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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

BOMB EVF (OLED) - First Impressions and Review

Mark Deeble said:
What upgrade facility - have I missed something?
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He just meant the option for upgrading the Bomb EVF. Talk to your rep and they'll send you the instructions.

Jarred Land said:
Can I beg for a little bit of slack.. we just went through the most insane week of our year last week at NAB.. we have lots of catching up to do and a whole team that ran with little to no sleep is still recovering.. give us a bit.
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Will do Jarred... but your products are so good that it makes us RED addicts. I just don't want to be left out in the cold... especially after having my EVF for less than 5 days when the announcement was made.
 
Jarred Land said:
Can I beg for a little bit of slack.. we just went through the most insane week of our year last week at NAB.. we have lots of catching up to do and a whole team that ran with little to no sleep is still recovering.. give us a bit.
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RED had a lot of their people at NAB for sure. I even got to meet my BS rep, James L., which was great. NAB was insane for me, I can only imagine what it was like for the RED crew. The logistics must have been crazy (they even built a theater in the convention center).

However, the new EVF is really cool, I can see why everyone is impatient. So, Jarred and RED team, no sleep - build build build . . . . ;)
 
Jarred Land said:
Can I beg for a little bit of slack.. we just went through the most insane week of our year last week at NAB.. we have lots of catching up to do and a whole team that ran with little to no sleep is still recovering.. give us a bit.
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No doubt ...
 
Martin Weiss said:
Progress.

It's a good thing.
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I love progress, that's why I'm here. But I've never had to upgrade so much and so quickly. Original Bomb was supposed to be great, we waited a year for it to be delivered. Finally got it few months back only to learn that it wasn't that great. And now it's obsolete.
I was hoping they were working on the fix for the existing EVF, not a completely new one.

I've always stood by Red through all the back orders and delays over the years and never complained but this is just getting a bit much.
 
Rob Anderson said:
I received my LCOS EVF around the end of January. Even less time than you've had with yours. It works as described and is usable. I've also got the original EVF from the R1. That works with my Epic too. A little heavy, but it works. Not obsolete. Just not my preference.

$1200 to upgrade is a good deal for an even better product. I'll take that deal.
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Sure, it's a great deal that we can upgrade them. The problem is that I have a brand new EVF that is not functioning properly and now I have to pay $1200 to fix that.
 
Milan Spasic said:
Sure, it's a great deal that we can upgrade them. The problem is that I have a brand new EVF that is not functioning properly and now I have to pay $1200 to fix that.
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I had my EVF for five days when the new one was announced. Now I'll have to pay an extra $241 plus the shipping for my old EVF... just to receive the new one. I wish I could just pay the difference in price of $700. I would have sent the old one back to get credit on the purchase... but I wasn't sure if RED had restocking fees, etc.
 
Milan Spasic said:
Sure, it's a great deal that we can upgrade them. The problem is that I have a brand new EVF that is not functioning properly and now I have to pay $1200 to fix that.
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In the same boat here, Milan. I got my EVF in December or January, can't remember, and wasn't able to use it for another 2 months until my Scarlet was delivered. Now, I have a $3500 EVF with 20 or 30 hours on it that was never very BOMB in the first place, and I am looking at $1300 in upgrade costs to fix and improve it, effectively making it a $5000 EVF that is what it should have been in the first place.

Like I said, yeah, I'm going to go ahead with the update, but this is probably the biggest disappointment I've had with the whole RED experience, which has been pretty positive so far.
 
Trevor Meeks said:
In the same boat here, Milan. I got my EVF in December or January, can't remember, and wasn't able to use it for another 2 months until my Scarlet was delivered. Now, I have a $3500 EVF with 20 or 30 hours on it that was never very BOMB in the first place, and I am looking at $1300 in upgrade costs to fix and improve it, effectively making it a $5000 EVF that is what it should have been in the first place.

Like I said, yeah, I'm going to go ahead with the update, but this is probably the biggest disappointment I've had with the whole RED experience, which has been pretty positive so far.
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I received mine in late Feb (part of a Stage 4 order). I've literally tested it and used it in 2 small studio tests, at a guess, maybe so no more than an half an hours use (does it have an hours meter? - that would be a good way to see usage :)

Reason I got it was I do need an EVF for some projects later in the year, and with RED ordering/back orders, I figured that it was a better option to buy now rather than later... if I'd have known the OLED was due, I'd have held back.

