My big RAVEN question

[Julen De La Serna]

Hello REDUSER,

This is my first post, so if it is not posted where it has to be posted please let me know

I have a Red Raven preordered from summer, but right now I'm in the queue. While waiting in the queue, I'm thinking about upgrading to the Red Scarlet-W. For me is 4000€ the difference (A great inversion for me). I want to know for anybody here that has been working with the raven if that difference in the sensor width is worth the upgrade. Also if any Raven user is happy. What i don't want its to buy this camera and always been regretting about not buying the Scarlet. I will be making letterboxes music videos mainly. All the videos I've seen seem the Scarlet a step forward from the Raven, but also I know that it depends in the hands of the filmmaker.

Right now i own a Blackmagic Production camera 4K and a Sony A7RII (I also work with both cameras in Super35), with a Sigma 18-35 and a Milvus 50mm. My lenses will be at the level of the Scarlet?

Thanks in advance

 

[Luca Volpe]

Hi Julen, I was goign to buy the Raven too, but honestly the Scarlet has been for me a better investment. Swappable OLPF and mount, 5K, 3d luts and more....also it gives you the change to upgrade, in fact I moved to Epic W now (well I suppose you can do with Raven too but the jump of money will be to high....) for 4,000USD you can't go wrong, you will have a camera for all purpose.
BUt...I have seen few videos done with Raven and they are great, so as you say is not the camera but who use it...!

 

[Stefan Kraus]

I used Scarlet MX and Epic dragon and got now a Raven and for most things it's fine.
It only makes sense to spent the extra money if you want to use PL glass or olpf filters.
Or if you need the extra Resolution, but to be fair the sensor width in 4.5k is not too bad at all!
If you constantly deliver 4K, I would go with the Scarlet...

And if you stay with Raven the saved money can be spent on better glass, accessories etc. just remember it's more than just 10-20% difference in price...
The DSCM2 form factor is a major upgrade and you get that either way.

 

[Peter Majtan]

The biggest plus of the Raven for us is the ability to shoot 120 fps without having to crop the sensor. As a DoP - this is the most underestimated feature of the Raven. You don't need to reframe shot when you need to change the speed. If you are not constantly mastering in 4K - the Raven is the better choice IMHO. And if you are mastering in 4K - you would be better off with the Weapon anyway...

:sifone: Peter

 

[Levi Arnold]

So I can speak from experience. I've owned the Scarlet MX, Epic Dragon and now the Raven and honestly I'm happiest with the Raven despite it lacking the 6K of the big boys - and now 8K. I was in the Scarlet-W queue and got a Raven while I waited and ended up cancelling my Scarlet-W order because of how well the Raven performs. Like Peter said, not having your FOV change when you switch up to 120 is actually one of the nice little things about it that goes un-noticed.

Not having the extra resolution or the ability to view LUTs isn't a huge deal for me, though I can understand that if you need it, it could be. I took the extra change from not buying a scarlet-w and put it into accessories which has been really nice.

For me it came down to needs over wants - I only NEED 4K in my workflow right now, so why not get a dope 4K camera (raven) and accessorize it with the extra cheese to make it a sweet rig.

I would say to stick with the Raven and get a 1TB mag and some V-locks and rigging with the extra $$.