The RED scarlet is an interesting camera.  People rushed in droves to buy an untested, brand new camera sight unseen, with no sample footage, or reviews.  Simply on RED’s good name.  I too am one of those people.

As the weeks wear on with no camera, and $$$>$15,000 in red’s hands, i wondered, what the hell am i buying?  Why have i given so much of my hard earned money to a company that cant tell me when i will receive the product i paid for….

I received a call from a fellow filmmaker Ryan Koo of No Film School, his Scarlet Ti-PL had arrived, but being a DSLR film maker, he had no PL lenses….  I am awash in PL glass as i have a problem….   i am a Glassaholic.  We figured why not join forces and fire that sucker up.

I brought along my Cooke iPanchros, Ryan brought his scarlet, Co director Raafi Rivero of The Color Machine supplied us with location and actors and voila! We had the makings of a short film.  Just shooting a film is always a great test of a new camera.  The scarlet was barebones, it had no side handle, or top handle.  The biggest challenge that day was how to pick it up…..

First impressions, the boot time is quick, the weight is low, the profile is small.  With my iPanchros i think the small size, amazing optics, and light weight really lends itself to the system.  Ryan wrote up a 1 page script, and instead of a boring test, we shot a micro short.  Whats better to see how a camera performs than to actually use it on set….

The camera you see above, is the entire package.  3x 3 hour batteries, 2 tiny 128gig SSD REDMAGs, and set of light weight lenses.  This sub 11lbs package gave us, top tier optics, 16bit 4k RAW, and it fits in the palm of your hand.  I seriously was impressed.  Simply being able to handle a camera so small that gives you EVEN in its smallest form, the best image it can, makes you want to work harder for the shot and find the best angle, composition and locations…

We had a tiny lighting package and a great location, a good combo.  This basically gave me a chance to see if i like the damn thing i already paid for… the Verdict?   I LOVE it.  Its liberatingly small.  DSLR small… but with no compromises.  24p is GORGEOUSLY detailed and nuanced… 48p in 3k is too…. 2k @ 60p is useable, but it really crops far into the image, and i fear it dammages image quality a bit.

There are a few first impression cons… the heat sink blows hot air up your nose when you hold it …. this gets ANNOYING FAST.  Also the heat fans are loud as sin, they literally drone on like a hive of bees…

The rest will come together as Ryan and co, oversee the edit….  To be updated soon….