I can haz ENG?

[Aron Cohen]

I had an idea a few days ago for a possible ENG-market RED design.

My idea is that RED could make a camera body similar in style and usage pattern to many Sony, Panasonic, etc. shoulder-mount ENG cameras. My point would be that, building on RED's current modularity-focused philosophy, these camera bodies would have slots for the scarlet/epic brains. So in a sense they would just be ergonomically preconfigured storage, battery and audio modules with maybe some added format-processing. Instant broadcast camera, just add wat... Scarlet. I'm just thinking how a 2/3" scarlet could be a great ENG cam with the proper modules. This kind of a "god module" for ENG would fill the needs of many newsrooms IMO (with the 1080p recording mode obviously).

Pricing, of course, is the hard part, but I seriously think this would be an awesome project for RED to pursue sometime after the DSMC wave settles down and we have a solid product on our hands in that department.

Keep it up guys, you're killing it (the rest of the industry, that is).

[David Rasberry]

You can do this with a modular configuration of a Scarlet as it is designed now. I was looking at a used Sony PDW-350 EX as an alternative to Scarlet and configured Scarlet with the already announced modules to match most of the features of the Sony. Scarlet came out in the same price range, about $20k when outfitted like an ENG cam including the same B4 servo zoom packaged with the Sony. It would setup in a nice balanced over the shoulder rig just fine and record HD-SDI 4:2:2 encoded video to an aftermarket solid state recorder like the Convergent NanoFLash. I bet Red will also have a module down the road that records to common broadcast encoded formats too. They have already announced an H.264 module.

[Shawn Booth]

um, why though? seriously. doesn't really make any logical sense...

(shouldn't refer to yourself as a wannabe - who's gonna take you seriously?)

[Michael Hastings]

snip...

(shouldn't refer to yourself as a wannabe - who's gonna take you seriously?)

Anyone that appreciates honesty and humility over bs and hype... :)

[Shawn Booth]

Anyone that appreciates honesty and humility over bs and hype... :)

I understand this. However, claiming wannabe does not instill confidence...

There are other, better, ways of saying you're new and/or inexperienced.

[Steve Gibby]

Hmmm....

Fast turnaround Electronic News Gathering (ENG) with Scarlet? In my opinion the answer to that will be somewhere between "very workable" and "yes, it can be done" - depending on the finalization of EFP/ENG friendly features in the specifications of camera.

Slower turnaround non-hardlined Electronic Field Production (EFP) and ENG b-roll with Scarlet? Definitely! IMO it can already be assumed that the camera will absolutely excel at that.

When the technical specifications of Scarlet are finalized it will be much easier to define the strengths and weaknesses of the camera.

As far as an EFP/ENG setup and ergonomics, as modular as it is, Scarlet can be turned into whatever form factor camera you need for the style of work you do.

Final thought: IMO the biggest challenge for users of Scarlet and Epic will be for their skill sets and attitudes to be broad and open enough to effectively maximize the modularity, flexibility, scalability, and utility of the cameras :)

[Michael Hastings]

I understand this. However, claiming wannabe does not instill confidence...

There are other, better, ways of saying you're new and/or inexperienced.

I understand Shawn - just teasing.

I think he was just being a little ironic/ facetious - hence where he said "with pride"

[Aron Cohen]

my point with this was not to give advice on a one-way hardware proposition, i'm just saying i see lots of newsrooms opting for the less advanced technology because they're afraid of configuration on more difficult systems. A TV network I had an internship at last summer went the XDCam way instead of sticking with their older PAL cameras for a while before making the dive for a Scarlet-centric setup because they said the modular system was too "unstable". And in a way I understand this. They'd have to train everyone at a company of 100+ to start thinking differently about how their cameras work and that is a serious eyebrow-raiser.
Other than the modularity, though, no real problems came up. They had a full workflow thought out, awaiting implementation.

So all i'm saying is that based on my experience there might be a market for this type of product. And I'm sure they'd sell quite a few.

[Aron Cohen]

So to clarify and avoid misunderstandings:

I LOVE THE MODULAR SYSTEM. It's smart, it's versatile, it's fresh.

TV crews working in the field don't. At least as far as my experience has shown.

[David Rasberry]

my point with this was not to give advice on a one-way hardware proposition, i'm just saying i see lots of newsrooms opting for the less advanced technology because they're afraid of configuration on more difficult systems. A TV network I had an internship at last summer went the XDCam way instead of sticking with their older PAL cameras for a while before making the dive for a Scarlet-centric setup because they said the modular system was too "unstable". And in a way I understand this. They'd have to train everyone at a company of 100+ to start thinking differently about how their cameras work and that is a serious eyebrow-raiser.
Other than the modularity, though, no real problems came up. They had a full workflow thought out, awaiting implementation.

So all i'm saying is that based on my experience there might be a market for this type of product. And I'm sure they'd sell quite a few.

OR i might be crazy and should shut up, eh? Or change my signature? ...

It is true that the one piece over the shoulder ENG camera is highly evolved to the point of near perfection for its intended use. As Steve said, I don't see a Scarlet being first choice as a fast turn daily news camera. But for more deliberate doc/news magazine work or for an independent stringer it could be a good choice properly configured.