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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 :)

Dragon....

Jarred Land

Jarred Land

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Is done.

Dragon will likely win the award for the most suitable name ever given to a product. Its been quite the beast to tame, with quite a few fires started along the way.

Dragon ( the sensor ) was actually done before NAB... when you all saw cameras being put together. Sorting out the existing camera infrastructure so the sensor and the ASIC could be an upgrade has been the consuming part.

But we are there. Final parts are now being sent off to manufacturing and customer upgrades will begin the first week of September.


It's a good time to share with you a few things we have learned along the way.

The increased latitude of the Dragon isn't just in the bottom. The increase is also at the top.

So you get the same 16+ stops of latitude at 200 asa as you do at 2000 with the Dragon. No latitude penalty when you lower ASA. Which means when you are shooting outside, less ND filters. Less IR issues, better images.

Because the Dragon also has lower bottom end noise than the MX, You can still push the camera to where you want it.. and you will still get cleaner images than you did on Epic MX at any comparable ASA.

The Dragon also wants to be warmer than not ( go figure ) . Good thing, as the Epic itself doesn't have a problem generating heat. A match made in heaven.

The Dragon Firmware will automatically bring the sensor temp up... which can mean a lower fan speed (depending on your circumstances).

Dragon Firmware is actually ahead of the Epic MX firmware.. rock solid. Since we have had so much time with the Dragon... it is probably the most tested build we have ever had.

Graeme has also had the time to really dig deep into the color science. He will say he is never done.. but there are alot of color improvements he has made that are worth the upgrade all by themselves.

6K is incredible. I know the rest of the world has just (finally) landed at 4K... but 6k motion and the stills pulled from Dragon are remarkable. O the stills. And talk about oversampling for 4k motion delivery. It's hard to go back.

Rocket-X is going to be your Dragon's new best friend. Seriously. It should be shipping at the time the upgrades begin.

Expect to see images start trickling out over the next few weeks.

It's time to finally let the Dragon out of the cage.
 
Few weeks... so we're really getting close now.
 
Great news! Really looking forward to this upgrade and working some more with stills acquisition :-)
 
Jarred Land said:
So you get the same 16+ stops of latitude at 200 asa as you do at 2000 with the Dragon. No latitude penalty when you lower ASA. Which means when you are shooting outside, less ND filters. Less IR issues, better images.
Click to expand...

Fascinating. After working with Mysterium-X for some time I sort of stopped visualizing things in terms of ISO and ASA for some reason and focused more on captured dynamic range and where I would like to place my targeted midtones. Which is why I never really loved the ISO 320/800 debates over the last couple years. There was a ceiling and a floor and room in the middle. Now it sounds like there's a lot more room.

That's a bit over 3 stops of room between 200 and 2000 ASA. I like that.
 
So if 200ASA is 16 stops, and 1000 ASA is 16 stops, that means in total it's more than 16 stops (if, say, I do a composite of may ISOs in one image using power windows, that composite woudl contain more than 16 stops cleanly displayed)? Or it means that ISO is not really fully RAW anymore?
 
BTW... I'll be loving shooting 6k for 4k finish, but after seeing how good the prints come out of the 5k 14megapixels sensor... I simply can't wait to Print those 6'+ Color prints out of 6k 20megapixels sensor!!


I guess Dragon tucked a while, and so did I, so it might be that we'll be shooting my first Feature on Dragon after all... What a fantastic NEWS... ;)
 
"And I just upgraded to Epic. Let's see if I can pull in some bigger jobs so I can go 6k. Feels crazy to even type that...but I don't care!!! "

That's the spirit. I don't care either. I am getting one.
 
Phil Holland said:
Fascinating. After working with Mysterium-X for some time I sort of stopped visualizing things in terms of ISO and ASA for some reason and focused more on captured dynamic range and where I would like to place my targeted midtones. Which is why I never really loved the ISO 320/800 debates over the last couple years. There was a ceiling and a floor and room in the middle. Now it sounds like there's a lot more room.

That's a bit over 3 stops of room between 200 and 2000 ASA. I like that.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Ive been shooting with the Dragon for awhile now.. and i've noticed I am much less concerned where that number is. Push it when I need to, pull it when the sun comes out. Much more freedom on hitting the right stop on the lens.

O.. and Scarlet Dragon upgrades should start shipping near the end of September.
 
Jarred Land said:
Exactly. Ive been shooting with the Dragon for awhile now.. and i've noticed I am much less concerned where that number is. Push it when I need to, pull it when the sun comes out. Much more freedom on hitting the right stop on the lens.

O.. and Scarlet Dragon upgrades should start shipping near the end of September.
Click to expand...


And that will serve extremely well in a lot of situations!
 
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