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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 :)

mini mags vs standard mags

Lee Kelly

Lee Kelly

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I was considering updating to the mini mag but as you would appreciate this is quite an expense.
From those of you who have shot with both, do you feel the advantages of the mini mag setup justifies the cost of upgrading?

Is Weapon and especially 8k Weapon sticking with the same mini mag design? I dont want to spend the money upgrading my Dragon for minis only to have to change the whole setup again once I get into Weapon mode.

I recall there being some kind of buyback for mags back in the day?
 
I seriously considered updating to mini-mags for my Scarlet Dragon (anticipating moving to a DSMC2 body at some point). Here's my current thinking:

1) With 140 MB/s max data flow on my camera, I don't think I would see any performance improvement; at least anything meaningful.
2) I would have to buy a new side module for about $1500 which is a cost that I'd not likely recoup since I'd have to buy a DSMC2 with a side module included/integrated. And, it's unlikely to be much of a resale item because of 1 except for, possibly, an Epic Dragon owner who isn't upgrading.
3) Even with an Epic Dragon, the cost would be substantial to make the switch. I have four 64GB REDmags that I bought directly from RED so I could take advantage of the trade-in. But, that would set me back $6K if I kept all four 512s or I could maybe recoup some of it by selling one or two. But still a chunk of money relative to any advantages.

In the end, for me, I will wait until I move to the DSMC2. Perhaps an Epic Dragon owner would see enough of an improvement. And, yes, the mini-mags are the same design.

Good luck. Let us know what you decide!
 
In sort of a similar place to Terry (except I'm on Epic Dragon). I have X4 64's and X2 128's (purchased via RED) so eligible for the trade-in. Problem is, with the side SSD and a new RED station (or two)... the overall cost is the prohibitive factor for me, I just don't have access to the funds at the moment - and the trade-in deal is 'once only' (so no way to do it in drips).

I actually need some more mags for a shoot in Q3, and it looks like I'll have to buy standard SSD's for that (which seems a bit of a shame - buying old tech). Sadly, I'm at the end of my RED road - will be staying on the Dragon (which is still cool), no Weapon for me :(

Ultimatley, RED are offering a good deal on the trade-in, and, if you're planning on Weapon in the near future, it might be worth it... but you will loose a chunk (side SSD and Reader) if you convert your Dragon now.
 
I also thought about going to mini mags but unfortunately my camera does not benefit from the extra speed. So i'll just stay on these until my next camera which will have whatever media is new at that time.
 
I sure wish I took the plunge a while ago when my Aussie dollar was killing it! Nows its 30% more expensive because of the exchange rate. Boring.
I shoot a lot of off speed 50fps-100fps stuff in the water and the added benefit of lower compression with the mini mags is what is most attractive. It seems a shame to be able to shoot 6k 5k and 4k but with such high compression that the high resolution kind of gets made redundant with the compression.
I have a bunch of worked booked in so maybe I just accept that ill be doing those jobs 'for free' and use the income for the upgrade.
All my current cards are from Red so trade-in applicable.

Guess ill email my rep...
 
Hey Mate

I went from Epic MX to Dragon and did the mini mag upgrade at the same time. The main reason for me was that mini mags are the future and offered larger capacities.

It's difficult to pinpoint any noticeable technical differences for me personally (especially as I went to Dragon and mini mags at the same time) but the best thing has been going from 64 and 240gig cards to 512gig cards. I haven't had any troubles with cards (although it's always a possibility with today's technology) but only having a limited number of cards prior that were filled so quickly on bigger shoots was stressful on certain jobs, in particular the one man band type of thing. I don't think I've filled the three mini mags in one day yet and on most jobs the transfer and back up of cards as we go has out-paced our shooting. When I thought about upgrading it was because I definitely needed more media and I decided I didn't want to spend more money on the outdated system. Now I know my investment will still work on Raven/Weapon.

I've been working with 3x512 cards for over a year now and they've been rock solid and perfect for my needs. That includes music videos with multiple full length performance takes.

You do spend more but you get more. All of this is from my perspective as an owner operator with a smaller kit though, if you have more than enough older cards you may only save a little space in your bag.

Cheers
Rich
 
You do get a bump in compression ratios but, as far as I could see, not in fps.

Some randomly selected representative info from the RED Media Guide for Epic Dragon:
- at 5KFF, best compression while shooting 24 fps is 8:1 on SSD and 6:1 on mini-mag (512/1TB)
- at 5KFF shooting 96 fps (max), SSD gives 15:1 compression while mini-mag gives 12:1
 
hi all,
I know this is a pretty old thread... I'm on an Epic-M Dragon / I actually got it via the redirect surf contest RED put on - they loaned us a package to shoot our film, then gave the option to buy it at discount... I went for it and then within months... the New Weapons were released! Hahaaa... I have considered the mini-mag upgrade but I wasn't sure if it was technically possible, from the good info above... sounds like it "is" but maybe not worth the cost.

Does anyone know if they still accept trade-ins on the Mags? Or did that go away when the upgrade program ended? thanks.
 
Jason Baffa said:
hi all,
I know this is a pretty old thread... I'm on an Epic-M Dragon / I actually got it via the redirect surf contest RED put on - they loaned us a package to shoot our film, then gave the option to buy it at discount... I went for it and then within months... the New Weapons were released! Hahaaa... I have considered the mini-mag upgrade but I wasn't sure if it was technically possible, from the good info above... sounds like it "is" but maybe not worth the cost.

Does anyone know if they still accept trade-ins on the Mags? Or did that go away when the upgrade program ended? thanks.
Click to expand...

If you have trouble with high noise when shooting high speed or underexpose a lot and get more noise that way, then the smaller mags help slightly but not so much. Aut the difference is even smaller if exposure is right and you are at normal frame rates.
 
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