Overnight Price Drop on Red Mini Mags

[Matt Paul Catalano]

I just noticed that Red lowered the price of the 1Tb cards by $1000 in less than 3 months. This is a good thing for everyone, except for those of us that just paid full price for it before the price dropped.

I just wanted to voice my opinion to the powers that be that for the small independent guys like me that had to put our life savings + loans on the line to get into a Red system that it kind of stings a bit. I'd vote for some type of 6 month price change guarantee on new products, especially media, so we don't have the bottom drop out on overnight price drops and feel like bad investors. If I had any idea that media pricing would come down I would have held off. I gave Red the benefit of the doubt that they had priced it high because they had to, that there was a special technology or factory process involved to make their cards higher quality than all the other SSD manufacturers that can already do way more than 300 mb/sec for less than $800 for 1 Tb. The Hollywood guys can handle these types of pricing plans and I guess that's what I'm up against at this point.

Not much I can do about it other than voice my opinion. Just wanted to put it on the table.

On the other hand, I am very happy with the camera system and have been making some really great stuff with it. You guys killed it with the technology and customer service and everything and I guess I can't complain given the discount that was passed out to us Scarlet-W wait listers.

But in general, its all just a bit off in my mind.

 

[Stacey Spears]

They did not actually lower the price of the existing mini-mags, they are new mini-mags with a lower price. The 1 TB and 512 GB are no longer available. The new mini-mags are now 960 GB and 480 GB.

Right now it shows April as the ship date for a 960 GB if you order today. The 1 TBs have been out of stock for at least few months if not more.

 

[Alexander Thomson]

It was priced high because that was the cost to produce that particular mag. They switched to a slightly smaller mag with different tech, and the cost turned out to be less. That's just the pain of cutting edge technology. Sometimes you're on the sharp end.

If you haven't bought mags, it's a dream come true. If you're already 4 mags deep, it's a kick in the nuts. But RED can't be liable for that. When it comes to lowering prices, or needlessly raking in cash, they will always side with the user.

 

[Matt Paul Catalano]

Agreed, early adopters pay top dollar. The issue isn't that Red found a cheaper way to make them, moreso just assuming that they probably knew that prices would come down 3 months ago before I even purchased the 1Tb media and it would have been nice to be warned that something was coming and it might be worth waiting, even if there was no guarantee.

Its not a huge deal, $1000 can be made up for. I guess the its also the huge gap between Red SSD and the rest of the manufacturers pricing / speed / size ratio that still has us wondering what is up. Must be a quality thing. Red SSD may have a QC process or different internal technology that warrants the price being 3-4 times higher.

 

[Michael Lindsay]

Have a look at codex mag for a varicam pure and you will feel better...;-)

 

[Spencer Weaver]

A lot of it is their extremely high quality control. You are buying the best of the best when you buy a minimag.
I believe the price drop was right around January 10th. (I remember it was like right when the firmware update came out)

It wasn't really announced. It was casual. I heard about it from my AC friend and ordered a 480GB right away.

What I've learned the hard way (when money is always tight and a sacrifice) is that if I buy something when I do in fact need it... well then I needed it and used it and can't complain if the price drops later. It was worth it because I needed it and used it. If I don't need it right this second though or sometime in the foreseeable next 6 months... man sometimes I've just got to hold off. Of course I don't alway do that either

#mylearningcurveneedswork

 

[Hugh Scully]

What I've learned the hard way (when money is always tight and a sacrifice) is that if I buy something when I do in fact need it... well then I needed it and used it and can't complain if the price drops later. It was worth it because I needed it and used it. If I don't need it right this second though or sometime in the foreseeable next 6 months... man sometimes I've just got to hold off. Of course I don't alway do that either

+1 Well said and so true.

 

[sam karr]

Have a look at codex mag for a varicam pure and you will feel better...;-)

Red cameras seem to be cheaper than Arris or Varicams to most people, but, from my experience, in the long run it's the most expensive system. Depreciation is crazy, constant upgrades, and you need all these modules and stuffs which are integrated in the other cameras.

 

[Patrick Tresch]

Depreciation is crazy, constant upgrades...

?

If you had a RED One in 2016 you could still trade it in to buy a new Weapon. Wich other brand does offer this? Remember D20, F35, Viper, Genesis, I wonder wich one you could trade it in in 2016? Alexa didn't even exist in the RED One age.
I'm an indie cinematographer and I've been shooting highquality stuff with the highest quality tool since 2008 and I'm not broke.

 

[Alex Kiritz]

Red can't just make money magically appear. Believe it or not, they're not making these cameras for the same cost as DSLRs. You're basically asking them to raise the prices of cameras and accessories to pay for this. I think it would probably benefit the big players financially more than anyone else because they're the ones buying lots of spare mini-mags.

Also, the 1TB mini-mags do still record for a bit longer than the 960GB ones so they do have a bit more value.

 

[Brendan H. Banks]

Red cameras seem to be cheaper than Arris or Varicams to most people, but, from my experience, in the long run it's the most expensive system. Depreciation is crazy, constant upgrades, and you need all these modules and stuffs which are integrated in the other cameras.

You can definitely think about it that way if you plan on staying 100% up on all the latest everything...though you'd be out much more if you did the same thing within the Arri system -- buying a body, then a new license, then a new body, then another license, etc. Lots of R1's and Epic Dragons out there that have years of life in them. It all depends on how you want to use the system.

 

[M Most]

?

If you had a RED One in 2016 you could still trade it in to buy a new Weapon. Wich other brand does offer this?

Blackmagic, as of yesterday.

There's actually quite a bit of Red influence in Blackmagic's camera design and customer policies. Multiple lens mounts, relatively small size, adaptability to different production styles, Prores and RAW (both compressed and uncompressed) recording options, and camera upgrade paths. I consider all of that a good thing.

 

[Stefan Kraus]

I just noticed that Red lowered the price of the 1Tb cards by $1000 in less than 3 months. This is a good thing for everyone, except for those of us that just paid full price for it before the price dropped.

I just wanted to voice my opinion to the powers that be that for the small independent guys like me that had to put our life savings + loans on the line to get into a Red system that it kind of stings a bit. I'd vote for some type of 6 month price change guarantee on new products, especially media, so we don't have the bottom drop out on overnight price drops and feel like bad investors. If I had any idea that media pricing would come down I would have held off. I gave Red the benefit of the doubt that they had priced it high because they had to, that there was a special technology or factory process involved to make their cards higher quality than all the other SSD manufacturers that can already do way more than 300 mb/sec for less than $800 for 1 Tb. The Hollywood guys can handle these types of pricing plans and I guess that's what I'm up against at this point.

Not much I can do about it other than voice my opinion. Just wanted to put it on the table.

On the other hand, I am very happy with the camera system and have been making some really great stuff with it. You guys killed it with the technology and customer service and everything and I guess I can't complain given the discount that was passed out to us Scarlet-W wait listers.

But in general, its all just a bit off in my mind.

I think you still got a great deal if you bought the Scarlet-W upgrade offer.
And as somebody else said if you got work for it it's cheaper then renting.
But Cameras are fast deprecating assets really, because of developing of technologies and the longer you wait the more you get.
Now with GH5 you can buy a camera capable of 50fps in 4k for very little money.
4 years ago that was unthinkable.

And by the way I'm in the similar boat bought a 512GB mag for the old price (but used)
but I used it on jobs to earn money so it paid for itself...