After Raven, & Jarred's Tease About New Scarlet -What Up For MG Weapon?

[Jeffrey Loewe]

My vote would be for a fixed mount RAVEN that offers 5 or 6K. You could even call it a Weapon. The cost savings for some of us who primarily use EF mount lenses would be huge as would having the FOV and other benefits of 5 or 6K. I'd also put a vote in for a Aluminum Weapon as well.

 

[antoine carpentier]

Many people complaining about the low renting price of there RED cameras but in the same time there are breaking the market at 1000$/day, dop + full package dragon epic (sometimes less!)... The alexa renting rate still good because people can't buy them and leave the market price in the hands of rental houses, this is a good point. So please guys stop cheapping the market! I deeply hope that the high price access of the weapon will keep away people who want to rent themself for free...
i also hope raven won't be a such succes camera in the producer's mind.

 

[Jeffrey Loewe]

Many people complaining about the low renting price of there RED cameras but in the same time there are breaking the market at 1000$/day, dop + full package dragon epic (sometimes less!)... The alexa renting rate still good because people can't buy them and leave the market price in the hands of rental houses, this is a good point. So please guys stop cheapping the market! I deeply hope that the high price access of the weapon will keep away people who want to rent themself for free...
i also hope raven won't be a such succes camera in the producer's mind.

I don't think a lot of it is complaining. I think most of it is curious to see what other options RED offers. Obviously if you need ProRes and 6K R3D Raw, weight savings, and all the other perks the Weapon MG might be worth the investment and affordable.

For example all I said was that the MG Weapon for me is far to expensive of an option to jump into the DSMC 2 body style. Thats just a fact not a complaint.

I hope the opposite. I hope the Raven and other options help a lot of people grow in to talented Cinematographers and DP's.

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

I think a lot of us are concerned the feature gap between this new scarlet and the weapon magnesium is small, but the price difference big. Simple as that. Just don't wanna spend unwisely.

 

[Gene Sung]

My plan is to get the Raven and when the Scarlet Weapon comes out, get that for the true Super 35mm, switchable OLPF and changeable lens mounts. That's all I really need. If they lower the compression on 120fps, that's a bonus. To me, those features are worth a good chunk of change. With how cheap the Raven is, for new users there's no reason at all to wait. Might as well start shooting ASAP.

The good part is, even after selling the Raven, all the same accessories should work on the new Scarlet, so no loss there.

MG Weapon is just too expensive for me at this point (I seriously contemplated). I figure a decent Raven kit is $15K, a minimal-ish Weapon MG kit is around $45K. I think my range without going broke is around $25K, which I hope is where the new Scarlet will be around (including accessories).

 

[Matthew Quinn]

My plan is to get the Raven and when the Scarlet Weapon comes out, get that for the true Super 35mm, switchable OLPF and changeable lens mounts. That's all I really need. If they lower the compression on 120fps, that's a bonus. To me, those features are worth a good chunk of change. With how cheap the Raven is, for new users there's no reason at all to wait. Might as well start shooting ASAP.

The good part is, even after selling the Raven, all the same accessories should work on the new Scarlet, so no loss there.

MG Weapon is just too expensive for me at this point (I seriously contemplated). I figure a decent Raven kit is $15K, a minimal-ish Weapon MG kit is around $45K. I think my range without going broke is around $25K, which I hope is where the new Scarlet will be around (including accessories).

wise words. my feelings as well.

 

[Milan Spasic]

Dumbing down the Mg so it's more expensive to upgrade to Vista never made sense to me but I guess that's why we, the Mg peoples, are paying $10k less for the upgrade.
Still doesn't make sense but I've put the deposit down anyway.

Hoping for a spec surprise.

An update would be nice. We've heard everything about the Carbons and the Ravens but nothing about EmGees.

 

[Jeremy Torrie]

I think a lot of us are concerned the feature gap between this new scarlet and the weapon magnesium is small, but the price difference big. Simple as that. Just don't wanna spend unwisely.

