Followers of the various camera systems under development by the crew at Red Digital Cinema got a lot to chew on last week when company founder Jim Jannard dropped a massive amount of new data related to the company’s future product plans. Red is creating a new line-up of components that can be mixed and matched in a single camera system. This scheme includes the highly anticipated Scarlet and Epic, which fit into Red’s new Digital Stills and Motion Camera (DSMC) category.

In a nutshell, Red is launching a new generation of Mysterium-X and Mysterium Monstro sensors that will be sold in optical blocks, or “brains.” The sensor sizes will range from 2/3-inch to a whopping 6cm x 17 cm and capture pixel resolutions starting at a “3K” (3072 x 1620, or 4.9 megapixels, from $2500) Scarlet brain, and maxing out at the brain-melting “28K” (28000 x 9334, or 261 megapixels) resolution of the top-of-the-line Epic 617 brain ($55,000).

Those prices just cover the brains of the operation. Users will choose from a range of camera parts and accessories – lenses, interchangeable lens mounts, monitor outputs and breakout boxes, the REDhandle, remote controls, etc – to custom-build a camera that fits their specific needs. Red even showed an image of a shoulder-mounted 3D rig that holds two optical brains, plus viewfinders, for stereo cinematography. The new optical brains will use an electronic shutter system, rather than a mechanical one. Epic brains will weigh less than four pounds, and Scarlet brains will be less than three. (The difference in size comes from the need for higher-spec Epic brains to accommodate more complex electronics and heat management.)

At resolutions this high, the idea of using these sensors to capture still images starts to become very attractive, and that’s where the DSMC appellation comes in – Scarlet and Epic users will be able to take high-quality stills as well as moving video footage using the same camera. It’s unclear how that will translate to an impact on the digital still camera market, where manufacturers are starting to experiment with devices (like Canon’s very popular EOS 5D) that shoot HD video as well as stunning high-res still images on full-frame 35mm sensors. The reaction from some quarters is skeptical – but Red has made believers out of more than a few skeptics in the HD and digital cinema markets, too. Jannard has publicly, in a post to the forums at www.reduser.net, referred to the new design(s) as a “DSLR-killer.”

In some ways, this highly modular approach is a next-generation refinement of the ethos behind the original Red One camera system, which was always envisioned as a shell for technology that would be improvable and upgradeable over time. Users will be able to shell out to upgrade the brain of their camera, boosting resolution and image quality, without losing their investment in everything else that goes into the system, from battery holders to viewfinders and recording systems. (Indeed, owners of the Red One will be allowed to trade their cameras in for a $17,500 discount on any Epic brain.)

Despite the company’s considerable savvy with pushing high-resolution sensor technology to its budget-friendly limits, it’s sadly unlikely Red will be able to do anything similarly radical to bring down the heft and cost of high-quality lenses – in the not-too-distant future, the cost of the electronics inside a given high-resolution camera is going to seem negligible compared to the value of the glass required to get decent images out of it.

Various Scarlet and Epic brains are slated to ship starting next spring, with the 9K Epic 645 and the 28K Epic 617 – and matching lenses – not estimated for delivery until 2010.

For a one-sheet detailing the system specs: http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=22052

For more information: www.red.com