RED Ranger Announced – It’s Not For Sale, Rental Only

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by Olaf von VossJanuary 17^th, 2019

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This is a classic RED moment. Using their own reduser.net forum, Jarred Land has announced a new camera by simply posting a single picture of it. The RED Ranger called camera won’t be for sale, though. Your only way to get your hands on one is to check with your local RED authorized rental house in early February.

This new RED Ranger camera is a rental-only item. RED’s CEO Jarred Land explained over at reduser.net that

these cameras as you can imagine are pretty expensive to make in low quantites. It doesnt really make sense unless you buy at least 10 of them. The rental houses were smart and after a discussion I had with them as a group at cinegear, this is the result.

So the Red Ranger can be seen as a custom built-to-order camera. Land notes that anyone could inquire about such a custom camera, but you would have to order a ton of them..

RED Ranger

This camera looks like a slimmed down Panavision DXL2 which makes total sense since RED, among Panavision and Light Iron, is one of the three main contributors to the DXL line of cameras. It sports the same sensor, too: The RED Monstro 8K VV. This sensor features over 16 stops of dynamic range, it’s able to capture 16-bit RAW footage, sports a native ISO setting of 1600, and offers recording in up to 60 fps in 8K (12:1 recdcode) RAW. It’s 40.96mm wide and 21.6 millimeters tall capturing images at nearly twice the area of standard S35 sensors.

Panavision DXL2 cinema camera

The new form factor of the RED Ranger camera satisfies the demands of a fully-fledged production: Lots of I/O is already on board, no need for additional modules. This might be a little bit contrary to the “obsolescence obsolete” statement of RED but in this case a single package that leaves nothing to wish for seems to be a good idea.

Further Specifications

None. This typical RED announcement leaves us with lots of room for chatter and speculations. Since the RED Ranger should be available at several RED authorized rental houses pretty soon we’ll be able to learn more about this new camera in just a few weeks.

Image courtesy of Matthew Tremblay, Jarred Land and RED Digital Cinema.

The RED Ranger is not the first custom RED camera. Remember this freaky RED Helium beast of a camera? Or the custom RED Xenomorph they build for David Fincher back in 2016?

So it appears that RED likes to build custom cameras.. You just need to have very deep pockets (or an A-list directors name on your ID card).

The Future of RED

While this RED Ranger is a rental item only, maybe this is a glimpse into the future of RED cameras. The DSMC (digital stills and motion camera) and DSMC2 designs are not for everybody since the brain itself doesn’t get you very far. In most cases you need to spend the same amount on additional modules and accessories. This Ranger concept would give us a complete camera in one package which, to me, would be nice. How about you?

Links: reduser.net  | Twitter (Jarred Land)

What do you think? Could this be the DSMC3 design of future RED cameras? Share your thoughts in the comments below!