Enter the Dragon

[Christopher Probst]

Scarlet owners should in no way feel cheated. Think about it, the moment you use a scarlet and realize the power of these cameras, you immediately wish it could do all the things Epic can, hence everyone saying "scarlet is a gateway drug." As a scarlet owner having the choice of upgrading to a crippled dragon or saving up more and having the best that RED can offer I would without a doubt pick the second option. This upgrade isnt happening next month. Owners have a lot of time to decide what their choice will be and save up for the upgrade when the time comes. If the owner of a camera as powerful as the Scarlet cant save up the extra dough over the next 6-12 months or more for the trade in then the dragon probably isnt going to do much for you anways, because as of now the scarlet can do pretty amazing things at an awesome price point. Scarlet was a way for me to buy into the RED ecosystem without selling a kidney, familiarizing myself with the technology and workflow, and now I'll have the choice to trade in for the best the company has to offer and presumably save a lot of money compared to RED saying if you want a dragon buy it at full price.

This is 100% the truth of the matter. The fact that you bought into a Scarlet shouldn't be thought of as a negative. With an upgrade/trade-in path, it's the BEST news Scarlet owners could hope for. I'm not saying that the Scarlet is a bad camera... but once you get the full monty of what an Epic can do, there is no comparison. Cut your teeth on a Scarlet, build your skills, a reel, clients, but SAVE for the Epic w/ Dragon upgrade. That camera is going to be the most mind blowing imaging device out there, and you'll thank yourself for getting aboard early on. Not to mention, up the ante of your work and the spectrum of clients you can service with the camera.

I can't wait one day extra before having my Epic's sensor upgraded. As soon as they start taking delivery, mine's is going under the knife.

 

[sergio arguello]

doubtful.. Tarantino already said he is done with making movies.. he cant stand digital and refuses to shoot it.. he would rather write than subject himself to digital

hate to say this, but after Django he IMHO is one film too many already. weak, and pulling tupac tracks out of the woodwork made it all that much weaker!!!

 

[Jason L]

Will the EPIC dragon still need to window the sensor for much higher frame rates? Or has that changed also?

I guarantee they will window, creates way too many bad artifacts when lines are skipped to make the final image.

 

[Graeme Nattress]

I guarantee they will window, creates way too many bad artifacts when lines are skipped to make the final image.

Line skipping is not in our vocabulary.

Graeme

 

[Jannard]

And windowing for frames rates is...

Jim

 

[Michael Epple]

I don't think resolution or sharpness is an issue here.

Jim

It does become a factor very quickly when windowing. We'll see what the new OLPF is like.

 

[Phil Holland]

In any event, it is more than any film stock we have ever seen and certainly more than any digital sensor known to man. This is meaningful.

In the hustle and bustle last night while out celebrating NYE and checking this thread/replying from my phone I really wanted to congratulate you in particular Jim. Red isn't just providing a film alternative here. Dragon is essentially providing a new recording medium.

When I was a green sprout in this industry I began my career in film and dealing with film's crazy inconsistent ways. LAD prints being off, variance of baths, milky blacks that had to be dealt with, etc... Then moving over to color correction and grading only made things stranger. Color wedges forever and then eventually a pure digital process. It became a craft and that experience certainly was valuable. Film was beautiful, chaotic, and sometimes an extreme point of frustration for me.

I was frustrated by the lack of precision over image quality. Precision over different projection screens, projectors, prints, etc. Back when you guys actually made the Red One happen I saw hope. Hope for going against the weird resolution sacrifices we made. So many compromises and odd "truths" were created which never needed to exist in the first place.

With 4K delivery properly landing to the masses now and digital projection along with higher quality screens we for the first time will be able to deliver the cinema experience consistently all over the world. From a capture point of view and delivery point of view, I can't remember a time that was more exciting than right now.