I'm with Jake. Of course if our cameras were working non-stop then cost would never be an issue. However, it is.

I hope with the upgrades to MG Weapon people will see the value in 6K+ over Alexa. I've had to give DP's free evaluation days just to let them kick the tires and see what the camera can achieve, while demonstrating there are fewer bugs than in previous years.

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

The whole Alexa argument is dead to me. I still shoot with it sometimes but I feel like I'm going from a 2015 Mac to a windows 98 pc. With dragon and Kodak LUTS the picture and ability to quickly modify the look "Alexa color" argument doesn't work anymore. Kodak LUTS beat the pants off Alexa color

 

[Tom Greenberg]

The whole Alexa argument is dead to me. I still shoot with it sometimes but I feel like I'm going from a 2015 Mac to a windows 98 pc. With dragon and Kodak LUTS the picture and ability to quickly modify the look "Alexa color" argument doesn't work anymore. Kodak LUTS beat the pants off Alexa color

If only my clients and local producers agreed with you. I have lost numerous rentals in the last couple months to Alexa's, Alexa Minis, and Amira's. As much as I try to educated them about the inherent Dragon advantages, their glassy eyes and heavy breathing are unmistakable signs of the dreaded "ARRI Fever".

 

[Demetri Zuev]

Kodak LUTS beat the pants off Alexa color

Where do you get those?

 

[Demetri Zuev]

If only my clients and local producers agreed with you. I have lost numerous rentals in the last couple months to Alexa's, Alexa Minis, and Amira's. As much as I try to educated them about the inherent Dragon advantages, their glassy eyes and heavy breathing are unmistakable signs of the dreaded "ARRI Fever".

This mindset is very hard if not impossible to break. When there is a good budget 99% of the time they will go for Alexa XT + Master Primes or other hi-end optics route. RED perceived by many as a cheaper and inferior alternative.

 

[Jeremy Torrie]

This mindset is very hard if not impossible to break. When there is a good budget 99% of the time they will go for Alexa XT + Master Primes or other hi-end optics route. RED perceived by many as a cheaper and inferior alternative.

It's weird. Either the Ridley Scott's and David Fincher's of the world -who can afford to use anything- choose Red for it's obvious qualities, or those who believe it's 'good enough' to suit their needs because it's digital. Probably why the ProRes capability inside the Weapon might make it more appealing to those who see it as a digital capture medium and nothing else.

While I've admired Jim and Jarred for pushing 4k+ literally nobody I've worked with actually gives much creedence to it, and none actually care about future proofing. Many producers I know (and not many DOP's) haven't actually seen projected 4K content, which is why I'd really hoped Red would have put energies into the projector system...I accept now it is dead. Sorry to take this a bit OT!

 

[Demetri Zuev]

It's weird. Either the Ridley Scott's and David Fincher's of the world -who can afford to use anything- choose Red for it's obvious qualities, or those who believe it's 'good enough' to suit their needs because it's digital. Probably why the ProRes capability inside the Weapon might make it more appealing to those who see it as a digital capture medium and nothing else.

While I've admired Jim and Jarred for pushing 4k+ literally nobody I've worked with actually gives much creedence to it, and none actually care about future proofing. Many producers I know (and not many DOP's) haven't actually seen projected 4K content, which is why I'd really hoped Red would have put energies into the projector system...I accept now it is dead. Sorry to take this a bit OT!

If you think about it, Fincher and Scott were always on a sharp/contrasty side when it comes to how their films look, so it's only natural they prefer the camera system that matches their visual style.

Others prefer less contrasty smoother images and this is where Alexa shines.

I've started to perceive Alexa and Epic more like different film stocks than two cameras that fight for the "best" title. I'd shoot a sci-fi film on an Epic (everything with lots of metal, neon, details), while for a small personal drama I'd prefer an Alexa.