Basically the C300/Scarlet are really a 2K for red/blue and 3K for green. Nothing 4K there except for how many light sensors there are.

So when Scarlet outputs a 4K RBG picture, that’s only an extrapolation…. or if you prefer they’re inventing those extra pixels. The C300 isn’t. They just compiling the information and reducing it to a 1080P image. Essentially with Scarlet, you have to have the computing power to decode their REDCODE they’re giving you. If you’re decoding it into a 1080P picture you’re losing a bit of information, but if in 4K RBG then you’re inventing pixels the camera has never captured, pretending you’ve recorded a 4K RGB pixels image. To decode that REDCODE you need a RED PCI CARD that costs $5K, and a computer that can handle the huge amount of data, that’s RAIDs and a big computer for you… so you’re talking an extra $10K min just for the computing power. With the C300 or F3 you don’t have that additional hidden costs.

Plus of course the Scarlet sensor is old… and is not up-to-date in terms of technology. The C300 uses a 4K sensor with larger photosites essentially capturing more light in less time, so it’s way more light sensitive than the scarlet.

RED will be releasing a new sensor DRAGON late 2012, and people can expect to get hold of Scarlet with that sensor mid 2013. Essentially RED is financing their development of that new sensor with selling their old technology.

With the scarlet, you can’t do slow-motion, except if you’re cropping the picture. Let’s say you want 60fps, well you have to record at 1080P, so that’s essentially a 4.5X crop factor. So you’re 50mm lens becomes FOV equivalent to a 225mm lens….. What else is there to say.

The lights that we are using are “binned” differently than the ones you can buy from Prompter People. The color balance on the units for sale are a lot closer to 5600K.