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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

HOW RELIABLE IS AN EPIC ?

To all:
thank you so much for sharing your time and experience. That helps a lot.
Great forum, great forum members!!!!
 
Mine was not working after 40 hours of operation.....not expensive part are used for this new cheap model....evrybody are having issues but no one complains with RED! I lost my faith and a lot of money as well!
 
Marcello Altieri said:
Mine was not working after 40 hours of operation.....not expensive part are used for this new cheap model....evrybody are having issues but no one complains with RED! I lost my faith and a lot of money as well!
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While I am sorry you had issues with your camera, it is purely nonsense to say that the new Epic gets inexpensive parts which in turn make it fail, completely nonsense.
 
Hello again:
did you see this? http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?98080-Urgent-help!-On-location-Epic-stuck

Obviously I should continue with Epics from rentalhouses, because if something like that happens on set I can sit down relaxed and have a cup of coffee until the rentalhouse has fixed the problem.
I think I would have an heartattack if this happens with my own camera, and I´m sure this client woudn´t hire me again.

I´m really really sad, because I like the Red Epic a lot and would love to own one, but I think the risk is too high.

Come on Red, you build cameras for how long? 7 years? Perhaps you should concentrate on reliability instead of K´s. Who needs 6K?! Noone! What we need is a camera that works.
I would buy it immediately if I could be sure that it won´t spoil my jobs.

Oh man, come on, I don´t want to buy an F55!

Somehow the Red Epic is like Jimmy Page, most of the time a sloppy player, but the best guitarist in the world.
 
Troll

Troll

This is my first post and to be honest, I have and Epic on order. I did read an earlier post today of a poor guy on location struggling with his Epic to work. Didn't sound like he was a "happy Epic camper"!
 
Mine has been extremely reliable. It's tough though because i've had a few error messages and been asked to send it in but my schedule and amount of work has made it hard.

I've worked in all environments and had no issues really. Random glitches are pretty standard but for the most part it has met all of my expectations and beyond. Much better luck with my Epic than my Scarlet.

Mine has been in my hands while tumbling in a Mini Avalanche while I was tomahawking down a snowy hill as well. No damage at all. I was rolling pretty quick so it barely made contact with the snow. But I went about 500 ft and didn't lose anything or break anything. Like I said the camera barely even had snow on it but it was impressive that with that velocity nothing came loose or stopped working.
 
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Alex Macneal said:
Hello again:
did you see this? http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?98080-Urgent-help!-On-location-Epic-stuck

Obviously I should continue with Epics from rentalhouses, because if something like that happens on set I can sit down relaxed and have a cup of coffee until the rentalhouse has fixed the problem.
I think I would have an heartattack if this happens with my own camera, and I´m sure this client woudn´t hire me again.

I´m really really sad, because I like the Red Epic a lot and would love to own one, but I think the risk is too high.

Come on Red, you build cameras for how long? 7 years? Perhaps you should concentrate on reliability instead of K´s. Who needs 6K?! Noone! What we need is a camera that works.
I would buy it immediately if I could be sure that it won´t spoil my jobs.

Oh man, come on, I don´t want to buy an F55!

Somehow the Red Epic is like Jimmy Page, most of the time a sloppy player, but the best guitarist in the world.
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Perhaps until you are comfortable with using the Epic proficiently, the rental house would be the best approach?
 
shashbugu said:
The epic has grown leaps and bounds since the early days which garnered its bad reputation. It's reliable and robust today. Spend time on other camera manufacturers forums you'll hear the same horror stories in their beta firmware builds. This is the best time to buy an Epic
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We had the Epic M since it came out and we had no issues. People that do not know how it works on the other hand always seams to have problems. I actually thinks that renting out a red camera without a techincan that goes along with the camer and knows how it works is poor judgment. Since people does not know how it works, expose wrong, get lost in the possibilites of the camera and makes stupid mistakes. Then when they are done with it they tend to point at the camera and blame it for their lack of success.

Redmote had weak wifi connection in the beginning... well that was a known, so then do not count on it as working except for when attached to camera. Today it works fine if it's been sent to red for update. And it also needs to be updated when the camera firmware is updated, many rental places do not practice this so they rent out a half working red mote, or a red mote that needs to be paired with the camera... and when the AC do not know how to pair it he then usually tells everyone it's broken...

So bad knowhow is what gives red a bad rep. Just as simple cameras with less function is getting great rep... But does it make them more reliable or better than the red cameras... I personally do not think thats the case.
 
Hi Alex. I have had a good experience with reliability with both Red One and Epic X - very good. Not a significant issue in about four years I think. My only issue has been with accessories but that is another story. On another note, if you are going to use the forum an invaluable feature and part of the red users survivors guide is that you can screen out people - it is called the ignore list. You will need to learn to use it to get the most out of the forum
 
Every Red owner I know has had a very positive experience. I own two and have never had a problem. Owned a R1 before that and never had a problem.

In my opinion it's much better to own than rent. Know your gear inside out.
 
Björn Benckert said:
We had the Epic M since it came out and we had no issues. People that do not know how it works on the other hand always seams to have problems. I actually thinks that renting out a red camera without a techincan that goes along with the camer and knows how it works is poor judgment. Since people does not know how it works, expose wrong, get lost in the possibilites of the camera and makes stupid mistakes. Then when they are done with it they tend to point at the camera and blame it for their lack of success.

