RED Scarlet-W Camera Announced – 5K 60fps, 4K 150fps, 2K ProRes

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by Sebastian WöberDecember 11^th, 2015

Last night RED announced the new RED Scarlet-W camera, featuring a 5K RED Dragon sensor they introduced two years ago and implemented with the new higher end RED Weapon and lower end RED Raven cameras earlier this year. The new RED Scarlet-W can shoot 5K 60fps and 4K up to 150fps RAW for about $16,000 – $17,000 (working package). The camera brain alone is priced just under $10,000.

After a few years of silence it’s exciting to see RED hasn’t been sleeping and release so many new cameras this year. With this third announcement RED presents a completely new line-up of cameras surrounding the new RED Weapon Design and powerful Dragon sensor that has a reputation in cinema productions to offer high dynamic range and high resolution, organic RAW footage, imitating the look and feel of analogue film. This has been and continues to be the strength of RED cameras.

In comparison to the RED Raven, announced in September, the RED Scarlet-W features a 30% larger active sensor area (10% wider) and shoots at 5K vs. 4.5K maximum resolution. The frame-rates at different resolutions are the same. The RED Scarlet-W body itself is 40% more expensive than the RED Raven ($10k vs $6K), but has some of the features of higher-end models, for example an interchangeable mount, and a minimum of 4:1 RAW compression, and a physically larger sensor. Another difference between the two is that the RED Scarlet-W has an interchangeable Optical Lowpass Filter which can be used to enhance the image at higher ISO’s and prevent image degradation.

RED Scarlet-W Camera fully equipped.

The more expensive high-end RED Weapon camera has the same sensor as the Scarlet-W , but uses the full 6K sensor area and shoots up to 120fps in 5K and 100fps in 6K.

On top of natively recording RED RAW, which is a compressed RAW file format, the RED Scarlet-W, just like the RED Raven and RED Weapon, can also record ProRes 422 HQ in 2K at up to 60fps, but uses a smaller portion of the sensor in that mode [Update: Though not stated in the press release, proRes 2K seems to have the full frame option]. It records RAW simultaneously.

Alongside the normal RED Scarlet-W they are also introducing a Scarlet-W Monochrome, that gives you a monochrome-only sensor with higher actual resolution and higher dynamic range.

RED Scarlet-W Brain

While the RED Scarlet-W Camera Body itself will only cost $10,000, the accessories needed to get a full working package will cost $16,000 – 17,000. I know this from my experience reviewing the RED Scarlet-X back in 2012. Here’s what you need to get started:

RED Scarlet-W Basic Package – $14,500
2 V-Mount Batteries and Charger – $1450 (you can always save here and get third party v-mounts)
At Least One Additional 120GB SSD – $850 (because the camera shoots RAW)
The SSD Reader Mini Mag Station – $195 (to transfer your footage to a computer)

The new RED Scarlet-W is scheduled to ship in March of 2016.

more info on the RED Scarlet-W Promo Page