Problem for is UK'ers is the $1300 will also be subject to 4/5% (tax on top) - plus VAT (20%) and postage (send back old Bomb and receive new OLED) - so that's another expense on top. I can claim back the VAT (in 3 months), but it'll cost a lot more than the $1300 for me...

So, a bit bummed about it to be honest. Wouldn't feel so bad if I had been using the Bomb a lot... but I purchased sooner than I needed to make sure I was ready, so my own fault I suppose.

But, you live and learn :)

... and all other stuff is great - as is RED's policy of updating.
 
Theres a lot of complaints about the Bomb in this thread. Look, I get it, it was an expensive investment, but no one is forcing you to purchase the upgrade. So what, your blacks are milky? Do you really use your viewfinder to make exposure decisions?! Thats what the meters are for... If you've ever shot with a film camera you would know not to judge exposure based on the viewfinder, which holds true for any other digital camera out there. If you are unhappy with the product (for any other issue), see if you can return it. RED is notorious for great customer service and you better believe they do what they can to make you happy. Sure you will lose some money (re-stocking, etc) but not the whole amount. Or sell it here on Reduser, there are people who will use it. All I'm saying is I understand why your frustrated, but step back for a second and take a look at the bigger picture. RED is once again giving you an upgrade path which they didn't have to do. If your still unhappy, most likely you'll never be 100% satisfied with anything. I'm not trying to start any arguments, just pointing out the other side of things. If you don't want to spend any more money, then don't and live with what you have.
 
The OLED bomb needs to be better than the original EVF... if it wasn't.. we wouldn't of made it. I can't count as many times i have bought something and the next month the new model came out that was better and faster and made my old look useless. Never was I given the option to upgrade my old to get the new.

People can complain all they want.. its not going to change anything. You don't like your old EVF? .. sell it or upgrade it. Blacks not being as black as they are on the new OLED? no shit. That's OLED.. that wasn't available till right now. That's why we did it. We spent alot of development time and money making the new OLED fit into the old body so you guys could upgrade.. it wasn't easy. We needed to set up an entire assembly line and hire people to handle the logistics just to do the upgrade. any other normal company would of just made you buy a whole new one. A few people said the same thing about the R1 when Epic came out.

You guys that have complained.. got it. You made your point. Carry on. Don't punish us for making things better.. specially when we give you a roadmap for upgrading along with us.
 
Matt Ryan said:
Theres a lot of complaints about the Bomb in this thread. Look, I get it, it was an expensive investment, but no one is forcing you to purchase the upgrade. So what, your blacks are milky? Do you really use your viewfinder to make exposure decisions?! Thats what the meters are for... If you've ever shot with a film camera you would know not to judge exposure based on the viewfinder, which holds true for any other digital camera out there. If you are unhappy with the product (for any other issue), see if you can return it. RED is notorious for great customer service and you better believe they do what they can to make you happy. Sure you will lose some money (re-stocking, etc) but not the whole amount. Or sell it here on Reduser, there are people who will use it. All I'm saying is I understand why your frustrated, but step back for a second and take a look at the bigger picture. RED is once again giving you an upgrade path which they didn't have to do. If your still unhappy, most likely you'll never be 100% satisfied with anything. I'm not trying to start any arguments, just pointing out the other side of things. If you don't want to spend any more money, then don't and live with what you have.
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I knew someone would chime in with the "you don't have to upgrade if you don't want to" argument.

Honestly man, a $3200 EVF should not have the problems that it did out of the box. Milky blacks I can deal with... but they shouldn't have been there. Green/Magenta shift, in a MAJOR way, when changing brightness levels is unacceptable. The flicker is unacceptable. I had my EVF long enough that I basically couldn't return it inside the 90 day warranty period, because I didn't have my camera until it was too late. Sure, go ahead and blame me for that too, but you get my point (or maybe you don't.)

I'm a RED fanboy just as much as you are, Matt. I praise them up and down for all the great shit we get every single day... but that's what makes this situation such a blow to loyal customers. A $1200 upgrade for something that is $700 more brand new. That doesn't make sense... not one bit. I wouldn't be here bitching about it if the upgrade was $700 or even $900. But whatever.
 
