Advice please.

[Damian Grady]

Hi there,

I have decided to join the bandwagon and spend on Red. I had decided that the Red One is the way to go but since Jim's announcement today that the release schedule should be public in October for the Scarlet and the EPIC it's made me wonder whether the Red One is the best option or a Scarlet FF35 DSMC would be better for my budget, which is around $35,000.

Any advice/opinions would be very gratefully received.

Cheers

 

[Pawel Achtel]

It all depends what you want to do with it and what your budget is for. Camera body? Lenses? Head? Filters? Matte Box? FF? Mixer? Lighting?

You can easily spend $35k on accessories. Heck, you can easily spend $35k on a single lens.

I'd say a basic kit is araound $70k.

 

[Damian Grady]

Thanks for the reply. I managed to get a basic setup price of a Red One including all the accessories, lenses, body, mounts etc I need for about $33,000 and we plan to use the camera for corporate work and lower budget TV commercial work.

I suppose the question will the Red One still produce better results than the top end Scarlet?

 

[Tim Hole]

I doubt it considering that it is FF35 sensor size, runs with a Monstro rather Mysterium-X and uses redcode 100. So I would assume more information = Better results. But I am obvously speculating as its impossible for me to know anything for sure.

 

[David W. Jones]

What are you shooting on now?
Are your clients asking for Red One or Scarlet shoots?
Will your current workflow support Red, or will you need to purchase new computers & software as well?
Just some food for thought.

 

[Damian Grady]

Hey David, thanks for replying.
We currently shoot on video, mainly Sony Z5 and Z7 cameras for corporate, and Betacam for TV stuff but we seem to be getting an increasing amount of requests from clients for that 'film/movie' look across the board and they are prepared to pay a premium to get it so we thought the Red One was a good option for us.

Our post gear is easily capable of dealing with the Red workflow (8 core Mac Pros, 15,000 rpm drives etc) so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[David Rasberry]

FF35 format is still more like a year away. Buy a One now and get full value trade in on an Epic X special value package. But hurry this option goes away when Epic is released.

 

[Anson Fogel]

35 is passable for R1 setup

35 is passable for R1 setup

35K is about the base level of a workable, full R1 setup using still glass. Its very easy, and very common to spend huge dollars on accessories that you "need." Be careful - we have used quite a few friends red setups, as well as our own, and the setups with 10 grand in Element technica accessories, while somewhat more comfortable/smooth to setup and tear down, still make the same images as the setup using the basic RED production pack. We shoot some studio, and a lot of adventure sports run and gun, and generally, less is more; now with an EPIC purchase on the horizon for us, less is less more and more given accessory obsolescence.

EVF - I would not buy a current model red EVF, just the small LCD to hold you over - we've been able to eye focus quite well with 1:1 zoom on the LCD; although we much prefer the EVF, its very heavy, and the new bomb EVF is radically smaller and some better.

Batteries - current R1 will work with EPIC, but not ergonomically well, and the new Red Batts are going to be simply better on various levels. I've got 5 current model RED Bricks, selling 2. As are others.

Stay minimal.

 

[Milan Spasic]

FF35 format is still more like a year away. Buy a One now and get full value trade in on an Epic X special value package. But hurry this option goes away when Epic is released.

I can always count on David to say what I want to hear. :thumbsup:

To my delight, my Red One #6783 arrived yesterday. But looking at Jim's post this morning, I have to say, I felt a little uneasy and uncertain about whether I made the right move. But if Epic-X upgrade is what you want, I still think that purchasing the Red One is an exceptional value for money..... at least from what I could decipher from Jim's cryptic posts lately.

I'm pretty sure that the Epic-X package will run at around $45k when you add the cost of all the modules, that you would have to otherwise buy separately. Roughly calculated you save $15k, have the first dibs on Epic + get a limited edish package.

And you have the Red One to play and make money with until THE day comes. What is there not to like?