RED Digital Stills and Motion Camera System

Most geeks are passionate about building their own PCs from components they've hand-picked to meet their needs. Why not use the same DIY mentality to create a custom camera/camcorder? 's modular Scarlet and Epic system lets hard-core A/V aficionados start with one of eight "brains"--boxes designed to house the image-processing hardware, the sensor, and the lens mount--and piece together the ideal high-end camcorder or camera from there. According to RED Digital Cinema, the various components available for the system--lenses, "brains," video monitor outputs, lens mounts, batteries, recording modules, and more--can be configured in a stunning 1,048,576 possible combinations.

Swapping in new components instead of buying a new camera may save you money in the long term, but the price of admission for the Scarlet and Epic camera system can be epic: It costs for The lowest-end "brain" costs $2500, and the highest-end "brain" goes for $53,000--and that's before you start adding the other components to your customized system. Still, if we had an extra billion dollars lying around, we'd probably green-light the 3D configuration pictured above.

Of course, if money is no object, you should check out the collection of gift ideas we collected for our slide show "."

DCS Black Shark Helicopter Sim and Saitek X52 Pro Flight System