is a pocket camera, what kind of sensor and image processing will they be able to cram into such a small form factor? Given RED's history, the sensor could possibly be larger than the BMPCC's MFT 4K.  How they pull this off, and at what price point will be driving discussion around this until we get further announcements.

However, history also tells us that a photo hint from RED can mean a product is coming or that it is still a prototype with a distant release date. One thing is certain, RED is still able to grab their customers' attention and hold it in a way unlike any other camera company. Hopefully, this is truly an exciting new camera that is coming quickly and not a CFast bone to appease customer discontent.

 

redcfastcompactcamerasPocket Camera
Cinematography & Cameras