Redmote had weak wifi connection in the beginning... well that was a known, so then do not count on it as working except for when attached to camera. Today it works fine if it's been sent to red for update. And it also needs to be updated when the camera firmware is updated, many rental places do not practice this so they rent out a half working red mote, or a red mote that needs to be paired with the camera... and when the AC do not know how to pair it he then usually tells everyone it's broken...

So bad knowhow is what gives red a bad rep. Just as simple cameras with less function is getting great rep... But does it make them more reliable or better than the red cameras... I personally do not think thats the case.
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Don´t be angry, but "not-knowing-how-the-camera-works" is definitively not the reason for the problems with the camera, and sounds a bit like a platitude.
It is still just a camera.
You don´t need a university degree to understand how the Epic or the Redmote works.
I heard those arguments so often from people who should stop to take oneself too seriously, because they had just one thing: luck. Nothing more.
The problems obviously come from hardware, softare and sloppy quality of the gear.
But it´s still the cooles camera out there. But also still a risk.
 
I was scared shitless to buy an Epic Alex...I've seen so many people going ape shit about issues and sending their cameras in back and forth..I just got mines end of feb..wasn't able to use it till this month..Not an issue yet on the newest released firmware. Only issues that I thought were issues were from my own ignorance. It's not really a turn on and go camera entirely. You really gotta learn the ins and outs of it..But I haven't had aaaaaaaaaaany buyers remorse since I started pressing record :D..They just dropped the price on the brain..Doesn't make me feel bad either cause I bought mines in oregon with no tax hehehehe so if I waited till now to get it while I'm back in LA..it all comes out to the same price. muahahahaha...If you got the money...and a beast computer...Get that shit, do that shit, love that shit...
 
Alex Macneal said:
...

Come on Red, you build cameras for how long? 7 years? Perhaps you should concentrate on reliability instead of K´s. Who needs 6K?! Noone! What we need is a camera that works.

...
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Not sure you are qualified to scold RED.
 
Nick Gardner said:
I have seen problems.I think 90% of problems are power related. V lock batteries suck. The connection is shitty, the contacts arc and fuck up, and then you have wonky power going to the camera. Since the cameras came out, almost all of the problems I have seen have been on vlock cameras. Never had any problems with AB mount batts.

I think the epic is extremely robust and reliable.

Nick
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That's right!

Hans
 
I've shot with REd one, film, ENG cams, and now mostly Alexa and EPIC day in and day out on TVC's, Digital brand content and Doc's, most of them in pretty tough environments. We own and rent out 2 EPICs, and end up shooting Alexa on some spots as well. Today, that's the business - not long ago, it was 235's, Lite's, ENG cams, Red One's....

Bottom line, EPIC's take a lickin and keep on ticking. Here are a few facts from the field of action and outdoor based commercial shooting:

Alexa and EPIC seem about the same as far as overall reliability these days in rough environments
The EPIC brain itself has never failed, even when soaking wet
The EPIC side handle has failed me often - we've had them in for repair 5 times now, but we also mistreat them (wet, banged around, etc)
We had ALexa bugs on set in the early days, we had EPIC bugs on set in early days - more with EPIC that Alexa, but in neither case did they stop shooting from happening
I'll take an EPIC over an Alexa any day of the week for the kind of shooting we do (on ropes in the rain, on ropes at 5K meters, in blowing sleet and snow, in blistering heat and sand, etc)
Any of these modern high end cameras can be tweaky, a bit buggy at times, and require careful education, testing and maintenance
Alexa's accessories (EVF, I/O, etc) are less buggy and more reliable than RED's overall (but not the camera itself) - but Alexa weighs a ton and is a lot harder to customize for specific applications and does not shoot RAW practically/easily outside of a studio environment
The RED SSD system is bomber, and I mean BOMBER - we've dropped em, soaked em, cooked em, lost power during takes - never had one dropped frame or a single corruption in thousands of terabytes of shooting in the last 2 years
On a recent shoot, a SOny FS700 B cam died in the jungle rain and mud before the EPIC (the EPIC was fine, but the side handle quit working after it got, well, real wet) - and Sony's are tough
We can't seem to keep our cameras dry - and EPIC's just keep working somehow, in conditions that would make you accuse us of idiocy. I could post photos but RED would never talk to us again.
We send in our EPIC's for cleaning and general maintenance a few times a year. This often results in phone calls from the RMA techs asking what the hell we did to them. But they don't fail. They just need some love.
 
Alex Macneal said:
Terry, sorry I don´t understand your first sentense. Why should there be any reason not to be friendly? I didn´t ask anything that could hurt someone. What do you mean with "troll"?
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Alex - based on your subsequent posts, I fear I was right. You seem to have an agenda to poke RED in the eye here rather than posing the "innocent" question you purport to ask in your thread title.
 
the Epic at my school seems to get sent back to RED for for service at least once a semester. to be fair it's a bunch of students that handle it day after day.
 
Terry VerHaar said:
Alex - based on your subsequent posts, I fear I was right. You seem to have an agenda to poke RED in the eye here rather than posing the "innocent" question you purport to ask in your thread title.
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Terry, you are getting on my nerves. You can´t forbid sb. to speak or to say the truth. After reading your posts I am sure you live in your own world, but that´s for sure not the real world.
 
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