How much do you have saved so far?

[Aaron Newsome]

Plane ticket? Wha?

The first R1 buyers all flew out to Red to get the Red carpet treatment and pick up their cams, meet Jim, swap old war stories, etc.

 

[Gerald Menclik]

I don't think RED owners get any purchase priority on Scarlet.

They better not they already have a camera!

You bet they do. I can't remember the thread exactly but they mentioned that R1 owners GET priority!

so the waiting line expands enormously :emote_hanged:

 

[JosephArthur]

I dont know if you call it saving. But I budgeted $90k for a set all geared out set up for one camera (possibly two).
But Im just waiting. - but then again there is that Batmobile, (tumbler) which may be up for sale.

 

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

I had two RED Ones on order, so I had set aside cash for RED cameras and accessories. I ended up feeling it was an unwise financial decision because that expenditure didn't match with my position in the industry -- basically a new filmmaker spending that kind of money on gadgets makes no sense. It's just stupid. Better to learn the craft, no matter the camera, and become a good filmmaker first, then maybe when I NEEDED a better camera, get one.

Now I still don't need anything better than the HVX200s, to do most of my work, but I would enjoy having a few Scarlets down the road, I was thinking the 5K model and the lowest end one (more for fun and additional applications, perhaps corporate work where I'm not as picky about everything being perfect). I'm not going to spend the money still if it doesn't make sense, but if I can get the corporate work flowing in as I want then I'll go ahead and pay the cash because it'll be worth it to me. I'll be in film for a long time, and even if I had switched to doing film as a hobby, I have the pro skills now to want this kind of camera (I'm just the producer-director, though, I don't shoot) available to me when I want to do my personal projects. And whether I'm in the business or not, I'll be doing personal projects at least a few times annually so it makes sense for me.

 

[Aaron Newsome]

I keep hovering around the $10k mark but I can never get beyond that. Everytime I get close, something else comes up that I need right now so the scarlet fund gets raided. A few weeks ago I needed some duvatyn panels for a shoot. Last week it was time to finally stop trying to use my still camera tripod as a video camera tripod (actually, I should have never tried that to begin with).

Now I don't see ANYTHING that will come up in the next few months that will raid the scarlet fund. I can shoot, edit and everything else with my current rig (HDV) with no problems. I have wireless (lectrosonics), Firestore recorder and all the other little pieces. The only things I don't own, that I would like, is a matte box a, polarizer, follow focus and the like. I can't buy those things now anyway since I'll need to actually own the scarlet to see what works with the scarlet.

So now I'll just be waiting. I'm holding tight for the S35. The (OLD) PDF file says late summer, so I estimate it'll be here around December 2009 / January 2010 at the soonest. I'm hoping sooner though.

I should be ready for an S35 body, a lens, a recording device and an LCD. I'm really hoping I can use my Anton Bauer batteries on the scarlet. They are very expensive at around $450 each (Dionic 90).

 

[Aaron Newsome]

Well the doubters were right. I thought I was in for the wait but the trigger finger proved to be too sensitive. The scarlet fund has been raided, emptied no less, for a Viper. I came across a deal I couldn't pass for a Viper and I picked one up on Sunday.

Red's cameras are awesome no doubt but the Viper is certainly an accomplished rig in it's own right. Since I've owned the Viper, I've had some conversations with some folks who've convinced me that this camera will give just about *anything* a run for it's money, including RED, Genesis, F23, etc.

I'm actually feeling pretty good about it now. I sent it off to Grass Valley to have them go through the camera completely but I'll get it back soon. All I have to do is get a recorder for it and I'm all set.

Instead of waiting, I'll be shooting! Very soon. And then when the scarlet comes out, I'll probably get one anyway.

 

[Martin Planer]

My saving will hit the 7.5k € mark by october and I'm looking forward to getting a scarlet.

The only problem is, that I wanted to also get a new notebook by fall

Looks like I have to scrape some more money together...

 

[Ben Ponce]

Well the doubters were right. I thought I was in for the wait but the trigger finger proved to be too sensitive. The scarlet fund has been raided, emptied no less, for a Viper. I came across a deal I couldn't pass for a Viper and I picked one up on Sunday.

Red's cameras are awesome no doubt but the Viper is certainly an accomplished rig in it's own right. Since I've owned the Viper, I've had some conversations with some folks who've convinced me that this camera will give just about *anything* a run for it's money, including RED, Genesis, F23, etc.

I'm actually feeling pretty good about it now. I sent it off to Grass Valley to have them go through the camera completely but I'll get it back soon. All I have to do is get a recorder for it and I'm all set.

Instead of waiting, I'll be shooting! Very soon. And then when the scarlet comes out, I'll probably get one anyway.

Nice. There's been quite a few films shot on Viper cams already. Wasn't Benjamin Button?

 

[Dominic Jones]

Button certainly was shot on the Viper, as was Zodiac, amongst others. Good camera, and no doubt!

If you don't mind my asking, how much did you pay and what did you get for it?

Cheers,
Dom.

