Please explain how RED are Fascists.
As probably the biggest proponent of RED on this forum, I have to say,
Yeah, they kind of are. They have plenty of reasons for it, some good, but generally this is not a very friendly company.
For one thing, they posture. Gen-X cool takes a definitive front seat to customer service, at least on the sales side, Rich or famous people have frequently bumped the orders of those that have been on waiting lists for 6 months. Advertising is rarely accurate, most sales people are disinterested and apathetic, Attitude, orginization, sales presence, etc was basically terrible at the NAB booth. The most common answer you'll get to any sales question is a shrug, and a "Whatever dude".
You have to buy all RED gear to work with their camera (sound familiar apple fans?) It's all insanely overpriced except for the camera body itself, which is the only price they advertise(with the exception of lenses). ($750 for a bicycle grip?)
They will sell a rich person a camera right now for an extra 20k, but are telling everyone else to wait until next year, including many that have waited over a year already. They WILL kick you off the forum for saying much of anything they don't like. RED is also the only company I've ever run across that won't give even a 1% discount, on anything, ever.
The actual product is the only truly great thing about RED. If there was one single competitor that offered something of similar caliber in the price range, I'd have switched companies in a split second. Truth is, they are way ahead of the competition. I can upgrade my camera to near an IMAX camera for 6k next year (or so they say, kind of)
Sony on the other hand was really helpful and willing to work with me. Great support team and great willingness to work with me. Too bad their equivalent camera is $230,000.
Arri is also medium friendly, but you'll need 110k instead of 60 for the RED, and it wont do the higher frame rates.
RED knows they are the only game in town, and in my opinion, it hasn't humbled them too much.
The only people at red I really liked were Jim himself, and a guy named LJ kim. These two seem like hardworking professionals with respect for others. Above all though, the positive that keeps me with red is that with all their overpricing of accessories, they still come in at half the cost of the alternative, and have a better camera, and better upgrade system.