Gunleik Groven
REDuser Sponsor
Thanks. Cool stuff!
Welcome to our community
Be a part of something great, join today!
DRAGON update money sent. EPIC Dragon 2029 "Lilau" is born. Low Light OLPF selected
- Thread starter Sergio Perez
- Start date
Anthony Vitale
Well-known member
Thanks Gunleik.
A lot of the things I had read before upgrading are kinda blown out of proportion.
You don't need to be a black shade calibration expert and I feel you can use the higher ISO to create a different feel to your images. The images I posted are shot at a lower ISO and are super clean, but I also shot some stuff at higher ISO and they are noisier but look so much more like film to me. The noise is really not that bad. I didn't post those images because I don't have the Beta RCX with DEB and I'm sure people will find some red speckles.
I am very pleased with my upgrade.
A lot of the things I had read before upgrading are kinda blown out of proportion.
You don't need to be a black shade calibration expert and I feel you can use the higher ISO to create a different feel to your images. The images I posted are shot at a lower ISO and are super clean, but I also shot some stuff at higher ISO and they are noisier but look so much more like film to me. The noise is really not that bad. I didn't post those images because I don't have the Beta RCX with DEB and I'm sure people will find some red speckles.
I am very pleased with my upgrade.
Gunleik Groven
REDuser Sponsor
I couldn't agree more.
Sometimes the:
"It's easy, you just have to balance your body AND mind carefully on one hand while you stand head down and with some authority hold the camera stable with an angie 24-290 (at no wider than 32mm) while counting binary number-series backward from 2147483648 to 1 out loud, humming OM silently inside your head, and just remember to light with an 80c and swap ISO from 250 to 12800 and don't use any blue texture in the image. If you follow these instructions very carefully I guarantee you that you'll always have an exceptionally good exposure as long as the goalposts don't turn blue and there is no pig in the image"
type of explanations don't really tell the story about how easy to use and fantastic this camerasystem is.
Sometimes the:
"It's easy, you just have to balance your body AND mind carefully on one hand while you stand head down and with some authority hold the camera stable with an angie 24-290 (at no wider than 32mm) while counting binary number-series backward from 2147483648 to 1 out loud, humming OM silently inside your head, and just remember to light with an 80c and swap ISO from 250 to 12800 and don't use any blue texture in the image. If you follow these instructions very carefully I guarantee you that you'll always have an exceptionally good exposure as long as the goalposts don't turn blue and there is no pig in the image"
type of explanations don't really tell the story about how easy to use and fantastic this camerasystem is.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #24
Sergio Perez
Well-known member
Late to revive this thread, but just received my Dragon back. What I can say from a very quick boot up and eyes on test is this: Fellow Epic X MX owners, this upgrade is a MUST. Take advantage of the low upgrade price now, this is really a completely new, absolutely groundbreaking new camera.
Without posting any images, since I literally boot it up, shot a colleague, tested the low light (Remember, I selected the Low Light Optimized OLPF version ) and all I can say is that the Epic Dragon that I have in my hands is EXACTLY what I wanted from the upgrade. Quick highlights from first impressions:
1- Boot up takes a little bit longer- 20 secs aprox.
2- The moment you boot up, in the 5" Red LCD, you immediately feel the new sensor difference. Color science, Dinamic range, everything. Its just another level of imagery. Absolutely stunning.
3- One thing we hear a lot here in the forums is how "filmic" the Dragon noise looks like. Well I can attest that. Its a much, much different noise pattern to the MX noise. Without ADD or the new EBB modes, at Iso 2500, the noise is present, yes, but it does looks like Film Stock noise. Pleasant. I can confirm that with the Low Light Optimized OLPF the camera is more sensitive than Epic MX.
4- Stills from 6K footage are absolutely stunning- even highly compressed 17:1 100fps 6KWS ones. Couldn't help but WOW at 6K 2.1 stills. This is the true DSMC concept realised. You have to see it for yourselves.
I'll be shooting guerrilla this and next week preparing myself and learning the new work flow, but feel free to ask me any questions you might have. I am mainly a natural light shooter and use the minimum of staged lighting.
All in all, this is really it. Redusers on the fence, go for it!
Again, anything you want to test (without much complex setup) feel free to ask!
Without posting any images, since I literally boot it up, shot a colleague, tested the low light (Remember, I selected the Low Light Optimized OLPF version ) and all I can say is that the Epic Dragon that I have in my hands is EXACTLY what I wanted from the upgrade. Quick highlights from first impressions:
1- Boot up takes a little bit longer- 20 secs aprox.
2- The moment you boot up, in the 5" Red LCD, you immediately feel the new sensor difference. Color science, Dinamic range, everything. Its just another level of imagery. Absolutely stunning.
3- One thing we hear a lot here in the forums is how "filmic" the Dragon noise looks like. Well I can attest that. Its a much, much different noise pattern to the MX noise. Without ADD or the new EBB modes, at Iso 2500, the noise is present, yes, but it does looks like Film Stock noise. Pleasant. I can confirm that with the Low Light Optimized OLPF the camera is more sensitive than Epic MX.
4- Stills from 6K footage are absolutely stunning- even highly compressed 17:1 100fps 6KWS ones. Couldn't help but WOW at 6K 2.1 stills. This is the true DSMC concept realised. You have to see it for yourselves.
I'll be shooting guerrilla this and next week preparing myself and learning the new work flow, but feel free to ask me any questions you might have. I am mainly a natural light shooter and use the minimum of staged lighting.
All in all, this is really it. Redusers on the fence, go for it!
Again, anything you want to test (without much complex setup) feel free to ask!
Joan Poggio
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2009
- Messages
- 120
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Nairobi, Kenya
- Website
- www.joanpoggio.com
Before reading your post I had already made up my mind for the Dragon upgrade, and last week finally got the last cents in place for it. Even though there was a lot of commotion because of the "noise" brought in by the highlight OLPF, I never doubted RED would pull it off, since, even up till now, our trusty Scarlets and Epics keep getting better and better (5.3.9 even in beta rocks!). But it is indeed more encouraging reading posts like this, from real users with real needs in real situations WITH a dragon in their hands. I also work a lot with natural light as I use my epic mostly on documentary in remote areas of Kenya and Africa, where there generally is no backup whatsoever. Looking forward to what you show us Sergio! cheers from Kenya