The main offering from RED at this year's IBC is its new RED 7-inch touchscreen, while it also has a new set of interchangeable OLPF filters that promises to take the concept of modularity to the extreme.
The most obvious upgrade over the normal 5" RED touchscreen is the larger size, but there are other improvements too. I expect this to be a really popular item as the 7“ Red Screen for the original RED ONE was considered a must have item, in fact one user even described it to me as “better in every way”. Size isn’t everything, of course, but in this case 2 inches can make a hell of a big difference.
RED is claiming that it also features “improved color accuracy and brightness for operation in high ambient light”, all within “an optically-bonded touchscreen”.
Also on show at IBC will be its new interchangeable OLPF system with a filter designed for low light shooting and the “Skin Tone-Highlight” filter. In a way this is RED taking modularity to an extreme as each filter is likely to require customised colour science making it almost like changing your camera (although I’m sure RED will make it all seamless). In fact I can imagine rental houses having different camera heads available with the different filters pre-installed. The idea sort of reminds me of filmstocks where you might choose a faster film with some compromises for low light shooting and a slower one for other situations.
The RED 7“ touch screen will be shipping in October 2014 and will cost $2950.
Here are the specs:
o Resolution: 1920 x 1136
o Pixel Density: 323 pixels per inch
o Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
o Response Time: 23 ms
o Contrast: 1000:1
o Brightness: 350 cd/m2 / NITS
o Color Gamut NTSC 70%
o Viewing Angle: 85° all axes
o Touch: Projected Capacitive (PCAP), multi-touch
o Redesigned hinge smaller and stronger with a range of motion: ±180° rotation (near 360°), ±90° tilt
o Mounting: 1/4-20 mounting rail
o Progressive Scan 4:4:4 8 Bit RGB
o Power Consumption: 5.5 W
o Size: 185 mm (width) x 13 mm (depth) x 181 mm (height, with hinge)
o Weight: 1.22 lbs
o Operating Temperature: 0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F)
o Storage Temperature: –20°C to 50°C (–4°F to 122°F)
o Buttons: Up, Down, User 1, User 2
o Flip / Mirror ( Finally :) )