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Older Red Epic Dragon 6K or Red Raven/Scarlet W

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Diego Gagliardi

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Hello all!

My budget is not that high, so I'm looking either at Red Raven or an older Red Epic Dragon 6K. What would you all more experienced folks recommend? I've always loved the Epic Dragon 6K, first Red I fell in love with. But knowing the new DSMC2 are more advanced, wanted to know if the Epic Dragon still can hold it's own with the newer brains, be it DR, color, frame rates, etc. I would appreciate any help, thanks!
 
Depends on what you're doing.

If you have the exposure and can shoot at 320 and 640 ISO, then Epic Dragon is amazing at 6K especially for studio work.

However, if you're doing doc work, then the extra sensitivity and smaller file sizes of Scarlet-W and Raven and worth looking at - esp Scarlet W.
 
So I guess there are many opposing opinions here, which is good. The most important thing for me is the image, the Red look. Whether it's from an Epic Dragon, a Scarlet W or a Raven 4.5K, it seems like everyone loves their Red and their different models. Could it be subjective? There should be a test video testing out all Red models, from Epic Dragon to Raven. I wouldn't use a Red to do Doc stuff, I have my Canon C's for that, but for the greatest image for the price, a Red is simply one of the best, if not the best IMOP.
 
If you feed the Dragon sufficient light (even in DSCM1 version), it is a remarkable camera on all levels.

It was over-sold on sensitivity back in the day, which I still think is a pity, as it has so many other qualities.

If sensitivity is the main parameter and you want RED, then Gemini is the answer.
 
Gunleik Groven said:
If you feed the Dragon sufficient light (even in DSCM1 version), it is a remarkable camera on all levels.

It was over-sold on sensitivity back in the day, which I still think is a pity, as it has so many other qualities.

If sensitivity is the main parameter and you want RED, then Gemini is the answer.
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Gunleik is right. Also, you should take into account long term perspective (upgrade paths, trade-in, or sell value if you go with another camera manufacturer). I would get what makes sense for how you shoot and light. No matter what camera you get you will have to learn that camera’s sensor with respect to lighting, just like film stocks.
 
That's true. I shoot, restaurant, food, cars, I need slow mo at least 120p, I currently have a C200 which I am not truly happy with, only 60p but in 10 bit. Not enough for my future projects. I've watched so many Planet Earth and Chef's table shot on Epic Dragon that I wanted to see if I could get a used one for a decent price and sell my C200.
 
what did you end up doing? I'm in the same boat. And looking at the Raven. Logic is that it's cheaper, still great and is DSCM2 and when I have more $ to spend on the gear I could buy a new brain, and reuse the accessories, and maybe pick up a cheap I/O module and battery plate and use the raven as a B-Cam when needed.
 
I find that with the Standard OLPF you can shoot pretty safely at 800 ISO on Dragon with little noise. With the S/H OLPF it’s 320.
 
What lenses do you have available? Not much point going for Dragon 6k if your set only covers S35. In any case, give the sensor light, I take meter readings at ISO 100 for 320 and meter at 250 for ISO 800, never had grain issues.
 
I have been super happy with my used Dragon 6K. I come from using exclusively Sony cameras, both mirrorless (A6300/A7RIII) and cinema (FS5 with RAW upgrade and Shogun Inferno), and the images coming off the Dragon sensor continue to blow me away. I shoot at the native ISO of 800 only and never had an issue with significant grain.

People I think confuse noise for grain a lot now days and it's unfair to the cameras. There will always be some grain to a raw sensor signal (CDNG or R3D) but having dealt with the FS5 and the noise that creeps up really fast if the S-Log profiles aren't exposed properly, really makes me appreciate the effortlessly captured quality of the Dragon 6K sensor.

If you're wanting to go DSMC2, I say go Gemini or Dragon-X over the Scarlet-W and Raven.
 
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