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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

The Dragon Sensor Dillema

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Roshdi Alkadri

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When you gotta shoot.... you got to shoot

One thing i was thinking about is early adoption. I know a local here who started out on the original Red then upgraded to the MX which is superior.

According to announcements, the Dragon Sensor should be released this year


The Dilemma: If one buys the Scarlet X now, it has the MX Sensor....and its lovely btw so thats not the issue

But when the dragon is announced and im sure its gonna tear the block apart, one has to pay for that new upgrade so the question is how much $$$?

Then when the Scarlet X has that sensor built in down the road, one might regret not waiting for that

If you gotta shoot now by all means, just something that i was thinking about. What do you think?
 
If history is any guide . . . I wouldn't wait for the next new RED thing to get shooting with what you have. The time to worry about these things is when they have been shipping the new spiffy gidget for several months and yours is still backordered. With Scarlet / Dragon . . . that's just a wee bit down the road Mate. Buy what's in stock and put it to work or rent until you see what's up.
 
Josh Beadle said:
If history is any guide . . . I wouldn't wait for the next new RED thing to get shooting with what you have. The time to worry about these things is when they have been shipping the new spiffy gidget for several months and yours is still backordered. With Scarlet / Dragon . . . that's just a wee bit down the road Mate. Buy what's in stock and put it to work or rent until you see what's up.
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Hi, of course i mentioned that, if you gotta shoot now then by all means... don't wait for the next best thing

Just something to consider as the upgrade might take time also. Some people won't be renting at all and would just be shooting features, commercials etc. with it. Some are in the pre-production stage and won't shoot till later. Different situations for different people of course. My buddy has an epic for instance that i can use but the scarlet x is more of a personal thing.
 
Roshdi Alkadri said:
According to announcements, the Dragon Sensor should be released this year
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According to announcements, the Scarlet should have been released 3 years ago...

I wouldnt plan anything based on announcements. Buy what's available now if it meets your needs. Do not if it doesn't.
 
(If I recall correctly...) The Red One sold for $17,500 before the MX update. The MX sensor upgrade for Red One owners was $7,500. New Red One w/ MX was then sold to new customers for $25,000 (after existing customers were allowed to upgrade). Now granted: Red has said that with the Scarlet there are additional costs of upgrading more components than just the sensor.... But this cost may be reflected in new Scarlets that ship with Dragon sensor. I doubt anyone who bought Red One before the MX upgrade regretted it.
 
Kiel Milligan said:
(If I recall correctly...) The Red One sold for $17,500 before the MX update. The MX sensor upgrade for Red One owners was $7,500. New Red One w/ MX was then sold to new customers for $25,000 (after existing customers were allowed to upgrade). Now granted: Red has said that with the Scarlet there are additional costs of upgrading more components than just the sensor.... But this cost may be reflected in new Scarlets that ship with Dragon sensor. I doubt anyone who bought Red One before the MX upgrade regretted it.
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The biggest upgrade to the R1 was Build 30 IMHO.
The biggest upgrade to the MX sensor was Epic/scarlet
 
Dragon will certainly increase the price of the body/brain no matter what. If you are planning on buying a Red there really is no better time than the present.

I'm pretty certain that when Dragon does land it's going to be a bit of a "no brainer" to upgrade. I'm just going on the potential and teases that have transpired here.
 
This is just the way technology works - there will always be even better, greater, cooler tools down the road. Buy equipment when it makes sense for you, rent in otherwise.

But with RED your options are more owner/operator friendly than was historically the case - rather than having to buy a whole new system, you can simply upgrade the brain, or even sensor.

And lastly, just because new gear might become available, doens't mean that you need it. Many great films were shot on the original M sensor, multi-billions have been grossed on both the M and MX.

Personally, I would spend time on developing stories and relationships, rather than worrying what might come down the road.
 
Martin Weiss said:
This is just the way technology works - there will always be even better, greater, cooler tools down the road. Buy equipment when it makes sense for you, rent in otherwise.

But with RED your options are more owner/operator friendly than was historically the case - rather than having to buy a whole new system, you can simply upgrade the brain, or even sensor.

And lastly, just because new gear might become available, doens't mean that you need it. Many great films were shot on the original M sensor, multi-billions have been grossed on both the M and MX.

Personally, I would spend time on developing stories and relationships, rather than worrying what might come down the road.
Click to expand...

Those are really good points martin. My worry is not about that something will always be better. Thats the standard as you know. I upgraded 5 cameras in 4 years so there's no doubt about the Scarlet X being unique in its niche market.

My understanding is that early adopters usually are faced with certain compromises, constant updates and builds as a friend who owned the Red One attested. Most of what i shoot are full length features, just wrapping on a 5 month feature for a kids adventure film. It becomes more apparent for one that they must make long term decisions and wise choices when investing in a new system and workflow.
 
you will never get ahead of the curve. Get the Scarlet, learn the workflow, buy some lenses, and then really enjoy the advantages of the Dragon when its finally releaased.
 
You also have to take into consideration the likely possibility that other manufacturers may develop, and release, new sensors within the next year that force Red to scrap Dragon as we know it (or don't know it for that matter) and go back to the drawing board which would further delay its eventual release. Hell, by the time Dragon is released it might not even be called "Dragon" anymore.
 
There isn't really a dilemma. Will you use the camera today? Can you afford the money for the upgrade sensor. Or will you make enough money on your camera for an upgrade? If not, then it's a dilemma, but if so... You should maybe not buy the camera in the first place and just rent.
 
Any body that knows the "prime" price for a scarlet? As if I would like to have one today, what are people charging? My guess is that it would be at least a few K USD above list price at the moment, or? Im surprised I have not seen any for sale here.

I think that my thoughts above makes all of us that did not ordering a few scarlets ASAP on 3:nov to look kind of stupid. It would have been nice to have a few camera bodies to play with and then sell them with profit a few months later....
 
The same thing happened with filmstocks. They kept getting finer grain, more accommodating of different light sources and faster. It never kept anyone from shooting movies.
 
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