RedCam Central :: View topic - An update from RED's Jim Jannard 6-3-11

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Posted online by Jim Jannard:

"All the bad news that I can think of…

1. Supply chain issues. This continues to drive us crazy. We have just gotten word of more delays with several key components from Japan for EPIC-X. We are now looking at late July to receive parts and for the production line to ramp up. We can make a lot of cameras… just need some critical parts.

2. Lens issues with Fixed Scarlet. We have lens production issues that need to be resolved before we can begin production. My bet is September.

3. Features. We continue to enable features in both EPIC and Scarlet… but every feature is not enabled at this point. We are enabling new features every week. Expect us to continue that trend and improve the features of the cameras steadily. EPIC and Scarlet share an unified code base so what gets enabled in EPIC gets enabled in Scarlet.

Engineering cameras that are as complicated and spec-intensive as these is not easy. We have set time targets and missed them. However, we have not missed any spec targets. To the contrary, we have exceeded them. Both EPIC and Scarlet produce images that are much better then we ever anticipated.

We are transparent. For better or for worse. We acknowledge that we are in uncharted territory. We have never done this. Neither has anyone else. While we hope that you can appreciate pushing everything to the Nth degree, we also know you need to make plans. No one wants to finish development and begin shipping more than I do. No one. Truly. But there is a reality that we bump up against. Our commitment to our customers mandates that we tell the bad news right along side the good news. So there you have it.

Now… if you want some good news… EPIC-M continues to go out in measured numbers and the images from these cameras are unparalleled.

There are far fewer people posting about missing EVFs because we are shipping regular amounts each month.

REDmags and R1 SSD Modules are shipping in reasonable quantities.

EPIC continues to be the choice for the highest budget features… because the images this camera makes are legendary. "This is the best looking footage I have ever shot... these are the best images I have ever seen!" John Schwartzman, Cinematographer of "The Amazing Spiderman".

We have just enabled an EPIC anamorphic mode with more pixels than 4.5K as well as 2K at 300fps (an example of beating specs) in the latest EPIC-M firmware build (for free).

Greame's Magic Motion HDRx is soon to be enabled in free REDCINE-X application...

We have a complete assembly line in California ready and waiting… just need parts.

The extra development time has been well spent. What we are fixing now helps every future customer.

I wish we had some traits of the big guys… but I wouldn't trade our program for anyone's.

God love us all…"