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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Question for RED owners

I put together two lists for a production company, a cheap option for $22,076 USD and a complete option for $35,348 USD.

The idea was they could get started with the cheaper one, then add more more from the complete list as they needed it. In the end, they went for the whole complete list right off the bat.

Bear in mind, though, that they already owned some equipment, like filters and tripod legs (they did get a new head, though) and several Canon lenses, so that helped keep the costs down.

Make a list of everything you already own that can be used with the RED, and start with that.

From there, make a list of the sort of projects you want to shoot first. For example, you might not need a mattebox and a bunch of filters right away, if what you will do first is shoot a documentary hand-held and can just get a polarizer to screw directly onto your lenses.
 
I think anyone who had some of the first 500 cameras when supply was scarce will have a different story as the people following.

But I will say if you are thinking of paying off by rentals and are not already a rental house, I would discourage you unless you are sure that you are the only renter in your neck of the woods and are tapped into a steady stream of productions.

As for if you're a shooter with your own package, then maybe you're thinking of putting together a system for around $30k using stilll lenses (which is about the cheapest full package you're going to put together and has been documented on these forums) - and then you just have to ask yourself how long does it take you to pay off 30k already? If you don't have a stream of shooter income, I think you should consider renting until that steady stream comes in.

With all things business and money I think it's usually very clear when you need to spend more (buy equipment, upgrade offices, buy a building, hire more employees) -it's when you can get along without it and the workflow demands it. People who get fancy offices and equipment before they have the work to justify it will eventually burn out unless they're very rarely lucky.


EDIT: I'm going to also agree with David below my comment.


Paulo Uchoa said:
Hello,

I have a question for the RED owners out there. I was wondering how long did it take you to pay off your camera package? And if you could provide me with an est of package price that would be super.

I asking this cause, I am thinking about buying a RED and it will be the first PRO camera that I have ever bought, yes I will have a complete package. And I would just like to hear a few owners point of view.

Thanks

-Paulo
Click to expand...
 
You need to spend upwards of $65,000 for a decent RED kit.
If you're talking about $30,000 budget, my advice is the following:
WAIT FOR SCARLET and have more fun... or
STAY AWAY FROM this game and BUY A SCARLET.
 
There's almost 7,000 cameras out there now- I'd kinda doubt there's any major city that doesn't have serious competition for the rental market anymore.

Noah
 
I haven't done anything too excessive and am in the ballpark of 100k.

You absolutely must have a solution for ND's otherwise you're shooting yourself in the foot (which means filters, a Mattebox etc.) I've also found the RED impossible to handhold for any length of time without a rig (ie: mantis), a good tripod is a necessity too. Plus, if you want to even match the versatility of a DVX, you need some kind of microphone and windcover.

I'd be the first to say I love my RED, it's the best thing I've ever got, and I love shooting on it, I just haven't found a reasonable 30k solution that gets you ready to shoot a short film.

I've also never rented my camera out to a shoot I wasn't doing.

Cal
 
The deviations between the prices of our various RED kits are almost entirely driven by the cost of different lenses. Like I said, PL lenses are extremely costly. But with respect to the original poster, I haven't spent $100,000 on our RED kit, and couldn't if I had to (given that we aren't buying PL glass). Indeed, even including my Actioncam, Easyrig, O'Connor 1030HDS, and all of my world-class audio gear (four Lectrosonics wireless systems with Sonotrim lavs, two Schoeps boom mics, Sound Devices 788T, etc.) doesn't get me up to $100,000. The only thing we don't have that I would like to have is a digital wireless video system, and I'm waiting for those to come down in price and size and to go up in quality.

As a rental kit, not having PL lenses, it wouldn't be terribly attractive, but for our shooting, it's perfect!

Stephen
 
dont buy the camera if your worried about paying it off.. the market is already flooded.. if you dont already have clients, most likely you wont be finding too many rentals for your gear
 
Mr. Sandberg is likely quite correct. The gravy days of rentals for the RED One are long over. But if you just want to make beautiful images, that's a very different story.

Stephen
 
RED kit

RED kit

Well, I have spent in the 40K USD park, I have the RED, batteries, CF cards, RED Drive,EVF, monitor, handles, rods, cables, nikon mount, box, matte box, follow focus, plates, Format ND set and a set of ok Nikon lenses. And it is a ok kit. I am saving up for the RED prime lens kit and the RedRocket card (already paid some...), so total will be in the 65K ball park...
I did recently shoot with a set of Zeiss Primes T1.3 and it is very different than shooting with the Nikons, much nicer to focus and over all a better experience and image quality than the nikons.
 
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