There's been a hell of a lot of criticism and these days anybody with a keyboard can lob an opinion weighted in one direction or another. For those who tested and stretched REDCODE around it's been pretty clear to see the amazing power within these cameras. With Dragon we have something beyond what we've come to know and love as the standard. Something new and different carving it's own place.

I thank the entire Red Team for working tirelessly, but I wanted to thank you in particular Jim for pushing the vision. If Red didn't push I don't know how long it would have taken to get this ball rolling.

(sorry for the butt kissing nature of this post, but I care about imagery and have walked a mile through hot coals and thorns)

There is something important with Dragon in regards to this that we will discuss soon... Graeme has been pretty busy.

New IR OLPF for Dragon

The sensor comes surrounded with a whole bunch of new tech that will raise the bar in far more than just DR...

You guys are going to be thrilled...

I'm beginning to get a clearer picture of what's going on now. Really wonderful stuff. It's words today, but I can visualize a bit where this is going.

Speaking of which.. a ton of credit needs to go to our engineers ( and their families that we stole them from).

Thank you. As much as celebrating with friends last night was on my mind, I also was very much thinking about who is making this possible. Thanks for the effort. It's much appreciated.

 

[George A.]

Does a new IR filter mean Hot Mirror filters will no longer be needed at all?

George

 

[andreas margreiter]

Just love you guys 2013 will become a great year!!

 

[Daniel Pearson]

Rad news for a Scarlet trade in. Stoked, and excited to see some images.

 

[Andrew Crossland]

All I can think of is how really stupid Q. Tarantino is going to look now after saying Digital cant compare to film. Tarantino, now is a good time to come up with an excuse to why you said that,....here's one, you were high on mushrooms!

Quentin never said anything about quality. He merely thinks we are losing the separation between film and television. when we go to the theaters now we are essentially watching blu ray....

 

[Thomas Koch]

I'm excited about this announcement, however I can only fee a little anxious about the new Iso range. i've never been happy with Iso800 under tungsten lighting with the MX sensor, and was hoping to maybe get to iso 800 or even 1600 with the same noise performance as 320 under tungsten lighting. From what I've read here, we need to adjust our expectations on ISO performance down a little bit.

To me ISO performance is top of my list. I shot some doc footage recently, and found ISO 2000 was unusable under tungsten lights. However Neat video helped and it was a doc so, noise wasn't such an issue.

Now the question is, Sell the Scarlet, or upgrade and have two epics?

 

[Jeremy Saville]

Inspi(RED)

 

[dennys bisogno]

I'm not a religious man but God bless our engineers.. and for all of you out there still with a drink in your hand tonight raise it and give them a nod.
They deserve it.

AMEN to that!!

 

[Jannard]

Let's go easy on the name calling... not necessary here (or anywhere). When we, or some other company, makes a product that is worthy of everyone's praise and use... you won't have to badger anyone into using it. I think Dragon is one of those things that will sell itself.

Jim

 

[Jason Rudd]

Thanks Jim J for deleting that last post.

Let's not spoil this event with a bunch of name calling. I guess that's the real weakness of making announcements like this on the internet and on a forum.

This is a great technical achievement, let's leave it at that! Congrats! Looking forward to trading in my Scarlet-X! Hurrah!

 

[Martin Stevens]

I really do believe that with this much Dynamic Range, and the other yet to be announced wonders of the Dragon, that anyone
who wants to make there Dragon footage look like film will be able to by using various post imaging processes.

The reality is that lots of digital footage looks "un-film-like" because people wish it to look "un-film-like".

 

[Dan Frenkel]

It was my post that was deleted, funny thing is I was the victim of the name calling. Thanks. Now I understand Ketch even more now!

 

[dennys bisogno]

Quentin never said anything about quality. He merely thinks we are losing the separation between film and television. when we go to the theaters now we are essentially watching blu ray....

True, but I think embracing technology and make it work is key. I think Ansel Adams would it been the first to embrace tools like Photoshop

 

[Will Keir]

How's the waiting list for the sensor upgrades going to be handled? First to deposit or by serial?