Sensor

The sensor has a 12 Megapixel CMOS (brand name: Mysterium) that is 24.4mm x 13.7mm, with 4520x2540 active pixels, 4900x2580 full pixels, and a 66dB dynamic range. The Mysterium sensor has the same active area as a Super 35 film frame (masked to a 16:9 aspect ratio), allowing the same shallow depth of field to be produced in conjunction with lenses designed to cover the 35mm format.

The camera also allows the sensor to be used in a 'windowed' mode, in which the sensor can emulate the active area of a Super 16 film frame while capturing 2K footage. This allows the camera to be used with lenses designed to cover the super 16 format. Mysterium is the company's proprietary sensor design.

Recording formats

The recording formats include 2540p("4K+"), 4K, 2K, 1080p,1080i, and 720p.

Frame Rate          Supported Resolution

1 – 60 fps 2540p, 4K, 2K,1080p, 720p

1 – 120 fps         2K, 720p (windowed sensor)

50 / 59.94fps     1080i, 720p

Red does not natively capture standard definition formats. However, its higher definition formats can be scaled down in post production, and should yield extremely high-quality standard definition output. The sensor does not record 1080i natively. However, the camera can record 1080p60, from which 1080i can be extracted in-camera.

Compression and workflow

The Redcode RAW codec allows 4K sensor data to be recorded at 24 frames per second with a data rate of around 27.5 MB/s (220 megabits per second). This data rate is low enough that on-camera recording (for example, to a Red-Drive digital magazine containing two 2.5" hard drives) will be possible. Redcode only functions at up to 30 frames per second at 4K. To achieve higher frame rates at 4K or to record 2540p, uncompressed video must be recorded to an external RAID.

Redcode is a wavelet codec, similar to CineForm RAW and JPEG2000, so many of the blocking artifacts associated with digital video compression should be absent. Red has claimed Redcode RAW is visually lossless. Because Redcode RAW will be recording RAW bayer sensor data, the footage may not be usable on desktop editing systems without additional processing, though Red has commented that playback should be possible in any QuickTime application. Red has announced an application called Redcine[1], which can convert Redcode RAW footage to other formats. The camera can also record using an RGB (non-RAW) version of Redcode at 1080p or 720p.

Audio

The Red One is able to shoot sync sound with 4 channels of uncompressed audio at 16/24 bit 48KHz. Inputs are line/mic level switchable with 48V phantom power available.[2]

Weight, dimensions and body design

The Red One camera body is weighing ten pounds. Dimensions are 12" long x 6.3" tall x 5.2" wide.[3] The camera is based around a modular design concept. It has many mounting points, and accessories like recording devices, viewfinders, etc. are mounted to the camera, rather than being integral parts of the body.