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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 :)

Chart of the Price of Scarlet and Other Popular Large Sensor Cameras

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Isaac Murray

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I was recently pondering the concept of how the "gap" in digital cinema has been closing, thanks in many ways to the amazing products RED makes. I got to thinking, what would that look like if you represented that concept visually? So I spent a couple of hours and created a chart that shows the price distribution for the popular large sensor cameras on the market today. The price is based off of the "body only" option of each camera. With RED I based it on there base package. I realize that with something this broad there is a lot of room for error, so take this with a grain of salt. I found it really interesting!

http://blog.isaacmurray.com/?p=182

It truly is inspiring when you see how RED compares to it's competitors in similar price brackets. Scarlet is no exception. RED truly is changing the game, meanwhile placing bleeding edge cinema technology in the reach of aspiring filmmakers like myself.

Count me in. :thumbsup:
 
You need to work on some of those prices. The Alexa+ is about $14K more than a base Alexa, not $43K.
 
Liam Hall said:
Comparing the price of a Scarlet X brain with complete camera systems is just FUD.
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What would you recommend as a good representation of the "base" package? That's all I'm really trying to do is compare the entry level costs associated with the cameras.

Erich Ocean said:
Not to mention using street prices on some cameras, and MSRP on others...
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Agreed, it is tricky with some cameras like the C300 that don't have street prices yet.
 
I'd go MSRP across the board.
 
Wouldn't it also make it more sense to use a chart, where x is number of pixels and y the price?

Or maybe go one step further and calculate maximum number of pixels per second, otherwise you cannot differentiate that much between a Scarlet and an Epic-X?
 
Cameras are systems. Some are completely fixed, others are modular and flexible.
A single specification does not determine performance of the entire system... a poor quality lens with a high quality sensor, or a high quality lens with a poor quality sensor... the entire system needs to be evaluated as such, its the package that makes the picture (aside from operator skill) not a specification.

And thus to chart price vs a single specification leads to very little of value. Quantifying camera performance is rather hard. You can provide a lot of specifications, but it is hard to rate the images produced and chart them...
 
A graph like this does not give a realistic picture of costs. Complete package for x amount of hours would be more accurate but that still doesn't factor in the post production costs to actually do anything with the footage. Shooting 4k will cost you a significant amount of money in storage costs and media. In addition to the preference of using a graphics card to edit. Accessories are different prices for different cameras. Some accessories are proprietary increasing costs further.

What do you need a camera for? ENG, narrative, documentary, corporate? How long do you need the camera to run for and how much media will you be shooting? How quickly do you need to turn around the footage? Answer these questions first and then make a realistic chart of your options including the cost of all the accessories you will need to get the job done.
 
I take issue with calling this a comparison of Digital Cinema cameras. Just having a 35mm sized sensor does not a Digital Cinema camera make. I think this should be retitled as a Large Sensor Camera Comparison. Otherwise drop cameras like the 7D.
 
noahvolek said:
Cameras are systems. Some are completely fixed, others are modular and flexible.
Click to expand...

I don't think any of those cameras are fixed

Isaac, if you put the AF100 I think it would be fare to put the GH2 since they have the same sensor... And yes a shootable kit for the Scarlet
I also agree with Mitch : it should be a large sensor camera comparison.
 
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