Purchasing Dragon - kit recommendations

[Evgenios Zosimov]

Hello All,
I have been following RED for few years now, I do own myself couple of BMCC and an FS700. Finally i've decided to move to Dragon.
What kit would you recommend? I will be getting both mounts, PL and EF. 4 Redvolts, X2 240Gb X1 64Gb, 7.0 Monitor.
I will be using it handheld and on Ronin too. For now apart from rentals i own a full set of Samyang cinelenses which are fine up to 4K.
Due to VAT exemption (purchasing on EU company) i'll be getting it from Pinewood Studios in UK.
My budget is around 35.000Eur

Any info would be appreciated including storage and transportation, insurance options etc.

 

[Akin A]

Welcome. I came from BMCC a couple months ago on a smaller budget.

I suggest 512GB Mini-Mags for longer recording times and better compression ratios on Epic Dragon.

The Redvolts don't last very long, so I was never interested in them, but if you're going to be shooting holding the Side Handle or trying to stay light weight, I can see them being handy.
RED Bricks or 3rd party long lasting batteries might be better for you in the long run:
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?102628-Another-Cheap-battery-alternative

And while you're at it, I would also replace the Samyangs (except the 85mm) with Sigma Art (no 85mm yet). Not a big deal though; lots of people are using your glass on RED with great images.

 

[Ulf Krentz]

Welcome,

I´d suggest to read:

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?79976-Scarlet-Buying-Guide

Lots of Information that´s also valid for Dragon. The Epic works fine on the Ronin but I second that the Redvolts don´t last long, think about 20Minutes, and they won´t charge quick... You might also consider EF Glass and the Redlink for remote control and remote focus when on the Ronin. Have fun!

Cheers, Ulf

 

[Brian Merlen]

skip the volts and get a battery belt clip... use v mounts, red bricks last long but aren't flight safe...paglinks are flight safe so personally i like them... id skip the side handle too and just use a touch screen myself.... volts are only good for swapping batteries on your vmount or AB mount, useless to shoot with almost... but if you dont wanna rejam your audio having volts in the camera for swaps helps, but with my paglinks i can just add a battery too since they mount up to like 8 at a time on back of each other...

 

[Adrian Weinbrecht]

I'd definitely get a side handle, the redvolts come in handy for picking up stuff with a light weight rig. Most importantly you can program the buttons on the side handle. We program our side handle buttons to do things like, Raw Check, false colour, play back, zoom in, focus mode, white balance, zebras, and some other stuff. This dramatically speeds up on set workflow.

 

[Alan Maxwell]

Definitely agree on the battery clip one of my most used items. Adrian lays down the right rationale for the side handle. The Canon L series 85mm f1.4 is my current fave for non feature use.

 

[Phil Macdonald]

Personally I use Red Bricks on our Dragon because red volts last about 20 seconds but still use a side handle and put a redvolt in there to allow to be able to hot swap the red bricks, small thing but all helps!!

 

[David Kuhn]

I use the +1 module/v-mount setup... it works well if you want everything on the camera. I also have a couple Redvolts but as indicated they don't last long enough... however... they're great for letting you hot swap your v-mount battery.