From the Floor at NAB

I've been hanging out at NAB this weekend and spending a lot of time with my buddy Ted from Red. We drove out to Vegas in his little hybrid and only spent $20 on gas. It was pretty funny considering what we would have paid had we drove an SUV out here from LA.

Ted really enjoys beating the system and it seems that the company he works for, Red Digital Cinema enjoys doing that as well.

Today Red announced a new camera that will shoot better than HD and film and the price point is $3000. This may not mean anything to you if you are doing an online show but if you plan on showing it on Apple TV or selling or licensing your show or footage to TV, DVD or other HD formats this little camera will be a big deal.

Here are the specs:

SPECIFICATIONS:
NEW 2/3" MYSTERIUM X SENSOR
1-120 FPS (180FPS BURST)
UP TO 100 MB/SEC REDCODE RAW AND RGB RECORDING TO DUAL COMPACT FLASH
4.8" LCD
8X T2.8 RED ZOOM LENS
FULL AUTO OR FULL MANUAL SHOOTING MODES
HDMI and HD-SDI
FIREWIRE 800 and USB2
STILL MODE
COMPATIBLE WITH MANY RED ONE ACCESSORIES
WI-FI CONTROL

Another thing that Red is known for is posting these little warning lables that I really respect.

"SPECIFICATIONS, DELIVERY DATES AND DESIGN ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE... COUNT ON IT."

It's always fun to see Red go through a NAB and see what a great job Red does of bringing their products to market.

This year Red's booth has two lines. One to get into the booth to see the cameras and one to get into a theater to see footage shot on the first 100 Red cameras in the first 100 days of the Red Camera's release. The entrance to see the Red camera footage even had a pre-show video of Red footage to watch while we were waiting.

Jim Jannard, the founder of Oakley is also the founder and mastermind behind the Red One camera and he was in the NAB Red theater introducing the Red footage before each screening. It's really interesting to see a man who is independently wealthy down in the trenches demonstrating his new products. Jim is truly passionate about what he manufactures and it shows in everything thing he does. ( The even had red ropes for the cue line) It's amazing to see how proud he and everyone associated with Red are.