Mike Curtis has posted a lengthy and detailed interview with Red Digital Cinema’s “Leader of the Rebellion” Ted Schilowitz. This interview transcript should be required reading for anyone with even an inkling of interest in the forthcoming Red One camera system.

The interview reveals a few more details about the camera form factor and design. Ted mentions a hardened metal body with mini-XLR audio and mini-HD-SDI “1.0/2.3″ video connections to save exterior real estate. He also states that the Red One will feature a 35mm PL locking ring mount with accessory options for adapting to 35mm still lenses from Nikon and Canon, noting further that older manual iris and focus lenses would be required. The camera would not be able to utilize newer electronic still lenses, as there is no control interface for them (just a mount adapter option).

A few other critical points of interest are noted by Mike…originally it appeared that a working camera would be shipping to some end users by the end of this year. Now it seems that a limited subset of advance testers will have their hands on the camera in late 2006 or early 2007, buyers may have to wait until March or April to get their hands on one. Another emerging limitation are a few caveats on recording options when capturing footage untethered.

“…they were very big and clear on the capability of the camera to record 60fps full aperture (4 or 4.5K), and up to 120fps windowed down (16mm sized aperture). While the SENSOR and the CAMERA are still capable of that, it now appears that those speeds will only be capable of being recorded offboard - the onboard processing can only handle up to 4K RAW @30p or 2K res RGB @ 60fps.”

Thats not particularly shocking to hear. 2K and 4K at higher framerates can’t be easy to implement, particularly when limited by onboard processing and storage media speeds. But it is a concern nonetheless.

“…the only way to shoot the maximum frame rate (120fps) at the maximum quality onboard will limit you to 720p resolution (not 2K), most likely derived from the windowed sensor at 16mm aperture…To get the maximum frame rate, you’d need to use the high speed optical port, which they haven’t settled on a bus topology for as yet…The CAMERA can still shoot 120 fps 2K, but you can’t record it onboard with the accessories they are discussing openly at this time. And since there hasn’t been a clear answer as to timetable on REDRAID & REDRAM, that means it is sounding likely that the camera may ship in a way that there aren’t recording options for 4K+ @ 60fps nor 2K @ 120fps.”

The tethered recording options so far look like HD-SDI and some kind of optical, Infiniband, or 10Gig-E interface. Ted noted that they would like to keep it based on an open standard (like gigabit ethernet), and build it onto the camera in such a way that it could be upgraded at a later date. Red has stated both in the past and in this latest interview that they intend to build the camera modularly, and with the future option of an upgradeable sensor. Keeping the door open for new standards and upgrade options seems very wise, and would go a long ways towards keeping this camera system relevant for years to come.