How many hours is too much?

[Red.Yong.Rich]

Hello, I am looking to buy a Red Komodo second hand. I came across one with a decent amount of accessories. It looks like it's in good condition, but it has 745 hours under its belt. The price is the cheapest I have seen a Komodo sell for here in South Korea (where I live) it's around 2,700usd for the komodo, handles, v mount adapter, angelbird cards, cage etc etc.

Should I be worried about the amount of hours?

 

[M Harvey]

There's always some risk involved in buying any camera or electronic device. There are many discussions of "how many hours for camera X is too much?" online, so you'll just have to decide what your risk tolerance is.

For me, I don't think 745 hours is a huge number-- it means it received very regular use. And if it still works perfectly, then it's probably in basic good shape. I'd expect to get thousands of hours out of a Red camera.

 

[Phil Holland]

745 / 12 (approximate shooting day) = 62 days.

For fun, lets do 8 and 6.
8 hour day = 93 days
6 hour day = 124 days

I'd say that's fairly low mileage for any camera.

 

[Phil Holland]

Just some personal perspective as it's pretty easy to put 2200 hours in a calendar year for some professional applications, I'd kind of use that as a baseline metric.

If camera was purchased year X and has over 2200 hours per year since, look closely at it's condition and ownership.

Big hours don't necessarily mean a bad thing, just means the camera was on a lot. I did a build out where the cameras are turned on every morning and shut down about 16 hours later and they have been doing that all year long for 3 years now. But they don't leave the studio and are not played with rough.

Generally the body condition is a good thing to look at, but always ensure the camera is in good functioning condition before purchasing. And do take a close look inside the sensor chamber. People do horrific things that often reveal themselves there.

 

[Alexander B]

Wow! Nice numbers! I wished that for my Komodo, but its electronic waste after 300 hours/10 trips
The delamination of the sensor is along the whole upper edge, its just a small part visible on the photo (the scratch-like thing is dust)

 

[Phil Holland]

Wow! Nice numbers! I wished that for my Komodo, but its electronic waste after 300 hours/10 trips
The delamination of the sensor is along the whole upper edge, its just a small part visible on the photo (thing scratch-like thing is dust)


View attachment 3836932

Contact service/support as that is repairable. I'm curious what leads to this myself. Haven't seen it on any of my cameras and I bounce around through some fairly big temperature differences.

 

[Alexander B]

Contact service/support as that is repairable. I'm curious what leads to this myself. Haven't seen it on any of my cameras and I bounce around through some fairly big temperature differences.

i already did. Sensor replacement is equal to the costs of a new Komodo, since Red decreased the camera price but not the sensor pirce, the dealer said. Waiting for Reds answer. Whatever, i hope the next Komodo survive longer

 

[scorsesefan]

i already did. Sensor replacement is equal to the costs of a new Komodo, since Red decreased the camera price but not the sensor pirce, the dealer said. Waiting for Reds answer. Whatever, i hope the next Komodo survive longer

That's a valid point. In theory the sensor price should correlate to the overall price of the camera...

 

[Alexander B]

That's a valid point. In theory the sensor price should correlate to the overall price of the camera...

I asked for a quote from a different Premium dealer, a Red CSC in my area and Red itself. The first Premium dealer was talking b....t!
A replacement is not the costs of a new Komodo. But its not cheap either