New 11.5 megapixel camcorder in development from Oakley sunglasses founder

Las Vegas (NV) - Jim Jannard, the founder of Oakley sunglasses, is working on a new camcorder that can record 60 frames per second at 11.5 megapixels. The new camcorder, simply called Red, will use a new CMOS sensor aptly named the Mysterium Sensor, and have an Oakley manufactured lens. Jannard is showing off a non-working model at his booth inside the National Association of Broadcasters convention.

The new Red can record at 4520 pixels by 2540 pixels, claims Jannard, which is about 11.5 megapixels. The large 24.4 mm by 13.7 mm Mysterium sensor will give each pixel 29 square microns of light-absorbing area. Its camera body will weigh less than 7 pounds without the battery, lens, or recording module. Dual XLR audio inputs along with a variety of video outputs will be featured on the camcorder body.

As you can imagine, recording such a large area at 60 frames per second will require new codecs and recording devices. This is why the camera will have its own "Red" codec (presumably a RAW format) that can sample the luminance, red, and blue channels at 4:4:4. The data-rate of the Red codec can be throttled from 100 megabits per second down to 19 megabits/second. Dual fiberoptic ports will output the video, but an optional recording module will be made available for under $1,000. No further details yet about the module’s capacity, or whether it will be hard-drive or Flash memory based, though its hefty price tag suggests it could very well be the latter.

The viral marketing campaign of the Red camera has created quite a stir among video professionals. Last December, Jannard posted messages about the camcorder on the DVXUser forums. In addition, he gave a fairly detailed interview to the folks at HDFORINDIES.COM. As you can imagine Jannard’s background at Oakley has helped push some of the buzz. His naming of the Mysterium CMOS sensor follows the tradition he started at Oakley sunglasses where the lenses are made of Plutonite and the ear stems are made of Unobtanium.

No release date has been set by Jannard. The Red camera body will sell for $17,500 while the 300 mm f2.8 lens will be available for around $4,750.