To say that I've been earnestly optimistic about the possibilities of the Red One camera is a gross understatement. Sure, Lord of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson was given an early test kit and Steven Soderbergh has already produced and shot two films with a Red digital camera rig, meeting and exceeding any film snob's requirements. But neither effort spoke to the body electric the way a pair of short clips from Magnum Opus Productions do.

Watch both the city of light test shoot and the meditation on skateboarding as HD clips from Vimeo and you won't be disappointed.

Pranky crank film professor Arnold Baskin, a teacher at New York University, asked my class last fall why they preferred film over digital. "Because it's more magical," replied a classmate. Not to be too much of a shill for the company started by Oakley shades magnate Jim Jannard, but Red's digital cinematography efforts have created their own, more than estimable, magic — and at a relative bargain price of $1,250 a day and $3,750 a week for a rental in Los Angeles.

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