Epic-W or Dragon-X?

[Andrew Adams]

Looking to buy a USED Epic-w or NEW Dragon-x, both are the same price right at $15k... Obviously, there are pros and cons to each including having a dsmc2 body, file size, cropping factor, sensor hours, etc.

Would love to hear your thoughts, and maybe this is a no brainer to buy the Epic-W...

Thanks in advance for the insight!

 

[Sergio Perez]

Epic-W to then upgrade to Full Helium. Make sure its accepted for upgrade though!

 

[Neil Abeynayake]

I tend to agree with Sergio. Also, do not get hung up on how many "sensor hours" on a RED camera or total number of hours clocked on a RED sensor argument. These are high quality sensors made to withstand tens of thousands active hours MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures). With proper care, your RED camera can give you many years of service.

If you were to visit a RED authorized reseller, you'd see cameras on their demo area. Most of these resellers open their doors at 8 or 9 a.m. and close at 6 or 7 p.m. And almost all demo cameras are turned on during business hours. When you calculate total hours accumulated within a year (10 hours/day x 240 days [excluding weekends & holidays] = 2400 hours). I'll take these (properly serviced) cameras on a high paying job or to make a feature any day.

 

[Carlos de Varona]

Doesnt Full on DSMC2 Helium still have the crop factor? Nothing less than 8k is full frame correct?

 

[Alan G. Hirth]

Imho Epic-W if you can upgrade it

 

[Aaron Almquist]

What would keep one from upgrading an Epic-W as long as a Red Transfer of Ownership is completed?

 

[Drew Thomas]

What would keep one from upgrading an Epic-W as long as a Red Transfer of Ownership is completed?

Think he means it has to be evaluated and up to spec for upgrade at the standard price, otherwise any issues have to be repaired and paid for before it can upgrade.

 

[Mike P.]

Doesnt Full on DSMC2 Helium still have the crop factor? Nothing less than 8k is full frame correct?

I think they're talking about full *sensor* compared to cropped/windowed portions of the sensor (for lower resolution/higher frame rates). Helium 8k/Gemini 5k/Dragon 6k are all physically ~APS-H+/S35+ sized (compared to FF35/stills, they're a crop factor of about ~1.25x). But when you crop/window to Helium 7k/Gemini 4k/Dragon 5k (which is what Dragon-X is) it goes down to ~APS-C/S35... So in this case, when comparing full-sensors, Epic-W nets you 8k/APS-H/S35+, whereas Dragon-X is 5k/APS-C/S35 max.

Personally, I'd opt for Epic-W if only because 8k is the *next* standard so it has quite a bit better futureproofing (in spite of being EOL). Also 8k gives you better low-light simply because of the massive 8k>4k downscale and the smaller noise structure. ALSO, Helium utilizes the re-calibrated ISO, and I don't think Dragon-X does (e.g. ISO400 on Helium is as bright as ISO800 on Dragon)... pretty huge advantages.

...And on top of that, Epic-W>DSMC2 Helium is a nice bonus path if you decide to go that route.