First Time Buyer Questions

[Bradley Merle]

Hi everyone!

I am one of the many people who was planning on buying a Blackmagic Ursa Mini 4.6k and quickly regretted handing my money over after finding out just how bad the shipping situation was as well as the non-exsistant customer care. Obviously now I'm currently looking to buy a Red camera on a limited budget so wanted to explain my currently plan and hopefully get some questions answered.

My current hope would be to buy a second hand Scarlet kit asap, then once the Raven has been released I would trade the Scarlet in and pay the excess in order to upgrade.

Do Red do a trade in scheme like this?
I'm UK based and am wondering if anyone knows any places other then the forum that people sell second hand Scarlet's in the UK? (I don't feel comfortable paying for something like this without seeing it)
Would I be able to use the modules, mounts and so forth from the Scarlet on the Raven?

Thanks for your help guys!

 

[Tom Greenberg]

1. No - there is no upgrade path from a used Scarlet to a Raven
2. No idea what other resources there are in the UK for used RED cameras, but what many do here is have the seller send the camera to RED to checkout (costs. $100USD) and transfer ownership (costs $500USD), and then once the condition and legitimacy of the camera have been verified, the buyer send the funds to the seller, and RED sends the camera to the buyer.
3. No, the modules and most accessories from a Scarlet (a DSMC Series 1 body) will not fit or work on a Raven (a DSMC Series 2 body.

 

[Terry VerHaar]

What Tom said.

One additional thought of little likely consequence. Current Scarlet Dragon owners can purchase a Scarlet-W package for a discounted price - discounted by $2500, IIRC. But, they have to currently own the camera and "execute" the serial number when buying the Scarlet-W. It's a one time deal.

If, by some chance, that SD owner didn't want to make the additional purchase - or was abandoning the RED ecosystem altogether, you might be able to negotiate some sort of deal. A pretty long shot but theoretically possible.

 

[Chris McKechnie]

Like both Tom and Terry and stated, the modules for DSMC 1 will not work with DSMC 2. So really any money you invest in a DSMC 1 setup, will be difficult to recoup that as time progresses with more and more DSMC 2's getting into the market. Something to keep in mind is you could get a really nice Scarlet Dragon DSMC 1 kit for pretty cheap...which is a camera that will still blow the doors off most 4K cameras out there today, especially anything from Blackmagic.

My advice would be to pick up a Scarlet Dragon....shoot with that for a year, or however long it is until you can afford to upgrade to Raven, Scarlet-W, or maybe even Weapon. If you can't personally inspect the used camera, make sure the seller sends it to RED for the inspection/transfer of ownership...that way you know if there are any issues with the camera before purchasing. If there are any issues, you and the seller could discuss. Plus, it comes with a 90-day warranty from RED, so if anything happens within that timeframe, it's covered. Also, in terms of payment, use something like paypal or something that has buyer protection, in case the shipment is damaged, or different than described.

Again, you won't regret joining the RED family...frankly any RED out there right now is amazing!