Upgrades to Begin This Summer, with Top-of-the-Line 8K Camera Promised by Year's End

weapon-of-choiceThe Red Dragon camera line-up got three new units at the high end with the NAB announcement of the Red Weapon. The Weapon Dragon will be available in a 6K magnesium body version, a 6K carbon fiber version, and, eventually, an 8K carbon fiber version.

As usual in the Red universe, users will get a variety of trade-in credits for their existing Dragon cameras if they opt to upgrade to the latest and greatest–and users who owned Dragons before NAB 2015 got under way will get the best upgrade deals. Upgrades are slated to begin in July.

Native resolution of the Weapon 6K cameras is 6144×3160. Frame rates of up to 59.94 are supported in all acquisition formats, from 720p to 6K raw, and Redcode support includes 6K at 100fps. The Weapon will support simultaneous recording in both Apple ProRes and R3D, and read and write speeds for the Red Mini-Mag have been increased.

The 8K version arrives at the end of the year, sporting an 8192×4320 that shoots 8K at 60fps in full-sensor mode, or at up to 75fps in a scope (2.40:1) frame format.

Reduser.net moderator Phil Holland has posted a handy cheat sheet with good information on the various Dragon options coming out on NAB.

Red Digital Cinema: www.red.com