RED has announced the Epic-M Monochrome cinema camera, a black & white camera that runs $42,000 for the body only.
RED Epic-M Monochrome Key Features
- Newly Developed Mysterium-X Monochrome Sensor.
- Native ASA 2000.
- Increased net resolution ( Removal of the debayer process, so every single individual pixel is used for luminance / image data )
- New Low Pass Filter with to accomodate the reduced pixel pitch ( 1×1 vs 2×2 Bayer )
- $42,000 ( brain only ) includes upgrade to Dragon Monochrome Sensor spring 2013.
- David Fincher is shooting his current project solely on Epic-M Monochrome cameras as we speak.
- Pre-orders open on RED.COM Monday.. Ships October 1st.
More info from RED on the reasoning behind the Epic-M:
frame rate will be the same.. the output resolution is the same. The difference here is that instead of reading 4 pixels ( RGBG ) to interpolate ( guess ) 4 final color pixels, you are reading 4 unique, accurate imaging pixels to create 4 accurate final pixels. that is why all Bayer Pattern CMOS sensors loose effective resolution, for example our 5K cameras measure an accurate 4K resolution after Debayer, and most 1080p cameras net only an accurate 1.2-1.6k image.
Its an important distinction.. one of the reasons we have always touted resolution is so important, and also the reason you are now starting to see cameras that do oversampling like the F65.
More details in the REDUser forums.
