Newbie questions - contemplating on buying a Dragon

[Gene Sung]

Hello,

I’m seriously contemplating investing in an Epic Dragon and I have a few newbie questions if I may.

I’m a Los Angeles DP who has started getting some pretty decent / regular shooting gigs the last few years - promos and main-titles for Network TV shows - and I feel like I can almost justify getting an Epic Dragon. Aside from DP work, my other job is doing Motion Graphics so between the two I can afford a Dragon without going broke.

I’m main interested in production work.

My questions are:

1) How often do the Red Battle Tested sales happen? I know the last one was in August, but is hell going to freeze over before the next one happens? I’m assuming Battle Tested sales are rare.

2) Are most of you guys on RedUser.net Owner / Operators? Or do many DP’s just rent Reds when needed?

3) Do most of the owner / operators in Los Angeles just leave their Dragons at a rental house?

4) I feel that getting a Dragon would allow me to learn the system really well. If I were to stick on the Red RENTAL path, is there a way to learn the system? A producer friend said that one can go to Red Studios in Hollywood and they allow you to get on their cameras and learn. Any truth to this?

Thanks for bearing with me on this laundry list of question.

Much appreciated,

Gene Sung
www.builtbyUgene.com

 

[Nick Morrison]

1) Battle Tested sales are VERY rare. I can remember of only two the past two years.
2) A lot of Red owners do seem to be owner/ops yes, but there seems to be a strong rental market too.
3) Can't speak to LA habits (from NY)
4) You can sign up for a Reducation class yes, they can be very helpful!

best

 

[Gunleik Groven]

The main advantages of owning are

1. Learning the system really well
2. Being able to shoot whenever you want

And for owner/ops, and on a very varying basis:
Having some rental income.

But bank on your current gigs and take the rentals as a bonus...

 

[Gene Sung]

That's what I figured about the Battle Tested sales. Rare. But once a year or so isn't terrible.

Do most people buy new? Or is there a strong used market for Dragons? Aside from Battle Tested, I'm assuming most used units have a good amount of hours on it?

Is the best place to look for a used Dragon on reducer.net in the For Sale section? Or are there other places to find decent used Dragons?

 

[Gunleik Groven]

Reduser.net is probably a pretty decent source....

And you can run some background on the sellers.

There have been scammers her, too. But we try to monitor what's going on and keep it as clean as possible (without accepting responsibility for the transactions going on here)

 

[Gene Sung]

One disadvantage of buying used is the warranty / Red Armor extended warranty (which I usually pay extra on for all my cameras).

Are Epic Dragons reliable enough so I don't have to worry about the warranty so much? I'm assuming repairs are not cheap.

If the reliability is an issue, definitely a reason to buy new just to have the warranty.

 

[Brian Merlen]

The buy it new price is going down to 24k on Dec 1st or so... Warranty is important, same with production insurance...Get both ideally

 

[Nick Fury]

The buy it new price is going down to 24k on Dec 1st or so... Warranty is important, same with production insurance...Get both ideally

That price is for the body ONLY, per Brent, BTW. The RED repairs, whilst they can be dear, can also be amazingly economical. It reallydepends, but I have always been amazed at how fair the repair costs have been. OTOH, I do have armor on all but my BT Dragon...

Thank you very much

Fury

 

[Gene Sung]

The buy it new price is going down to 24k on Dec 1st or so... Warranty is important, same with production insurance...Get both ideally

WOW! $24K for a Dragon brain? That's amazing. Is that a permanent price or a limited time deal? I can't buy anything till Jan 1st because of tax reasons.

Has this price drop been confirmed? Or just a rumor?

 

[Samir Patel]

$24K will be the price for Epic-X Dragon brain. It should be available very soon. The one currently in the store is Epic-M Dragon brain which is hand assembled I believe and includes 2 year warranty instead of 1 year warranty.

 

[patrickortman]

My two cents:

I am in a semi-similar position as you, except I'm bi-coastal in NYC and LA, in that I am getting TV work but corporates pay most of the bills, while working on my own projects.

- I've done the Battle-Tested thing twice. Highly recommended.

- Owning and renting it out, or sticking to renting only. I have not done this, and I've owned 3 REDs. Why? To me, I want to know all the nuances of my camera. It helps me do better work, both for clients and myself. And to do this, I need to shoot- a lot. The rental opportunities I've had have not been stellar money-makers, compared to the down-time of not having my RED. Plus, a lot of the gigs I am getting are almost last-minute things. So constant availability has been important to me. Your mileage will vary