RED’s latest firmware gives its EPIC and SCARLET cameras true still image capture

RED has officially given its EPIC and SCARLET cameras the ability to shoot true still images in RED’s R3D raw format with the latest firmware update for the two cameras.

Founded in 2005, by Jim Jannard, the owner/founder of sunglasses and sportswear company Oakley, RED is a motion picture camera company that wanted to take the concept of RAW imagery from DSLRs and bring it to the world of motion picture.

Since its inception, RED has released three cameras that can operate as both still and cinema cameras. However, until now, still images could only be obtained by extracting individual frames from captured video, a process that was far more convoluted than necessary and rendered a dedicated slider button on the front of the two aforementioned cameras useless.

If you’re wondering why any still photographer would be interested in the capabilities of RED cameras, it doesn’t take much looking around to find out why. At the heart of every RED camera is a sensor that RED has meticulously designed from the ground up to provide as much dynamic range and as accurate color reproduction as possible.

In terms of numbers, Nikon’s D810 DSLR has the highest dynamic range available at a whopping 14.8 stops of dynamic range. In comparison, RED’s Dragon sensor is capable of 16.5 stops of dynamic range, almost two stops more.

Sure, not everyone needs this amount of dynamic range, nor to most people care to go through the elaborate process of accurately editing such a flat image, but for commercial photographers who want as much data to work with in post as possible, it’s no surprise they’d be looking at RED for their next camera.

In the video below, RED has provided a detailed breakdown of the new still image features now available in firmware versions 6.0.x and later.

You can find out more information on RED’s forums by clicking here.

(via NoFilmSchool)