How many hours typically can one get out of a scarlet or epic dragon?

[Corey Benoit]

I am picking up a used epic dragon 6k tomorrow and it has 650 hours on it. My scarlet has less than 150. Just wondering how many hours they can go for typically? In my circumstances I shoot mostly indoors, or outdoors with decent weather. Cold or Warm I never shoot in rain, or blowing sand, windy conditions. I clean regularly and safe keep all my cameras in pelican cases. I always ensure proper ventilation as well. The epic will have the upgraded top fan also.


Does the hours truly decide the value as well or condition and market value at the time play more of a factor? The reason video cameras started a timer of total hours was so DOP's & Directors back in the day could have an idea of how many logged hours there were on the moving parts of a film camera so they could replace parts and prevent downtime, almost like automotive parts I guess. Now that everything is digital it seems less relevant tho. Any thoughts?

 

[Phil Holland]

I don't know if there's a "known expiration date" on RED cameras. There's some out there with thousands of hours.

What the uptime hours can reveal often in combination with the cosmetic condition of the camera is the sort of life it's lived.

Was it treated poorly? Was it maintained well considering the hours on the body? Is the body suspiciously clean for the amount of hours it has on it?

Answers to those questions and more likely can inform you about what you have on your hands.

 

[Corey Benoit]

The epic I'm looking at has 650 hours and the cosmetic condition seems to be about 90%. There's signs of wear but it's very minimal the camera seems to be well taken care of that's just my guess.

Sending it into read for a $100 valuation should alleviate the problems if any are correct?

 

[Chris Henze]

In my opinion 650 hours for a well taken care of camera is not a lot. Particularly because as a transfer of ownership the camera will be sent into RED for testing. If they say it's good, it's good.

The only thing to make sure to notice are the pins on the back of the camera. There's a lot of them and if a user is not careful they can be bent slightly and vulnerable creating a short. First thing I do with a camera I haven't seen is examine them with a magnifying glass.

 

[Joachim Hoge]

My Epic-m had well over 1000 hours when I sold her recently. She was still in great shape, except blown I/o ports, but that was due to user error