what do they mean by Future-Proof?

[cinemano]

They say the Red one is upgradeable.. Do they mean that when a new Red comes out we can keep our lenses, batteries, drives and stuff?

Or is the body upgradeable too? (increase Ks, or speeds, etc?)

Love this site.. thanks for all the amazing feedback! :)

[Gunleik Groven]

It has been said a number of times that you could upgrade your sensor.

I wouldn't hold my breath, though...

What else they mean?

That for keeping your production technically valid for more years, 4k'ish material is probably a better bet than SD/720/1080/2k...

that is if you find a good way to store your masters...


Gunleik

[Chris Gearhart]

Plus they don't do incremental redesigns that force you to buy a new camera every year. You are along for the ride and your camera is modularly upgradable (if at some expense).

[Jeff Kilgroe]

The way I take it is that software / firmware upgrades will always be available for download. Any hardware revisions that come along to this RED One design will be available (for a price) if you send your camera in for an upgrade. I'm assuming that at some point a new model will come along to replace the RED One, but that could be several years down the road. Possibly a very long time from now if the current body design is able to hold all the new electronics that come along.

[Stephen Williams]

Hi,

The original Red one cameras have been replaced by new cameras free of charge. Now if Red was to repeat that process, that would really be future proof.

Stephen

[Jay A. Kelley]

Given the age of the camera, and it's design, I actually expect a redesigned RED in the next year or so.

I am not worried because it's Jim and I am confident that all (And I mean ALL) our acessories will still work. However he is going to be under a LOT of pressure from competition in the next 12 months, and the amount he may have to do to the camera would make "upgrading" not a cool thing. I would not be surprised if he had a special "trade in" rate for existing customers.

This is MASSIVE guessing of course.. But the bottom line is that no matter what happens, Jim will make it ok.. It's what he's about.

Jay

[Zack Birlew]

Looking at the way the RED One is right now, the only real upgrade would be a new sensor or recording module. The accessories will definitely get better, 1080P LCD instead of 720P for instance. Maybe even a slightly smaller body? Just sayin', technology does tend to shrink over time. An updated body I could see, especially if there's some sort of new output technology released, display port maybe? I don't know what that is exactly, I was just reading about it the other day. Another thing could be native CF recording so as not to interfere with the flash module, you'd need a new slot for the CF cards right?

Just speculating here, but I don't know if an 8K sensor will work in the current body, that would be RED Two I think but who knows? Still, a more sensitive sensor and/or one that allows for 1000fps recording, like the Phantom, would make sense as an upgraded sensor. Native single-camera 3D? I don't know if a sensor upgrade alone will allow for that but the guys at RED are geniuses.

Upgradeability is a BIG feature of the camera and one of my main reasons for investing in it versus anything else because I too tire of the trickle down effect of prosumer cameras.

[jtcoleman]

I always read it as "we use the same upgrade method of the IBM PC" ... basically, you can swap parts out of a PC and keep using the base forever: getting slow? upgrade the memory. better graphics? upgrade the video card. faster performance? new processor. oops! too many peripherals, buy a new power supply. Don't like this case, think I'll move everything into a slimline model. out of hd space, think I'll add another one. and an adapter for my new printer... and... eventually it's a completely new machine, but I was able to upgrade it part by part over time, so that I never had a day when I woke up and found my entire investment obsolete.

JT
Austin, Texas

[luis bustamante]

What I understand by the "future proof" concept is that the modular design will allow for hardware updates to keep the camera current or add functionality.

Perhaps in the future we'll see an optical viewfinder and a mechanical shutter offered as add ons to the current design. Maybe even the sensor will be upgraded in the near future to have more DR and less "skew".

[Dylan Reeve]

Ditto the modular thing...

Basically given there is a easy path for firmware upgrades, and that some of the core parts are fairly 'easily' replaceable the camera's lifespan and functionality can be improved without outright replacement.

I get the impression that the guts of it is designed in such a way that it has more capacity than is required, so that new better parts could be integrated with it in future.

But even the apparently fairly open structure of the internal hardware is 'future proof' to some extent. Whereas most traditional cameras have a large number of pre-programmed ROMs which can only really be upgraded by physical replacement, I believe RED uses more multi-functional hardware with a lot more scope for software upgrades.