Last week the acclaimed Red camera made an appearance in our cinematography class. What an amazing device! Basically, the Red camera brings digital film up to the quality of digital still photography and at one tenth the cost of anything comparable. The picture is simply stunning and since it is recorded in a raw format, there is a much greater range of picture adjustment and color management that can be done in post production. The trouble is that this camera puts out an absolute fire hose of data and current storage and editing systems are barely capable of handling it. But that’s a good problem to have. The capacity of storage and the power of computers and editing systems will only increase and the Red camera is driving the next wave of digital filmmaking. It’s a fine camera, but for now, I’m happy with the Panasonic HVX200’s that we’re using, which provide a fine HD quality picture. I love this kind of new technology, but I don’t want to get too distracted by it. We need to keep reminding ourselves to stay centered on the story and casting, then take as good a picture as you can.