It’s been a long time coming. If you’re a follower of RED Digital Cinema, then you’re probably familiar with the on-again, off-again nature of what is to be the successor to the company’s first camera, the RED ONE.

In a Friday post on RedUser it was announced that the first shipping EPIC has gone out the door to those who may be RED’s first and biggest champions, New York’s Offhollywood Pictures.

This doesn’t mean that EPICs are ready to ship to just anyone who logs onto the RED store, as this was an EPIC-M (not to be confused with the original Tattoo program), a special machined version of the camera that is going to be available in limited quantities before the production EPIC-X ships.

It’s uncertain how many of the EPIC-Ms will be shipped. But RED followers will no doubt be happy to see the first one ship, as that’s progress and any progress in the sometimes slow-moving RED world is a good thing. If you’re curious about what Offhollywood has been doing with their new EPIC then keep an eye on their Twitter feed; they’ve been posting some pictures.

But it wasn’t just the EPIC news that kept RED watchers engaged this week. Out of nowhere a piece of video popped up on Vimeo of a real, live Scarlet. Titled First video of a working Scarlet!, the video is nearly three minutes of a guy holding and fiddling with the camera. Seems the biggest discussion centers around the single adjustment ring on the lens that is assignable to either focus, zoom or iris control. The Scarlet video is embedded after the jump.

Red Scarlet Fixed Lens Camera – First video of a working Scarlet ! from Tonaci Tran on Vimeo.