 

[David Stewart]

Doing everything in reverse. Fast computer with SATA RAID - 350 MB/s. Lots of extra storage. Got camera acc. already - steadycam, crane, tripods, lighting, audio, etc. Avid MC3, CS4, lots of AE plugins. Paid off loans and credit cards. Now need cam. Sticking with SD till a reasonably (my budget) priced, full featured cam hits the market - hopefully the scarlet...soon...within a year.

 

[Aaron Newsome]

Button certainly was shot on the Viper, as was Zodiac, amongst others. Good camera, and no doubt!

If you don't mind my asking, how much did you pay and what did you get for it?

Cheers,
Dom.

Yes those movies were certainly shot on Viper as well as a pretty decent list of other features. I hear it shot lots of low light scenes in Collateral as well.

I paid a few thousand less for the Viper (used) than what a RED One body costs new. $10k of that was in cash and the rest in trade. I just happened to have a bunch of stuff the guy wanted.

Viper has lots of *really* neat technology in it. The filmstream is definitely interesting, although I don't think I'll be doing a lot of 4:4:4 recording. The mechanical shutter is interesting to. They claim it eliminates vertical smear that all other cameras suffer. I'll be putting that to the test.

While it only outputs a 1920x1080 frame max, that frame is already massively oversampled. At 720p/60, it's oversampled even more, still using the full sensor. I think the cinemascope mode is really interesting too, and I can see that a few filmakers have taken advantage of that as well.

I haven't purchased much in the way of needed things for the Viper yet. Most notably missing is a way to record. All in due time. I've purchased a tripod plate, a shoulder mount rig from redrock (also will be used to mount my recorder, battery, etc).

That's about it so far.

 

[Dominic Jones]

Sounds like you got a great deal there Aaron - nice work...

Yes, I like the Cinemascope and filmstream modes, very neat ideas. I was going to mention Collateral, but personally I don't care too much for the look of that film, so I decided not too!

Happy shopping for the rest of the kit, and happy shooting once it's done!...

Cheers,
Dom.

 

[Kevin Liu]

I paid a few thousand less for the Viper (used) than what a RED One body costs new. $10k of that was in cash and the rest in trade. I just happened to have a bunch of stuff the guy wanted.

What a great deal! Was it in good working order? So essentially you gave him $10k + a few thousand worth of equipment for a Viper?

 

[Aaron Newsome]

What a great deal! Was it in good working order? So essentially you gave him $10k + a few thousand worth of equipment for a Viper?

Yes. That's the short story. I don't have a high end lens to shoot with so all of my initial shooting with this camera will be done on a 2/3 B4 lens that I've had for about a year. It's an ENG lens that is like new, but not high end, standard def. I'm not expecting much from this lens, I paid $2,000 for it.

However, I talked to a Viper expert, he claims to have shot more with Viper than anyone on the planet. Features, specials and currently on a TV series. Anyway, he said, give the SD lens a shot! He says I'll be surprised at how well a crappy SD can look. He said most of his stuff is shot with a sub $10k cine lens, unless the client is willing to pay for a Zeiss.

As far as the camera being in good working order. I literally spent a few HOURS going through the camera making sure everything worked. The only issue was I couldn't test some of the outputs. I don't own a dual link HD-SDI recorder. I don't have a multicore connector to snap on and test those outputs. I don't have a scope or sophisticated tools to test lens collimation and stuff like that. I tested what I could and made sure the buttons and knobs do what they're supposed to.

I talked to a tech at grass valley. I told him I just got the camera and he pretty much convinced me that I should send the camera to grass valley and they will completely go through it. They calibrate things, turn knobs inside the camera I presume and basically insure that everything works. They have dual link HD-SDI hookups, scopes, etc. Once they say it's good, I'll say it's good and shoot with confidence. If no parts are needed, this will cost less than $1,000. I just add it to the cost of the camera and it's still a solid deal.

I know a guy selling a Viper body only for $20k so when I'm done with mine, it'll still be less than what he's selling that one for.

 

[boston]

This seems a rather speculative thread, but an interesting idea. I'm sure a lot of us have hit refresh on the same page at Red.com for months and months now... there have obviously been no major changes to estimated prices for the different versions of the scarlet series since http://www.red.com/epic_scarlet/ was originally posted.
The amount to save up differs for what you want to shoot, and what your average salary is or in some cases, isn't. After the mild and minimal research that I have been able to do I've made a few general assumptive estimates for what I will spend. (...a few GENERAL assumptive Estimates...)
I'm looking for shooting 3D and 2D and will be buying a matching rig as a friend of mine. As posted red estimates that the two 2/3'' sensor brains will be $3000 and $2500 respectively. And the "complete kit" for the fixed lens 2/3" scarlet is noted to raise the price $750. With that in mind, I'm looking at purchasing the '2/3" Cinema' system and so assume that the additional lens mount maybe close to the current Nikon lens mount pricing for the Red One ($500). (An estimate, but maybe a safe guess...)
If we were to assume no price changes, that would mean $2500 (Cinema Brain) + $750 (Kit with battery etc.) + $500 (Lens mount) would be = $3750. Well... I'm going to guess that while that is an extremely competitive and undercutting market price, maybe I'll want more fixings for my specific liking or the cost may be more, so I'm budgeting at least $750 more.
So maybe a standard kit at that price may run around $4500. (A cinema robots wet dream come true...) Factoring in either cheaper Canon or Nikon lenses (just a couple to start with for me) I figure I'll need another $1000 to $1500. Or if the red mini-primes are really floating around the rumored price range of $500 that would be the best way to go. One or two depending, for me. That means $6000 + Tax = I donno $7000.
Based on GENERAL assumptive Estimates that might be a semi-decent guess. "SEMI" and then following the beautifully haunting and taunting advice of "Prices, Specifications and delivery dates are subject to drastic changes. Plan on it..." or die crying... I figure wait and see if $7000 is good enough. I have 5k now... so... keep on keeping on.

