Dilemma between Red One MX and Scarlet X!

[Joseph Maalouf]

Hey guys, I am having a very difficult time deciding on weather I should purchase the Red One MX or Scarlet X. I am looking forward to buying these towards the beginning of this summer, so I don't know how prices will compare exactly, but these cameras seem so similar. What are your guys' opinions? Which shoots better at a lot of high speed? What would you go with? (I know summer is pretty far away but I'm really freaking out about this for some reason). I really don't care about size and weight either. Thanks Guys!

[Björn Benckert]

I would suggest the following...

If you need it now, then buy aRed one MX used with proper owner transfer via red.
If you do not need it now, get in line for a scarlet and you probably get it sometime around this summer.

If you buy an mx then that's the end of the line, still a very good camera and you have a lot of low priced assesories available on this very forum.
If you buy a scarlet then you are also able to upgrade to Monster/dragon that probably will be announced this spring.

MX red one is out there and it's working, scarlet is on high demand and something to wait for I doubt that you will find one used....

just my five cents on the matter.

Also if you pay the deposit for a scarlet you could probably sell it with a prime price when you get it delivered... since they are in backorder and will probably be so for a long time.
.

[Joseph Maalouf]

Thanks, Ok so lets say I don't care about prices now, which would be a better filmmaking camera overall? (Mostly for Independent/Short Films). Which would have a longer lasting future?

[Doug Beatty]

Scarlet is smaller, weighs less, and you can mail it back to RED to swap sensors and boards when they unleash the dragon.

Red One is cheaper, used accessories are starting to flood the market, and you can get it now.

Both cameras will last you as long as you take care of them. As far as making better films, I suggest taking a look in the mirror and continually upgrading what you see. It's up to you, really.

[Sam Eilertsen]

Scarlet will definitely have a longer future. It's newer, shares modules/accessories with the Epic, and can be upgraded to the Dragon sensor.

REDONE has better resolution, especially at high speed. But Scarlet is much smaller and lighter, has HDRx (at reduced resolution), has 16-bit processing, and has a Canon mount that doesn't void your warranty.

[Nathan VanderByl]

The Red One is essentially End of Life. The modularity of the DSMC system is worth a lot. Get a Scarlet.

[Rob Ruffo]

Given the choice I would rather have an MX than a Scarlet.

- MX uses huge, cheap drives.
- MX has much better slo-mo possibilities (it's no Epic, but you can do slo-mo and get high-end results)
- I like the weight and bulk of the MX - do not really like Scarlet form factor.

[Domenic Barbero]

so here is my two cents. Im a camera op and dp and i weigh 150 lbs. and all of my shoots are budgeted commercial, music video, promo corporate stuff, so i have lights on every shoot. so here are my pros and cons of both.

Red One is amazing. Has and will always be. 120 fps at 2k and 4.5k and more usable aspect ratios. It also has cheap drives and lots of support.

Now the reasons why I chose the Scarlet over the R1.....

On shoots where i needed compact camera angels, i was constantly using my 5d as a b cam instead of R1.
The scarlet weighs a lot less, saving me money at the chiropractor after 10 hours of shooting or running steadicam on shoots.
also with the weight difference, I can spend less on support from expensive cranes, car mounts, tripods, etc.
The scarlet is very modular and can be configured very easily to anything myself or a hired cam op desires for comfort.
It has easily changeable mounts incase i want to get some PL glass for a short or feature or higher budget shoot. But for most, my canon glass will be great.
Its Upgradeable in the future.
Ive been shooting on the 5d with 30fps max, so to me 60fps at 2k is great.dont need any overly dramatic slow mo shots. For most narrative stuff, it only gets used sparingly anyways during montages, so to me if i need higher frame rates, Ill use twixtor or see if its feasible to get an epic for a day.


Those are the reasons that led me to Scarlet, However getting a R1 will never be a bad decision in my mind. Its a great camera and still far ahead of most things on the market and will last many years to come before its even close to outdated. Both produce beautiful images with the right shooting and workflow. Its all about what you need/want from your cam and support.

[Brian Timmons]

There's no doubt that Scarlet represents the future in both architecture, form factor, and accessories among others.

Having said that I have never heard anyone at RED state that the RED ONE was not upgradable to future sensor
technology including the Dragon.

Yes I understand that things are subject to change but I cannot recall that change ever stated.

I have read on this forum the statement that the RED ONE would get upgrades in the form of sensor updates
(which would naturally be at a $ cost) and firmware updates. Monstro was specifically named. Yes, for the RED ONE.

Anyone can google the forum to read these statements which were made several times and repeated ad nauseum.

It certainly still makes sense to get a Scarlet for reasons like size and accessory compatibility to Epic
but these statements about the RED ONE not being upgradable are not very accurate.

I like my RED ONE MX. Its like the film camera I always wanted to own but even better.
Like a film camera I fully expect to shoot with it for the next several years and plan to upgrade to better
sensor tech when it's available.

If I need more firepower the many owners and rental houses would naturally be a great resource.

Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA