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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 :)

KOMODO....

All this time off has got me thinking. I thought maybe I'll share my thoughts here and somebody who knows more could chime in.

Knowing the Komodo is almost as good as Helium in terms of image quality, can or will it replace a Red Dragon-X as your (or anybody else's) A-cam? My detailed thoughts here: https://wolfcrow.com/can-the-red-komodo-replace-a-red-dragon-x-as-your-a-cam/

The original Dragon is still very popular in India as a rental item. You can get an entire kit with lenses, tripod, etc. for about $200 per day. From that perspective, it makes more sense to "invest" in a Gemini over a Dragon-X, especially with all the taxes and duties, etc. The difference is negligible to any business that has that kind of funds.

So, what am I missing here? Will the Komodo really eliminate the need for Dragon-X entirely? What if the Dragon-X comes down in price to $9,999?

Lots to think about.
 
Sareesh Sudhakaran said:
So, what am I missing here? Will the Komodo really eliminate the need for Dragon-X entirely? What if the Dragon-X comes down in price to $9,999?

Lots to think about.
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I should've read your article first before i replied. Nice job comparing the two!

My opinion:

Will Komodo replace Dragon-X? No.

Will Komodo be A-Cam? Absolutely.

Personally, I want both. :laugh:
 
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Sareesh Sudhakaran said:
All this time off has got me thinking. I thought maybe I'll share my thoughts here and somebody who knows more could chime in.

Knowing the Komodo is almost as good as Helium in terms of image quality, can or will it replace a Red Dragon-X as your (or anybody else's) A-cam? My detailed thoughts here: https://wolfcrow.com/can-the-red-komodo-replace-a-red-dragon-x-as-your-a-cam/

The original Dragon is still very popular in India as a rental item. You can get an entire kit with lenses, tripod, etc. for about $200 per day. From that perspective, it makes more sense to "invest" in a Gemini over a Dragon-X, especially with all the taxes and duties, etc. The difference is negligible to any business that has that kind of funds.

So, what am I missing here? Will the Komodo really eliminate the need for Dragon-X entirely? What if the Dragon-X comes down in price to $9,999?

Lots to think about.
Click to expand...

My opinion is the same as Colton John’s.
Dragons still get a lot of love and there’s many of us who still prefer the look the dragon gives over helium (even though I upgraded from dragon to helium). That’s probably why there’s the dragon-x camera-just how beautiful the images look.
There will be a place for dragons for a while. Sure Komodo sure looks amazing and fills in a much needed spot in many of our needs.
 
Jiri Vrozina said:
Only Morons buy stuff without testing it or without viewing anything.
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As one of the original (Al and Ti) hydrogen buyers (morons), which then translated into Komodo somewhere along the lines while we were waiting for modules, I can't agree more. My love and trust for RED made it so that those were my worst tech purchase ever. I hope Jarred restores faith in me.

Ps I don't want to offend anyone. Just joking around.
 
Alberto Guglielmi said:
As one of the original (Al and Ti) hydrogen buyers (morons), which then translated into Komodo somewhere along the lines while we were waiting for modules, I can't agree more. My love and trust for RED made it so that those were my worst tech purchase ever. I hope Jarred restores faith in me.

Ps I don't want to offend anyone. Just joking around.
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Oh man the Hydrogens get crapped on so much... I still love both of mine :(

Honestly, the casings for them would be perfect for a Komodo Specific cabless monitor. Like if RED is going to make a monitor for Komodo I hope its super industrial looking, and has a built in battery + quick charger like the hydrogens.

Definitely going to be using both of mine as well as my iphone with the cell phone cradle + USB cable, and then use my shogun inferno for the bigger productions.

Hoping Komodo gets a cabless option down the line, would love a RED specific monitor, I hate cables so much...
 
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I would like it if Komodo would take the 4.7" DSMC2 LCD I already own. I think it would fit perfect on there despite not having the brightness of comparable small HD / Atomos options. Being able to make adjustments to settings using the display I have always liked despite the fingerprints and still think it would be nice with Komodo having integrated controls. I like that I don't have to take my eyes off the image (to look at a sidekick) while I am making quick adjustments while shooting.
 
I bought the Hydrogen and honestly I still think its a great platform. The pictures and color science is very good, and the H4V's had amazing potential. It still wows people when they see them. Was really, sincerely saddened when they canceled the program, since I was sure that an H2 could easily step up, take everything groundbreaking with the first one and make it truly shine on the market.

What really was needed was additional, bigger screens to showcase the H4V media. A 12.8 tablet or frame would have been killer and spectacular as an h4v Display. That would be the eye opener .

Still have hopes that, following advancements we are seeing in the phones sensors and CPU/GPU performance and screen advancements in terms of nits and pixels, that Hydrogen comes back with a vengeance. I would day one go for it!
 
Hydrogen had issues for sure, but it does sadden me a bit that the focus was on the sharp jagged issues and not the variety of things it did really, really well.

For instance I can still get 3 days off a single battery charge, which none of the current flagships can do with the same usage. And I still think the premium we all paid for the rugged all metal titanium body, though contrary to the glass stone concept of most modern minimalist designs, was a bold utility and ergonomic focused decision.

One can only imagine that rather than a focus on H4V, if Hydrogen released a triple camera 2D focused phone with wide, normal, and long lenses. I mean everybody else got the memo about the huge battery for sure and triple camera will be around for a while as well. Until tiny zoom designs become more reliable.

That has all passed now and for those who did bite the bullet, we all do get a discount on Komodo, which is actually a really good discount more or less offsetting the cost of the phone.

