EPIC upgradable to Full Frame 36x24mm?

[Medavoym]

Hi!

As we all know, Jim said (and confirmed several times) that you can trade your RED ONE towards any EPIC in the future, not only Epic-X.

My main interest lies in the EPIC MONSTRO Full Frame (36mm x 24mm). Of course, change is possible (probable) and we should count on it. Perhaps things got renamed/switched around, and the new DRAGON sensor is Full Frame? We don't know.

However, should we wait with the RED ONE upgrade until a full frame EPIC comes along, or should we upgrade now to EPIC-X, counting on the fact that the EPIC-X itself will be upgradable in the future to 36x24mm?

What do you think? Any hints from RED?
Thanks very much! Exciting times ahead.
Mike

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I would double check that. Originally I had planned to save my EPIC trade-in toward the EPIC-645, but sometime back around the time the stages were announce, I (and a few others on there) were told that EPIC-X(S35) was the deal and that was it. Or at least that's how I remember interpreting it. So I don't know if the still being able to trade in for *ANY* EPIC still stands. I would definitely get in touch with RED on that one and don't let your window of opportunity for Stage-3 (or 3.5, as it may be) close on you. Stage-2 is a once in a lifetime deal, as Jim put it. It really is/was too good to pass up, so I didn't think about it for more than about 20 seconds.

As for future full-frame EPIC, I'm sure there will be something like this. It only makes sense. They have not confirmed that EPIC-X will indeed be upgradable to 36x24 FF. We know it is upgradable to the Dragon sensor. Dragon was said at NAB, by Ted, to be "the first of the Monstro family" of sensors. A lot of people are jumping to the conclusion that it will be 35mm full-frame. Primarily because in the past -- like 3 years ago, the lowest Monstro sensor announced was a 35mm FF sensor. Who knows what has changed, but we do know that a lot has. No specs about Dragon or other upcoming sensors have been released. So... given that, I would not assume that the EPIC-X will be upgradable to 35mmFF. Even if the sensor is, perhaps the camera may not fully support it, or may not be able to support all features or frame rates that a newer Epic brain will. We just don't know at this point. Given that, I'm not sure if you would really want to hold your breath waiting for some hereto unknown future EPIC brain, or to take the trade-in offer as it stands. Currently, it seems that Stage-3 is a killer deal if you qualify. And probably a lot more viable or even lucrative than hedging a bet on a $17.5K trade-in at some point in the future.

Just my $0.02...