HOW RELIABLE IS AN EPIC ?

[Robert Hart]

Elsie.

Did you ever have a cowshed cat which would get covered in milk from having a jet sent in its direction to catch straight down the hatch and lick up afterwards off itself?

 

[Elsie N]

Elsie.

Did you ever have a cowshed cat which would get covered in milk from having a jet sent in its direction to catch and lick up?

Definitely fed the cat by squirting milk in its face. '-)

 

[Terry VerHaar]

Can this conversation now be accurately characterized as genuine "bull?" (In a nice way.) LOL

 

[Elsie N]

Can this conversation now be accurately characterized as genuine "bull?" (In a nice way.) LOL

Heh, heh, Terry, the bull is the one with no teats. '-)

Just joking.

 

[Robert Hart]

The conversation was waxing a bit negative in places and I thought a bit of lightening up would do no harm. I won't burden anyone with what a "bulladene" is. If Elsie has had connections with older generation folks of the old earth, she might just know and will keep it to herself. In meantime, hopefully, good reasoned and sensible counsel will prevail, now that morning recess is over and the topic is resumed.

 

[Elsie N]

The conversation was waxing a bit negative in places and I thought a bit of lightening up would do no harm. I won't burden anyone with what a "bulladene" is. If Elsie has had connections with older generation folks of the old earth, he might just know and will keep it to himself. In meantime, hopefully, good reasoned and sensible counsel will prevail, now that morning recess is over and the topic is resumed.

Heh, heh, El sie, (L. C.) he does know what a bulladene is now after learning through PM.

Levity is good and yes, it does seem to have lightened the mood on this thread.

Good job.

 

[Dr. Sassi]

The more cameras are in the field, the more might happen.
It would be nice to keep the ratio among the cameras (e.g., RED/Sony/Arri) in mind, while evaluating the amount of problem reports.
Anyone has some numbers?

 

[Alex Macneal]

Watched the musicvideo, http://youtu.be/fYNJd9QGHGo, 01:14 is so funny, unbelievable !!

And - I´m going to order an Epic next week. No risk no fun.

 

[Robert Hart]

Alex. There is something to be said for the capacity of immediate response when you own your own camera or just simply being able to pick the thing up and go when the impulse seizes you. Some of the best gems happen when you can do that. It might seem a personal extravagence but if you can manage it, why not?

Enjoy and hopefully prosper whilst you are about it.

( I am replete with envy but also content with what I have which was in its glory time, a similar extravagance ).

 

[Elsie N]

Watched the musicvideo, http://youtu.be/fYNJd9QGHGo, 01:14 is so funny, unbelievable !!

And - I´m going to order an Epic next week. No risk no fun.

Jim made the statement in another thread that the Dragon will not be released until it is absolutely bullet proof, so I think any perceived risk should be minimized by this pronouncement. (But why wait... I assume you can order through the website today.)

We won't release Dragon until it is bulletproof and all features enabled. We have learned our lesson. But then again... everything changes. Count on it.

Jim

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

I am not a RED user or owner but I do recall a thread where it was strongly advised - very strongly advised - to blackshade the camera when it is as hot as you can get it. You'll get a better picture that way. And AFAIK you only need to do it once unless you change shooting settings too far off the norm (is that right)?

Also, pay strict attention to the comments in this thread which discuss reliability of power sources.

 

[ericyoung]

I am not a RED user or owner but I do recall a thread where it was strongly advised - very strongly advised - to blackshade the camera when it is as hot as you can get it. You'll get a better picture that way. And AFAIK you only need to do it once unless you change shooting settings too far off the norm (is that right)?

Also, pay strict attention to the comments in this thread which discuss reliability of power sources.

The advice is to blackshade within a few degrees of the temperature that the camera will be actually shooting at. So don't blackshade with a camera temperature of 20deg in an air conditioned room if you will be shooting somewhere where the camera temperature reaches 35deg under hot lights. The latest camera firmware has an indication on the LCD displays which guides you how far you are away from the black calibration temperature.

 

[Greg F]

Over the last few months some of my colleagues told me crazy stories about their experiences with their own Epics or cameras from rentalhouses, like frames dropped, files damaged, hardwareproblems, only to mention a few. I also read some "horror-stories" on this forum.
Somehow this camera seems to become some kind of a career-killer or job-killer for a few people...
I don´t understand this, because I always thought all those Beta-test-issues are fixed.

So my question is: Is a Red Epic in your eyes a reliable camera, that I can buy regardless or should I continue to rent it to keep away the responsibility for technical problems because of the fact that RED is not able to build a camera that works.

Thanks in advance!!!

Mine is in a housing underwater roughly 6 hours a week, filming sharks and it does not seem phased by the animals so thats a pretty good sign. Its the only camera I have owned that did not need diapers. Or to say in another way I use mine very regular and it is a workhorse, its stuck to live inside a housing with no external ventilation and does on average 20+ mins of footage per dive.. At least lately....

Hope this helps

Complaint Department: *shakes fist at battery and storage media size*

 

[Zhang Ming]

SYNC lost in S3D shot sometime, I havn't found why, but that lost just continue less than 0.5 second, no other issues. Epic has too many options to manipulate, so Epics from renthouse may not very solid. Also power connection is important.

 

[Trey Chace]

I've been shooting my Epic in 100 degree heat in Jamaica and in -20 degree cold here in Jackson WY. Ive never had an issue I couldnt just re-boot and fix similar to any computer (as thats basically what modern cameras are)
That said, the only camera Ive ever owned without a single issue was an old 60's 16mm Arri SB...you could hammer a nail into a tree with it and keep shooting. Man I loved that thing...kinda miss the simplicity too. Sold it to a guy that makes B-rated horror flicks. sob story. but I guarantee that think still shoots! wait what are we talking about?

 

[Antony M]

Antony, are those issues being addressed? Are they so much of a problem you wish you owned another brand of camera? I'm sure RED could build us a camera that is absolutely bullet proof but I doubt if you or I could afford to buy and use it. And once they got the capabilities locked in there would be no "new-camera-through-firmware" every few months.

I think RED is the victim of their own industry leading success. The more they change how camera companies do business, the more some of their customers forget what life was like BR... (before red)

Elsie, I've only just seen your post...

Some of the issues have now been resolved (after a year or so, such as pre-roll, etc).
Other issues, yes I have had to buy/rent other brands of camera/accessories.

 

[Antony M]

Originally Posted by Antony M
II have had the temperature display disappear, which in turn means the fans don't turn off.

I have had the Touch Screen lock up and stop responding to either touch or the buttons.


I have had the camera just power itself down, whilst connected to AC power.

I'm not saying that this is good, but have these errors repeated themselves to such a degree as to making it a problem, or did a simple restart fix the issues?

Yes, the errors were happening about 8 times per day. I was lucky that we had a very understanding director.

Sometimes a reboot fixed it, other times we needed to reboot 3 or 4 times to fix it.

 

[Dave Blackham]

We use our Epic's in some of the most remote and hostile areas of the planet. 2D and 3D. Hot Cold, Wet, Dry and often too in underwater housings. The cameras can be finicety depending on the firmware but they are reliable. if they were not reliable we wouldnt be using them. If we didn't use Epic we quite simply couldn't capture some of the images that Epic makes possible.

 

[Alex Macneal]

We use our Epic's in some of the most remote and hostile areas of the planet. 2D and 3D. Hot Cold, Wet, Dry and often too in underwater housings. The cameras can be finicety depending on the firmware but they are reliable. if they were not reliable we wouldnt be using them. If we didn't use Epic we quite simply couldn't capture some of the images that Epic makes possible.

Great to hear! Which firmware do you use?