Reaching a low price point of $5,950 for a Red camera body, the forthcoming Raven is set to be the new entry-level camera from Red Digital Cinema. That puts it in direct competition with other lightweight 4K cameras in the increasingly crowded sub-$10,000 category, including Sony's PXW-FS7 and PXW-FS5, Panasonic's AG-DVX200, and the Blackmagic Ursa Mini.

Details were sketchy, in part because Red's Jarred Land spilled just a few beans in an unexpected midnight data dump, releasing the new information in a Reduser.net thread in the wee hours of this morning in advance of a planned official announcement this Friday. (The new info starts leaking out post by post on this page.)

"The Raven doesn't replace Scarlet," Land wrote. "It's a new category in our line-up. Raven is a younger, hungrier, more 'spirited' member of the Red family with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, ready to take on the entire sub-$10K market with images that you will be incredibly proud of." Like other cameras in that space, the Raven is also looking to undercut the more expensive Canon C300 mk ii.

The Raven uses a 20.48mm-wide Dragon-class 4K sensor and records 4K at up to 120fps. The camera will ship with an onboard SSD media bay and Canon EF mount as standard. Land said the Raven is the same size as the Red Weapon, indicating that it will work with the same "DSMC²" accessories, and let slip that it will be the lightest camera Red has ever made, meaning it should weigh in at less than the 3.27 pounds of a Weapon woven-carbon-fiber body with media bay. A solid choice for handheld gimbals and drone flights, then.

Details on availability or the preordering process have not been disclosed.