Komodo (Production) has finally landed.

[Michael Hastings]

What a bad experience with this Hydrogen and Komodo "discount".

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[S_James]

I dunno guys..they were clear about the 60 day window up front. As recently as 12/9 i visited red.com, initiated a chat, confirmed the hydrogen window was closing and expressed interest in ordering. simple as that, my rep got in touch w/ details. I wouldn’t normally take time to post this because it seems other users have had a different experience, but as an early hydrogen preorder, I felt like Red went above and beyond with the Komodo discount and I wanted to put that out there along with some of this other feedback.

 

[Rakesh Malik]

I dunno guys..they were clear about the 60 day window up front. As recently as 12/9 i visited red.com, initiated a chat, confirmed the hydrogen window was closing and expressed interest in ordering. simple as that, my rep got in touch w/ details. I wouldn’t normally take time to post this because it seems other users have had a different experience, but as an early hydrogen preorder, I felt like Red went above and beyond with the Komodo discount and I wanted to put that out there along with some of this other feedback.

Especially since the Hydrogen wasn't even a Red product in the first place...

But yeah, Jarred was pretty clear about the discount deadline, so it's hard to see how you can blame Jarred or anyone else at Red for missing out on it.

 

[Michael Hastings]

Especially since the Hydrogen wasn't even a Red product in the first place...

snip.

If it wasn't a RED product why does my original order confirmation say "RED Digital Cinema" on it, same as my other RED camera orders? The whole "it's not us" thing and the myriad RED "this or that" LLCs has always seemed a bit "hinky" (I think that's a RED term).

I've purchased pretty much every generation REDONE, Epic-M, Epic-X, Dragon upgrade, and Epic-W.

Despite having sold my Epic-W last fall in anticipation of moving to Komodo for a smaller underwater setup, honestly the whole Hydrogen situation has shaken my faith in RED a bit and I've decided to forego Komodo and use another 8K camera while waiting to see DSMC3 or whatever the next generation is. Not to mention the flood of other 4,6,8,12K cameras out there or on the way.

RED has been a big part of my professional life since 2006 - seems to me this isn't a good time for RED to be doing things that might make one question the business integrity itself. Whatever, technical/legal distinction there might have been - I'm pretty sure that virtually all like me that bought the Hydrogen direct (rather than through Verizon or ATT) thought they were buying a "RED" product like their others.

 

[Robert Hofmeyr]

I got my Hydrogen order in just in time, but was a bit sad to hear there's a 12 week wait and no separate queue for Hydrogen owners as Jarred originally stated. I don't think there's a way to get the discount if we buy through resellers.

 

[Rakesh Malik]

If it wasn't a RED product why does my original order confirmation say "RED Digital Cinema" on it, same as my other RED camera orders? The whole "it's not us" thing and the myriad RED "this or that" LLCs has always seemed a bit "hinky" (I think that's a RED term).

They were sister companies... and after Jim Jannard retired, RDC absorbed Hydrogen.

Despite having sold my Epic-W last fall in anticipation of moving to Komodo for a smaller underwater setup, honestly the whole Hydrogen situation has shaken my faith in RED a bit and I've decided to forego Komodo and use another 8K camera while waiting to see DSMC3 or whatever the next generation is. Not to mention the flood of other 4,6,8,12K cameras out there or on the way.

Overall I was pretty disappointed with the Hydrogen, mostly on the software side and fact that there won't be a 2nd generation. I'm not surprised that the phone itself ended up having some flaws and delays since it was a first foray into a new kind of product, but I'm still using mine.

RED has been a big part of my professional life since 2006 - seems to me this isn't a good time for RED to be doing things that might make one question the business integrity itself. Whatever, technical/legal distinction there might have been - I'm pretty sure that virtually all like me that bought the Hydrogen direct (rather than through Verizon or ATT) thought they were buying a "RED" product like their others.

So you're saying that because you missed the clearly stated Hydrogen discount deadline that it shows a lack of business integrity? It WAS your mistake... it's not like anyone at Red changed that after the initial announcement...

 

[Michael Hastings]

They were sister companies... and after Jim Jannard retired, RDC absorbed Hydrogen.



Overall I was pretty disappointed with the Hydrogen, mostly on the software side and fact that there won't be a 2nd generation. I'm not surprised that the phone itself ended up having some flaws and delays since it was a first foray into a new kind of product, but I'm still using mine.



So you're saying that because you missed the clearly stated Hydrogen discount deadline that it shows a lack of business integrity? It WAS your mistake... it's not like anyone at Red changed that after the initial announcement...

I'm not sure you read my comments. I did not miss the deadline - I thought it was around the 6th but it had nothing to do with my decision to skip buying another RED camera - it was for the other reasons I mentioned.

I hate to actually say it this way but I think you bought the RED line on the "sister" companies. The point I was making is that I don't think we were told in the initial order period that we would be buying from a separate, single product, STARTUP company AND the evidence of my order dated July 6, 2017 came from no-reply@red.com and was headed RED Digital Cinema (long before Jim's retirement) - so something "hinky" happened between order and delivery and AFAIK we were never informed of anything like that. In fact here's the header info from the reply to my request to confirm my order in August 2018 (I think they shipped in October) since it had been almost a year and half since ordering:

Pasted Quote from email header, nothing added or subtracted between the dash lines:

---------

Hydrogen Support (RED Digital Cinema)
Sep 13, 21:18 MST

Hello Michael,

We can confirm the order: RED-CS170812124333-62a6 is still valid.

.....

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So still coming from RED.com and header RED DIGITAL CINEMA

As I said I don't like saying it this way but: To put a finer point on it - I'm holding off because based on how they have handled this I have lost confidence in how RED is and will be doing business in the future.

The point here isn't to take a shot at RED, it's to hopefully make RED reflect on their business philosophy and hopefully be the best company they can be, because I don't think they can afford too many missteps.

Komodo size and global shutter keep RED in the game at the moment but I'm not sure how long that will last. The world is catching up - there are huge companies like Panasonic and Sony (and maybe BMD) that have equal (maybe better) engineering capability and broader product lines (Cameras at every price point, lenses, editing, etc.) that mean they don't have to get all of their profit from the camera itself - and there are dozens of unknown Chinese companies that have equal or better production capability and don't even need heavy duty engineering because there is so much available in off the shelf sensor and system components to put together even cheaper competitive cameras.

Happy Holidays!