Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • 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 :)

Buy Now oR Wait?

A

Ahmad Darwich

Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2014
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Hi All,

I am just about going the mile and become a REAL man with hard balls enough to spend on a 2nd Scarlet-X as an unbelievably expensive hobby.

When is it the right time to buy one? I mean BM URSA, ARRI AMIRA, AJA CION etc. is just about to get on the market in a couple of months or less.

I have browsed the marketplace here and I see that there is "only" 20/30% of savings, I heard once that it was at 40/50% savings on them as lots of guys who bought them was suffering from not getting well paid jobs etc.

Thanks in advance!
 
I have been selling cameras to independents and production companies for over 20yrs I can tell you what I have learned from my clients from all over the world those who were most successful and made money with their gear were those who bought what they liked to work with regardless of how many new cameras came out and worked those cameras till they did not work for them anymore. The ones I found to struggle most are the ones that constantly chase technology by always purchasing the latest and the greatest. When you try to chase technology you will always be in the race.

Another tip don't be the 1st to buy a new camera that a manufacturer comes out with as you take the chance of being part of the test system suffering thru the glitches that may need to be ironed out. Let the camera prove itself in the market place 1st and then if you still want it buy it.
 
Barbara : Thanks for your opinion on this, but i think you got me all wrong, it was not the fact that i am chasing technology by always purchasing the latest and the greatest, I am 100% into the "look" Scarlet-X can provide, it is more a matter of price drops on the Scarlet in general. I was maybe hoping that price would drop in the near future because market attention for 4k cameras would spread more with all that new gear coming up, and hopefully people would "trap" in to some of these new and expensive gear. Scarlets image is more defused now to new buyers since lots of people think that 4k is 4k and they can now purchase on the cheap buying a GH4, but they will never get a super looking 4k with 8 bit, as they would get with 16 bit Scarlet "magic" :-D

If you have some opinion on the market in the near future, please let me and others interrested in buying a Scarlet X know :-D
 
I would suggest waiting until all Dragon and Scarlet Dragon orders are fulfilled if you could, people will be selling Scarlet MX for less by then I am sure...
 
also maybe red will liquidate mx scarlets? like when they sold used red ones for cheap? they are sitting on a bunch of turned in Scarlets..
 
my suggestion - buy a camera when you need one. dont think what will come out next month... if you need it now buy it now!
 
Oh please know Ahmad I wasn't implying you were doing something wrong I was just making a statement of what I have seen thru out the years of those who succeed and those who struggle and seems you go the route of finding what works best for you and working it. That is the best way to go. At that point if you are having to sell your work you have a real core belief you are offering the best out there and that is a sure' way to succeed.
 
Dear Barbara, your opinion was very apreciated, it is an open forum, your advice is here for everyone that watches this post :-D - I am actually not looking for selling my work to anyone, I am a music artist and a small biz record label owner in Denmark.. Im just getting fed up with the very ffew options we have in Denmark for quality music videos, and video is a big interrest of mine, so I thought I might do videos my self, not that I think it would be easy, but time+passion=experience=better reults, hopefully :-D
 
The far higher cost than a camera is opportunity costs. How much does it cost you to rent? If it costs you $500 a day to rent a Scarlet and scarlet is going to drop in price from $9,000 to $4,000 then you should wait 8 rental days. Let's say in 12 months Scarlet is going to drop in price by $5k. Do you rent a Scarlet now more than 10 days?

Are you planning on renting this camera out? How many rental days can you get in 12 months? More than 10? I estimate how many days I would spend money or lose rentals if I didn't make a purchase. If someone wants to rent my camera package but really needs XYZ then I usually buy it. That's one more person who will come back to me because I had everything they wanted. Sure it might have eaten half of my rental rate to them but now the next person won't have an excuse to go elsewhere. That means I'll probably get one extra rental day per year which pays off the cost.

So sure something might cost $500 to buy but the rental is only $1,000 but not buying it costs you $1,000. $500 is better than $1,000. Similarly there is a cost to not owning a Scarlet as soon as possible. What is that cost? How much work are you losing? How many rentals are you paying for? If that number is greater over a couple years you should buy now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top