Vapor, in a shade of Scarlet

Well, so much for the Red Scarlet, the $3,000 3K video camera scheduled for release next Spring. Here's a quote from Jim Jannard, the founder of Red: "We have changed everything about Scarlet because the market has changed and we have discovered a lot of things in the process. We have a new vision. Wipe you (sic) minds of the past announced Scarlet. Forget the design and forget the price. It is all different now. We think you will be surprised. Glad we didn't take any deposits... :-) ."

Red has recently been talking about introducing its own digital SLR (DSLR) still camera. With the recent introduction of digital SLRs from Nikon and Canon that can shoot HD video, the functions of still and video cameras are blurring, especially for press photographers who are increasingly called upon to shoot video for websites. There's a real opportunity to release a DSLR that does stills and video equally well, so Red had the choice of building two cameras (the Scarlet and a DSLR), or building one. They've apparently chosen to build one, which will be the redesigned Scarlet.

This only reinforces what I've said in the past: Don't believe anything about a product until you can buy it. The milled aluminum mockup that they showed at NAB is probably being melted down as I write this.