 

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

One thing I am not sure I fully understand, maybe it's not really known, I don't know...

Is there ANY advantage that the RED One has over an S35 5K Scarlet for instance? It seems to me that the Scarlet would be superior in every respect, I mean the top two Scarlet models both that is. I'm only wondering because let's say that RED said, look, it's going to be another 18 months before the Scarlet comes out, we had major setbacks, etc., then I might somehow be convinced to get a RED One if it wasn't basically obsoleted by a cheaper, better camera. But in my research at least it seems there's no advantage at all to having a $17,500 4K camera over a $7,000 5K camera. It basically seems like the RED One, while not being "obsolete," will certainly become overpriced comparatively. Unless there is something I'm just not understanding, in which case I'd obviously love to know...

 

[J. Brennan]

One thing I am not sure I fully understand, maybe it's not really known, I don't know...

Is there ANY advantage that the RED One has over an S35 5K Scarlet for instance? It seems to me that the Scarlet would be superior in every respect, I mean the top two Scarlet models both that is. I'm only wondering because let's say that RED said, look, it's going to be another 18 months before the Scarlet comes out, we had major setbacks, etc., then I might somehow be convinced to get a RED One if it wasn't basically obsoleted by a cheaper, better camera. But in my research at least it seems there's no advantage at all to having a $17,500 4K camera over a $7,000 5K camera. It basically seems like the RED One, while not being "obsolete," will certainly become overpriced comparatively. Unless there is something I'm just not understanding, in which case I'd obviously love to know...

Frame rates is basically the only thing the RedOne is superior at then the S35. The RedOne can do up to 120 and the S35 Scarlet can only do 72. Plus the S35 does not include the I/O module, ect. So when you add that stuff to the price of the S35 scarlet it would probably be more like $9-10 thousand dollar camera compared to a $17,500 one.

Still a great great deal for what you get out of the S35 scarlet.

 

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

Frame rates is basically the only thing the RedOne is superior at then the S35. The RedOne can do up to 120 and the S35 Scarlet can only do 72. Plus the S35 does not include the I/O module, ect. So when you add that stuff to the price of the S35 scarlet it would probably be more like $9-10 thousand dollar camera compared to a $17,500 one.

Still a great great deal for what you get out of the S35 scarlet.

Ah ok, so is the Scarlet even more modular than the RED One basically? I mean is that kind of the idea is that it's the "brain" and you can attach other parts completely as needed, so the brain only is easy to switch out? I was gathering that's the case. I hadn't considered that the RED One body probably had a few more things on it.

Yeah it is an unquestionably great deal, the Scarlet I mean, but at the time I thought the RED One was a great deal, and still think it is, because you're still getting this amazing 4K cinema camera for just $17,500 base, so a working camera with a few nice luxuries at say $35,000 is pretty darn sweet.

I don't want to step on any toes, but in the past when people said before the RED One, "Well I want to film this project so the RED needs to come out because I can't film this without it," I always thought that was kind of a silly sentiment. I mean if you have a great story or a great project, you go for it, you don't wait for a certain piece of technology. That being said, I find myself somewhat in the camp with that sentiment for the Scarlet simply because I refuse to rent something like the RED One for a feature film. I would never rent anything like that for a feature, I'd rather just buy it, I'm not paying $750/day, or even $2,000/week, to rent a camera I can just buy for $35,000. That makes no sense to me. Throw $6,000 away to get nothing, or $35,000 to have the camera and be able to use it again. But now that I know Scarlet is coming out, I wouldn't want to drop money on the RED One. Which is why I kind of find myself in the position of having several projects that I'd like to film with it. I suppose it's no big deal as neither project will be ready before year's end anyway, and the soonest I can imagine doing one is probably February (late) or March 2010.

 

[Chris Kennedy]

saved? How about -$30k from student debt?

KO

-That reminds me of mine! :emote_headwall: $87,000 in student debt! If film school was a little bit less

 

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

-That reminds me of mine! :emote_headwall: $87,000 in student debt! If film school was a little bit less

Haha, that's why I quit film school, way too much money for an industry that cannot guarantee you any decent job out of school. Easier to learn on your own and cheaper. I lost about $9K to film school before I quit and got the rest back, which I spent on my reel and on equipment. It was definitely worth it.