For those interested in 3D and H4V, there is actually still a pretty vibrant community on Holopix as that world continues to develop. I'll go on a limb and say it was a fair bit ahead of it's time in that regard, but still an intersting creative platform. It truly was never designed to be a phone for everybody. That's what the other companies do and do well.

The tertiary result is I think the platform Komodo represents is really what image makers will want at the end of the day. Hydrogen + Battery Module + Camera Module + Lens Mount was going to be about as thick as a Mirrorless or compact DSLR body. Komodo being designed from the ground up has a different focus for sure and will provide a much more versatile shooting platform IMO with non-proprietary accessories. You'll be able to use it and rig it however you want, with whatever you want (to an extent).
 
For me personally, using phones as monitors, it comes down to two things. Brightness and size.

1000 nits is my absolute minimum requirement, and these days I don't buy anything under 1,500 nits. I'm outside a lot. It looks like phones are just starting to approach that range, though I'm not up to speed on all the models.

And with my older eyes, I need 7" monitors. Yeah, I could get by on a smaller screen, but 7" is where I'm comfortable. I'd rather deal with the extra weight and size than use a phone, which is a compromised tool for my needs. Somebody with better eyes might be perfectly OK with the smaller size and reduced brightness.
 
I bought the Feelworld Lut7S monitor and am totally taken by the brightness and quality of the image. I can use it outside when the image on the 7 inch RED monitor is barely visible. It both looks and feels a bit weird when I am using two monitors on the Epic. I wish I could fully replace the RED monitor with the Feelworld but I'm not managing to get all information onto it. The RED monitor is not a touch screen so navigation is done on the side handle. The Feelworld Lut7S is 2200 nits.
 
The Hydrogen was a beautiful creative piece of art that I interacted with. It engaged me and had me thinking about capturing images in a new way.

My Pixel 4XL is an indifferent tool that is entirely adequate for interfacing with the internet, making phone calls, and taking photographs that are generally in focus and exposed well enough.

I mostly look back at the Red One growing pains and pine for what might have been with the future of Hydrogen.

That and the fjords. One is always pining for the fjords.
 
I am so glad I managed to order a few extra devices before closing.
Given the current world situation, you don't want to find yourself with a flat battery or without a means of self defence!
This is the smartphone you want by your side during the apocalypse!
Technology wrapped in art
Every aspect of the Hydrogen was a win for me and I tried to get it to as many hands as possible.
I agree with Phil on all counts.
Allow me to add one crucial part to the stack you mention Phil;
The Hydrogen + Battery Module + Cooling Unit + Camera Module + CFast 2.0 storage + Lens Mount would've ended up being a much bulkier device than the Komodo.

Komodo is by far the most discrete and portable cinema camera I could've asked for!

Mount it on a drone, strap it to the hood of a car, take it rock-climbing or skiing! This is what every cinema action camera wants to be when it grows up and then some!
 
I ended up getting my Zeiss Milvus Lenses for the day by day small gig projects and for Documentaries. After Phil summary I got them and I cannot be happier... Silky and sharp !

On the Monitor Side, I bought the SMALLHD Focus7. Absolutely amazing, The 970 Battery lasts about 4 hours using 1 only, and you may use 2 on the 2nd slot.

Perfect setup for KOMODO too... I wanted to buy things I can use now and also when KOMODO rolls out!!!


Thanks everyone for pitching the tips and Phil for the Lens detailed explanation.
 
I have shot a fair number of mostly family and fun stuff on the Hydrogen but never dived deep into the whole community and find the H4Vuser site difficult to get useful information.

What do you guys use to view the files? Quicktime used to open it but newer version does not - same with Red player. What do use to edit?

And my phone says it is updated but seems like only the original or very early firmware.

Is there somewhere to find a simple edit software and maybe could someone with some Hydrogen knowledge maybe start a thread on Reduser that can give us some basic info.

I'm an iPhone guy (whole extended family and most of my production buddies are too) so only use Google voice every once in a while to call my iPhone when I misplace it somewhere in the shop :wink5:
 
Darius Lyles said:
No set pricing yet but Sub 5K for hydrogen owners
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We still holding on that for the normal release plus the Hydrogen discount ... just under. Like $10 under. :).

And Normal releae price still holding about 1K above that and miraculously Stormtroopers still holding about 1K above that. As you can imagine everything is a bit of a shit show right now and the only thing that is truly predictable is that this whole world is unfortunately going to get worse before it gets better so just assume that everything will change because it will be a pretty big miracle if we can continue to hold on like we have.

Aaron and our supply chain are doing some pretty phenomenal work right now. Mexico was the best bet ever... we got past a critical hump with some components that could of knocked us out when China shut down. This last week we conquered a ton of obstacles and now we just have a few issues left... A small board from Japan as they just shut down as well as a sensor pause at the plant in California as all of you know that has been shut down as well. I'll be able to give an update on those two later next week hopefully. Luckily we have a nice handful of sensors already in hand for the stormtroopers.

Of course all this is moot if we are not allowed to open our factory again before May. If the California lockdown goes beyond that... I and many of the RED rockstars will be literally assembling cameras and doing QC at home.... something we have done many times before. But again, I don't think we have seen the worst of things in California so the next few weeks are key.. not just for camera building, But for the more obvious important things like keeping people alive.

But yeah.. we still doing our best to keep that 5k, 6k, 7k spread for Komodo. Hydrogen discount doesn't happen till the normal black ones remember so the proper order is more like 7k, 6k+5k.
 
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