A newbie has a question for Red advanced users!

[Minu Park]

Dear Red users,

My name is Minwoo Park, a filmmaker based on Brooklyn. I have been working as a shooter, cinematographer for small gigs in NYC, yet the crucial world doesn't give me a chance to work without great camera equipments.

It might be, because of my experiences are lacks, or my FS-700 isn't popular as Red.

There are three questions that I have in my mind, before I spend my saving account ($25000 in cash) I am letting you know that I don't have any more budget for getting a camera. I will use canon EF mount photo lenses instead of expensive PL lens.

1. Between, Used Red Epic and Red dragon scarlet, which one should I get and would you tell me why?

-Originally, I was going to get Red Epic, yet my fellow camera operator says dragon sensor will be far greater. Honestly, 5K (120FPS) sounds really good to me, yet Scarlet can handle enough frame speed to my needs. - As a FS-700 owner, I understood what Super slow motion means to the production value. I

2. How would you handle the footage archive in your computer?

- I am moving on Red, because RED code is far better than Odyssey 7Q's data rate.

3. Insurance plan, how much do I need to expected to pay per an year for worth 30- 35K equipment?

People says, equipment isn't make your footage better, but I believe I could get more jobs, because of its demands is way higher. Although, many photographers in Red says rent equipment, but I think Red camera is investing instead of just loosing money.
I just graduate college at my age 29 - I was in photography field since 2004-2009. In my age, I might be in a hurry to catch up other cinematographers or filmmakers. The only goal that I have until 35 is working like a dog, creating as many works as possible. In the mean time, I got an acceptance letter from NYU ticsh master degree. However, I will go there depends on how much I make in this year, honestly...

I believe there are many experienced filmmakers in Red Community, and as an young man who has a passion and its ambitious, I would be really grateful, if you leave a short comment with an advice.

Best,

An international film-maker, who tries his best to fit with an american film society, Minu Park

 

[Nick Morrison]

The advantage of going Scarlet Dragon, is you get a DRAGON sensor sooner....however you will never be able to upgrade to an Epic Dragon (at least that path does not currently exist).

Advantage of Epic MX is you get an EPIC sooner...with ability to upgrade to Dragon later...(there is an upgrade path). Drawback is you will not have latest sensor right away...however whenever you DO upgrade...you'll own a DRAGON EPIC, one of the world's great cameras (nice plus).

So both have pros and cons.

Hope this helps.

 

[luigivaltulini]

Minu,
often do slow motion?

One important thing to keep in mind are the accessories, such as ssd cards that are expensive and if you're shooting with RED in slow motion it takes at least the 256GB ....

From what I understand you want to switch to RED, well my advice are your thoughts as much work biene also by slow motion, I would not buy the Scarlet rather wait a few more month in savings and would spend Epic dragon.

For now, my advice is this:

Epic Dragon
2 SSD 256GB + usb3 reader
5 "LCD or bomb
Side handle
Redvolt 8 + charger
4 redbrick + charger
+ accessories


computer:

depends on your taste ... choose a macbook pro laptop, a tower to make a pc with a nice graphics card, so you can also use davinci

if you have other questions flaws too happy to give advice

 

[Ivan McCullough]

If you are considering between the two then you obviously are prepared to wait about 6 months because that is the likely earliest date for Scarlet Dragon...probably later.

So with that in mind you should in that time be able to look at an Epic MX and Epic Dragon, compare the two and make a better judgement then No?

 

[Brian Merlen]

have you considered renting higher end gear when needed for higher end shoots instead? yes you can buy a red package but without all the necessary support gear, lighting, high end glass maybe it would be better to rent these things when needed? i mean at a certain point everyone has to draw that line cuz between all the various accessories, workflow gear, your talking a fortune. having a lot of the stuff already for your other camera can help but i think weighing your options is a good start...


going back to the technical side the dragon sensor is obviously better, but without a clear time frame for when it will arrive you may end up waiting longer then you originally anticipate. i was going to upgrade from scarlet to scarlet dragon, but i got an epic instead 7 months ago...looking back not a bad choice at all considering by the time my dragon ships the camera will be significantly paid off at this current rate.

anyway there is a ton of rental houses near you, i'd at least carefully weigh your options before throwing this kind of coin around. also what codec are you using the 7Q with? the dpx is massive, prores not so much...so there should be a solution for your needs hopefully via that off board recorder that isn't super intensive.

 

[Jaimy Soares]

I currently went from Scarlet MX to Epic MX, having a Scarlet is like having a ferrari that is stuck in 3th gear.
Now with my Epic I can do full throttle! And no the MX sensor is not like a C100 or FS700, you need to take care a lot more to your lightning and be prepared to do a lot of post production regarding noise control and color grading.

I love my epic it does everything that I dreamd of for a lot of years, and now it's just sitting on my desk waiting for a great summer!

Regarding to lenses. I have the Samyang VDSLR set, quite inexpensive and does a better job than the still lenses. No it's not "cinema" quality but if you have a gig where you can afford that rent some PL lenses and a PL mount, or rent some CP.2's with EF mount

I live in Holland and I'm making my money back quicker than expected, don't know how that is in the States, but if you can do it, believe in the filosofy of RED and want it. Do it.

 

[Arthur Woo]

Congrats on your acceptance to Tisch!

1. If you're going down the owner/operator route and offering the camera along with your services, Epic wins in a market where if people have the budget to consider a higher end camera, they will want the top tier model. When clients / prospects hear Red, most of the time they assume Epic (from my experience). I'm assuming you're selling your FS700 in which case you will want the Epic's frame rates.

I like Brian's advice. You could just say you have access to an Epic. Then just rent it for gigs. If you say you are working only on small gigs, Epic isn't exactly going to get you higher paying gigs since there are already a ton of Epics (along with very experienced and talented production teams and freelancers) in NYC who have already built trust with their client base.

2. I try to give clients the data and offload asap so I'm not archiving footage. Most of my projects don't require me to have to save the archive, I leave it to the client at that point once the final project is signed off on, especially if it's a very large project that I'm not editing (e.g. short films).

3. I'd guess btwn $1000-2000 depending on the coverage you get.

Good luck getting into the game...btw where in Brooklyn are you?