Over at the Scarletuser forums, Jim Jannard has announced that due to recent industry developments they have decided to completely redesign their forthcoming “pocket sized” professional camera dubbed Scarlet. Here’s what he has to say, with commentary:

“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 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…”

Clearly this is a direct response to three recent announcements; Nikon’s D90 with 720p HD capture, Canon’s 5DMKII-thirtyaught-d9-quadrillion (or whatever the hell convoluted name they are using) with the 1080p feature, and the latest, Ikonoskop’s intriguing digital 16mm A-Cam dII. Quizzed if this would change ship dates, Jim has responded in a follow-up post:

“Full working models at NAB… shipping to ramp up after. Volume estimations are high so the long wait like a RED ONE should not be an issue. But that depends on the real demand. This is the current schedule… but you know things can change. The only good news is that we have now done this once and have a better idea of what is involved. We are making these changes ‘in the nick of time.’”

Many forum users seem to think there may be a slight price increase, and Jim doesn’t appear to have directly answered that question. I think at this point it’s better to just sit back and wait…it sounds to me as though Red is still unsure about a lot of details, price included.

As with any new pre-production camera hype:
1.) Take any shipping, price, and featureset projections with a nice big helping of salt. Red has shown time and time again that they can and will turn on a dime (this is either good and bad, depending on your particular POV). The good news is that they show a propensity towards overdelivering on features. The bad news is that they do it on their terms and their timeframe.

3.) It’s a camera concept. It’s not going to be the be-all and end-all of imaging devices, no matter what the fanboys say. Sure, it may be a paradigm shifter, but it will most certainly have limitations. It will have workflow or use issues. It won’t cook a mean omelette and serve it to you in bed. Take a step back, pull the Scarlet renders off your pedestal, and remember that it’s just a camera. Hopefully a damn good one, but just a camera.

I say we all take a short hiatus on Scarlet hype and let Red develop what they will. There will be plenty of time for hype when it comes out and we see the product, and more importantly, footage.