Pool: Dragon vs other devices (track dolly, crane, Light)

[Alexey Datsenko]

What would you choose:
1. Dragon
2. Dolly plus Crane or stedicam (Mathews dolly, Kessler, Stedicam crane or any other for 9,5K)
3. Set of Light (7 Kinoflo, or 7 Arri 2000 or some other set for 9,5 K)
4. Scarlet as B camera.
5. Other device for 9,5K.

 

[Paul Russell]

Having just seen Mark Toia's preview film, I gotta say "Dragon"

You can hire the rest as per need.

 

[David W. Jones]

Sounds like you are the kid with $9500 burning a hole in your pocket and can't wait to spend it.

Seriously though, those are all different tools. I would think you would have a better understanding of which tools would be more beneficial to you at this stage of your career than we would, no?

 

[Brice Ansel]

What would you choose:
1. Dragon
2. Dolly plus Crane or stedicam (Mathews dolly, Kessler, Stedicam crane or any other for 9,5K)
3. Set of Light (7 Kinoflo, or 7 Arri 2000 or some other set for 9,5 K)
4. Scarlet as B camera.
5. Other device for 9,5K.

Huummmm...A ring for my wife maybe. ;-)

 

[Detlev Eller]

Huummmm...A ring for my wife maybe. ;-)

... must be, .... love!

 

[Brice Ansel]

"Love is all you need."

 

[David W. Jones]

I learned many years ago, if you buy yourself a toy always buy for the wife as well!

Business purchases are all together different.

 

[Adam Beck]

I could use all those things, but a Dragon is far more valuable.

 

[Robert Ruffo New]

- We rent what we don't own. You need the camera on every shoot. You don't need a jib on every shoot.

- Once Dragon comes out you will feel like a fool not shooting with it, and staying with MX. Many clients will demand Dragon. So you'll have to rent Dragon... On every shoot. And when you rent a Dragon you're renting a whole kit with the camera and accessories - a value of 35K or more (or at least 27500 for just the brain - although few people will rent you just that in most markets) - you can't just rent the $9500 part. so if you don;t spend $9500, you have to rent something worth much more, and pay for all that other stuff you already own and that Red re-uses in the upgrade.

- A cheaper jib (like Kessler) will be just as good - a cheaper camera, no.

- Rentals on Dragon might be not bad at all. Once again Red is the clear quality winner on all fronts, as it was for a while in the One Mx days, before Alexa came out with some advantages, let alone the F65 and F55. When Red was the undisputed quality king rentals were frequent and reasonably well paid. That $9500 might finally make the original Epic investment you made pay off in rentals (that is what we are hoping). Now when someone says they would prefer Alexa, I see their point because it has some advantages in terms of latitude over MX. With Dragon I can look them in the eye and say "Alexa has no real advantages, you're just paying for a name, and suffering extra weight and bulk for no reason." This is a simple, defendable statement. Word will get out. Dragon is awesome in ways even non-tech people can easily understand.

- Working with the undisputedly best camera in terms of all meaningful measures of quality is a nice thing to know on a shoot. Its' a great thing that helps you feel good about what you are doing.