Paying a Premium to Own a Stage 2 Epic

[Jonathan Stevenson]

Looking for some advice, if you're willing to share it!

I've been seeing a lot of posts from Ketch about buying a Stage Two Epic and paying a premium for it, simply to have the camera ahead of others. At first, this didn't make sense to me, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder... If you are one of the first Epic owners in your market, that'd be a pretty huge leg up in terms of making connections with clients and booking gigs. I really think the Epic is going to be so heavily sought after, much like the R1's when they first came out, that having one ahead of the Stage 4 folks would be extremely lucrative. It'd be a huge financial risk for me up front, but it could potentially pay off, since the likelihood of booking the camera in those 4 months before Stage 4 begins would be so high.

Now, I'm never one to have the mindset of "If I buy the camera, the phone will ring." I'm not being naive here. I understand that by owning an Epic, I'm not guaranteed to get work from it. However, it still feels reasonable to think that if you're one of the first people in your market to have one and you do the proper legwork to let people know about it, chances are the phone will start ringing...

What do you think? Think it's worth the risk? (I'm in Denver, btw. Red market here is very small, so this line of thinking probably wouldn't apply to someone in LA or NY).

 

[Eirik Tyrihjel]

I think it will be an upside if you ally with a rental company that currently rents REDs and doesn´t have a stage 2 Epic, or if you have all the accessories that pro-clients require, the service they ask for, the lenses +++ and if you manage to get the word out to them.

I remember back when R1 came out, many people were curious, but a lot of them were also very sceptical and quite hesitant. I had the R1 first in Norway, but it took a few months before most people found out that it was a good camera worth looking at. The first two months I mainly rented it out to other R1 costumers, who couldn´t stand the wait, and HAD to have mine for a day.

 

[Colin Sheldon]

The real question is how much time it will take Red to ship Epic in mass quantities. The faster they ship, the less a stage 2 Epic is worth.

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Looking for some advice, if you're willing to share it!

I've been seeing a lot of posts from Ketch about buying a Stage Two Epic and paying a premium for it, simply to have the camera ahead of others. At first, this didn't make sense to me, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder... If you are one of the first Epic owners in your market, that'd be a pretty huge leg up in terms of making connections with clients and booking gigs. I really think the Epic is going to be so heavily sought after, much like the R1's when they first came out, that having one ahead of the Stage 4 folks would be extremely lucrative. It'd be a huge financial risk for me up front, but it could potentially pay off, since the likelihood of booking the camera in those 4 months before Stage 4 begins would be so high.

Now, I'm never one to have the mindset of "If I buy the camera, the phone will ring." I'm not being naive here. I understand that by owning an Epic, I'm not guaranteed to get work from it. However, it still feels reasonable to think that if you're one of the first people in your market to have one and you do the proper legwork to let people know about it, chances are the phone will start ringing...

What do you think? Think it's worth the risk? (I'm in Denver, btw. Red market here is very small, so this line of thinking probably wouldn't apply to someone in LA or NY).

Hi Jonathan,

yeah some how I have become the Reduser Broker of choice, hehe.

The fact of been able to lease out an early stage II, from some one in need of financial assistance and or simply changing his/hers mind to prepare to give up their Stage II and or III Epic-X in favor of Scarlet, has presented the opportunity to others to jump the line by making an agreement of Buying out the reservation and place in line once it becomes delivered by form of Perpetual Lease, payment off course up front and buy out is One dollar.

I have seen Premium from small to very large depending on Serial Number, and the initial Owner/Seller's demands on the Lease agreement, and there are some which don't care much of how much it costs them because they want to be amongst the very first to get the Epic-X and they are willing to pay, knowing that the camera will be put to work as soon as they get it.

Similarly to the new Cine Leicas, very expensive already, yet some are willing to pay a premium just to buy a set off some one else that has one coming form the first Batch, were I'm also in a similar situation but since I already have a request for a five month rental, it makes sense to pay that premium.

I always try to be very fair to both the Owner and the new interested party that either wants to lease for a certain period as son as the Epic is delivered, or for those that wish to execute their option to purchase as soon as the Epic is delivered, I say, do not pay any PREMIUM for an early delivery and or to jump the line so just that you can have a stage II or III, unless you can put the camera to work and recuperate that Premium paid, if not just wait your turn till stage 4.

Funny thing is that I continue to receive emails every day, about Owners/Sellers that wish to give me their cameras to Lease and or sale, and new interested Lessee/Buyers, constantly inquiring about this possibility.

Most of this agreements are for a limited time with a great Rental Monthly rate, like one month rate for a five month rental, which is applied also as an upfront fee, just to help their Owner of record pay for the camera once ready to be delivered, but some deals are offered as a Lease Option to Purchase also with upfront payment, but in this cases the camera gets bought out once received with a final One Dollar payment to execute the Option to purchase, then the camera gets sent in back to Red and a request for a Camera evaluation, which will cost the now new owner to be is $100, followed by the actual transfer ship of Registry with Red of $750, which will then return the camera to the now Officially new Owner of record with a 90 Day warranty included. (Please note that this references are based in current knowledge, which could very well change by the time the Epic-X cameras ship and the fees could also change s could Red 's policies,..but we do know the drill )

Again my advise is always the same, if you can Excuse the Premium by putting the camera to work right away, and have recouped that money by the time stage 4 ships, then by all means find a deal that is good to you and make the move to be amongst the first to shoot the new Epic-X, but if you are just doing it to be amongst the very first to have the Epic-X and have no work lined up and or just hoping that having one of the first cameras wil get you that work, well in my opinion you are making a big mistake, just save yourself some money and wait till it comes out at the Red store in stage 4.

An other point I like to make is that Jim said in more then one occasion that He will not let the same process as the Red One, for shipping first Units, were only 50 or so at the time went out via the Red Days, He said that with Epic, quantities will be much higher, so delivery of all stage II's should not be too long apart from each other, now stage III and stage 3.5 will be an other story as far as how long it will take, do to the fact of needing to first send in the Red One and have it Evaluated, and then finally to stage 4, so this process of the other 3 stages could take some time, but again stage 2 I believe we wil al receive our cameras very fast once first shipping begins.