I don't like PROFANITY... AT ALL... But in this case...


WELL "F^%@ING" SAID JARRED!!

Its really getting tiresome around here with al this wining nonsense!!


Jarred Land said:
The OLED bomb needs to be better than the original EVF... if it wasn't.. we wouldn't of made it. I can't count as many times i have bought something and the next month the new model came out that was better and faster and made my old look useless. Never was I given the option to upgrade my old to get the new.

People can complain all they want.. its not going to change anything. You don't like your old EVF? .. sell it or upgrade it. Blacks not being as black as they are on the new OLED? no shit. That's OLED.. that wasn't available till right now. That's why we did it. We spent alot of development time and money making the new OLED fit into the old body so you guys could upgrade.. it wasn't easy. We needed to set up an entire assembly line and hire people to handle the logistics just to do the upgrade. any other normal company would of just made you buy a whole new one. A few people said the same thing about the R1 when Epic came out.

You guys that have complained.. got it. You made your point. Carry on. Don't punish us for making things better.. specially when we give you a roadmap for upgrading along with us.
Click to expand...
 
Jarred Land said:
The OLED bomb needs to be better than the original EVF... if it wasn't.. we wouldn't of made it. I can't count as many times i have bought something and the next month the new model came out that was better and faster and made my old look useless. Never was I given the option to upgrade my old to get the new.

People can complain all they want.. its not going to change anything. You don't like your old EVF? .. sell it or upgrade it. Blacks not being as black as they are on the new OLED? no shit. That's OLED.. that wasn't available till right now. That's why we did it. We spent alot of development time and money making the new OLED fit into the old body so you guys could upgrade.. it wasn't easy. We needed to set up an entire assembly line and hire people to handle the logistics just to do the upgrade. any other normal company would of just made you buy a whole new one. A few people said the same thing about the R1 when Epic came out.

You guys that have complained.. got it. You made your point. Carry on. Don't punish us for making things better.. specially when we give you a roadmap for upgrading along with us.
Click to expand...

EDITED TO ADD: I was writing this as you "warned" me. Sorry.

I hear you, Jarred, and I know we went over that before. The one hole that I see in that story is that the firmware notes, at least for as long as I have been in the RED 'family', have noted that "EVF Black Levels [are] raised in some cases."

So which is it? A camera firmware issue or an EVF issue? I'm not trying to be an asshole, but I don't like being told one thing over and over, only to have the story change when it's convenient (ie a new upgrade comes out that fixes the original problem.)
 
Trevor Meeks said:
I knew someone would chime in with the "you don't have to upgrade if you don't want to" argument.

Honestly man, a $3200 EVF should not have the problems that it did out of the box. Milky blacks I can deal with... but they shouldn't have been there. Green/Magenta shift, in a MAJOR way, when changing brightness levels is unacceptable. The flicker is unacceptable. I had my EVF long enough that I basically couldn't return it inside the 90 day warranty period, because I didn't have my camera until it was too late. Sure, go ahead and blame me for that too, but you get my point (or maybe you don't.)

I'm a RED fanboy just as much as you are, Matt. I praise them up and down for all the great shit we get every single day... but that's what makes this situation such a blow to loyal customers. A $1200 upgrade for something that is $700 more brand new. That doesn't make sense... not one bit. I wouldn't be here bitching about it if the upgrade was $700 or even $900. But whatever.
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$1,200 vs. $3,900..... no brainer. This Isn't a welfare program.

RED would have gladly refunded you or took your "bad Bomb" for repairs if you explained the situation. This I am sure of....They understand when you got your camera therefore you had no way of testing it until then. I'm sure your a nice guy and I'm not here to rag on you, I'm just saying...

P.S. I don't own a RED simply because I can't afford one. (Damn student loans). If anyone is unhappy with their camera's or accessories and wants to throw them my way I'd be glad to put them to use. (Theres my welfare plea haha)
 
Jarred, can you please at least explain the upgrade process? I am still waiting to hear back from Alan regarding my upgrade... I'm sure he's slammed, and I understand that.

What exactly am I getting for the $1200? Do you swap my existing unit for a new OLED EVF, or are new parts and housing installed to update the existing EVF?
I assume either way that what I'm getting is equivalent to a brand new OLED EVF, correct?
 
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