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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 rentable is Dragon?

Short answer to the OPs question:

Increasingly...

That's good news Gunleik. Your market I sense is similar to mine in terms of how your clients think and your level of work - so fingers crossed we'll have the same news here.

Image quality is actually better than Alexa - not just better in some ways but worse in others as was case with Epic MX. SO… You get into "Do you want the best camera possible or not" territory. Many of my clients just want the best, regardless of price (within reason). A clear best is much easier to sell to them.

Glad to hear they are "getting" it though.
 
I'd rent a dragon so long as it's the same rate as an MX. Which seems to be the case at the rental house i frequent
 
Zero demand here on the prairies -at least for MB. It's an Alexa market and unfortunately there's been some negative association with Red.

I'd very much like to change that of course since we have two bodies about to get their upgrade. Haven't had an Epic rental aside from our own projects...
 
That's a shame Jeremy. I know in Toronto we get a lot of folks that are making Music Videos with Red (and even more using DSLR and hoping to use Red if/when they can afford it). Indie films shoot in DSLR or Red. Only features lean towards Alexa (if not Epic).

I agree with Robert that Dragon here would rent higher then Epic and why not. It is a premium product. It should...at least for the first year while it is a hot and hard to get commodity. Won't last but for now...

Once the market get's flooded or if a swift new technology makes it obsolete worthless to rent, then the game changes. Dragon won't be obsolete any time soon but it's just a matter of when will technology or abundance of Dragons affect the local market.

A GoPro or iPhone or DSLR will eventually offer affordable 4k at decent quality meaning that those low end renters will avoid renting (any camera). Nothing lasts forever. Alexa will get a 4k sooner or later too (maybe at NAB). Till then, Dragon will slowly start eating at Arri's market. Dragon will be a premium till more are out in the local scene. Then perhaps it will be the same price as MX while MX moves towards Scarlet pricing.

Sure it's different around the world, but here in Toronto Canada, that's how I see it.
 
The few rentals that do happen are usually based on me helping out some of the camera guys moving their way up and want to have a good tool to play with. Of course if given the option (and budget) they still prefer Alexa...I just don't get it. We all know the great strides Red has made and a commitment to making the camera overall better -from the sensor to colour science and all the rest. I love Red for many reasons. They're smart and they're committed. And the tech just keeps getting better. Hopefully Dragon now will begin to change many people's minds.
 
That's a shame Jeremy. I know in Toronto we get a lot of folks that are making Music Videos with Red (and even more using DSLR and hoping to use Red if/when they can afford it). Indie films shoot in DSLR or Red. Only features lean towards Alexa (if not Epic).

I agree with Robert that Dragon here would rent higher then Epic and why not. It is a premium product. It should...at least for the first year while it is a hot and hard to get commodity. Won't last but for now...

Once the market get's flooded or if a swift new technology makes it obsolete worthless to rent, then the game changes. Dragon won't be obsolete any time soon but it's just a matter of when will technology or abundance of Dragons affect the local market.

A GoPro or iPhone or DSLR will eventually offer affordable 4k at decent quality meaning that those low end renters will avoid renting (any camera). Nothing lasts forever. Alexa will get a 4k sooner or later too (maybe at NAB). Till then, Dragon will slowly start eating at Arri's market. Dragon will be a premium till more are out in the local scene. Then perhaps it will be the same price as MX while MX moves towards Scarlet pricing.

Sure it's different around the world, but here in Toronto Canada, that's how I see it.

4K is almost irrelevant, but image quality is not. if someone is stupid enough to shoot with an Iphone through its little plastic lens because the spec says 4K then I;m sure they would be a real pain as a rental client. Besides, even in an imaginary world where resolution were all that mattered (not this world) spec and reality are very different. Most DSLRS for example are barely 650p even though they claim to record to a 1080p codec.
 
Zero demand here on the prairies -at least for MB. It's an Alexa market and unfortunately there's been some negative association with Red.

I'd very much like to change that of course since we have two bodies about to get their upgrade. Haven't had an Epic rental aside from our own projects...

Canada is very, very conservative and small markets are also very conservative. Put the two together and you see that kind of sticking only to traditional known brands i.e. Sony or Arri for cameras, and very old fashioned lighting techniques even. I feel for you (Montreal is a bit different, as is Toronto - as they are bigger markets so a little more adventurous.)
 
I feel for you (Montreal is a bit different, as is Toronto - as they are bigger markets so a little more adventurous.)

They sure are. I love traveling to both cities. The prairies are absolutely Conservative, which is a shame.

And I know what you're saying about Sony...our first camera was a DNW-A90WS with a divi beta head. Great camera but we couldn't get any work outside of our own unless we had a Sony. Our post system was D-Vision which I absolutely loved and could edit twice as fast as Avid...but get post work on something that DIDN'T say Avid? So then we drop $120,000 on a Media Composer system with proprietary drives...took awhile to get that paid off but eventually did.

Then we went to a Sony 700A...one of the first to do HD. Took forever for people to adopt.

Bottom line was all of this led me to Red with their products and philosophy. I wait for the new chapter!
 
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