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R1 MX Upgrade to Dragon?

E

Eythanmaidhof

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I never heard it really addressed in any specific thread. Is there any upgrade path for the R1 beyond MX for owners of the R1 instead of selling the kit (<15k) and buying a scarlet X kit and building that back up from scratch ? I mean is it becoming obsolete? I know I purchased my R1 too late to be considered part of the Epic upgrade. Its just that I worked with Red so much I wanted to be part of it and I bought in with trust that my investment would be protected to various upgrades. I have made money with my Red, but not enough to afford an Epic @ the moment. What happens to the thousands of R1's that have been purchased already? Is there anyone that has an encyclopedic knowledge of past threads that knows anything? Should I scramble to sell my R1MX on the cheap? OR just deal with it. Anything advice, insight appreciated.
 
I hope so, but who knows. I still have an M sensor, but really want to upgrade it, but MX is several years old now....
 
When Dragon arrives, Red One will still make beautiful pictures.
 
I debated selling my R1 for Scarlet just on weight/size alone. But, decided to keep it. It's an exciting time to own a RED camera. Any of them. They are all years ahead of other cameras. I'm also hoping for Dragon in my R1. Who knows. "Everything Changes." Maybe it'll happen. But, I love the way it performs now. Especially with RCX. But, Dragon in R1 would be like a blown big block in a '57 Chevy; making an awesome classic (R1) a total hot rod camera...
 
I don't want to be a downer, as I am still a proud owner of a RED One. However, I suspect that if RED were to do this, it would involve gutting the camera and replacing many of the components. Even if RED trends towards lower pricing in coming years, I still think this will be an expensive job and I wonder if it's one they would really want to embark on.

Now, there is one possibility, although I still think it's a long shot. They have been taking in a lot of Red Ones through the trade up program. I suppose it's possible that they could pull the components out and use those for spares when repairs come up and then replace them with Dragon and whatever hardware goes along with it. It's an interesting proposition because in a way, they probably have more room to work with in a R1 and can probably deal with heat a little easier. Maybe this becomes the camera for those who don't care about weight or stripping it down to a DSLR. It could be a self contained beast that shoots killer images. But I still think that's a longshot and might not be on RED's roadmap at all.

Also, keep in mind that if the price is really high to do this, it might end up being better for a lot of people to just buy an Epic or Scarlet. Perhaps we'll know more at NAB. Who knows. In the meantime, I still like the R1, even in its current form.
 
Steve Sherrick said:
I don't want to be a downer, as I am still a proud owner of a RED One. However, I suspect that if RED were to do this, it would involve gutting the camera and replacing many of the components. Even if RED trends towards lower pricing in coming years, I still think this will be an expensive job and I wonder if it's one they would really want to embark on.

Now, there is one possibility, although I still think it's a long shot. They have been taking in a lot of Red Ones through the trade up program. I suppose it's possible that they could pull the components out and use those for spares when repairs come up and then replace them with Dragon and whatever hardware goes along with it. It's an interesting proposition because in a way, they probably have more room to work with in a R1 and can probably deal with heat a little easier. Maybe this becomes the camera for those who don't care about weight or stripping it down to a DSLR. It could be a self contained beast that shoots killer images. But I still think that's a longshot and might not be on RED's roadmap at all.

Also, keep in mind that if the price is really high to do this, it might end up being better for a lot of people to just buy an Epic or Scarlet. Perhaps we'll know more at NAB. Who knows. In the meantime, I still like the R1, even in its current form.
Click to expand...

We still shoot a lot on R1, and never curse the camera.
 
R1 is a great camera. Weight is the only draw back but the Sony F65 and Arri Alexia are heavy hitters as well.

My advice is don't scramble, keep taking your images, keep shooting projects, you have a great camera for 5 years down the pipe, make something beautiful and forget about the upgrade hype until you can afford it.
 
I'd image the way to go up to Monstro is to upgrade to Epic. So if you missed it the last time, then the ones that missed the opportunity would have different upgrade path? I hope so. RED has been always so faithful.
 
Thanks guys. Yes. The R1 MX will always make beautiful images. I will keep it for better or worse. :) If they don't do an upgrade path maybe some sort of honorable mention will happen. Who knows?
 
There are literally close to 10,000 RED Ones in the wild. That's quite a market. I suspect that RED, recognizing this, will find a way to upgrade those cameras to the Dragon sensor. That will be an especially nice deal for those few of us who actually like the form factor of that camera.

Stephen
 
Hear hear on the form factor of the R1M-X. There's certainly a lot of times when it does exactly- perfectly- what I need and the extra heft (and the few extra features, like WS 4.5K) are utterly perfect. Somehow to me, the form factor really works better than the Epic/Scarlet on trad film sets, it feels more cinematic to me at times. I know that's a personal bias, and once you add a pro i/o module (when that comes) and the quad battery module to Epic/Scarlet they're pretty much the same size. Probably about the same weight, dunno. I just love my R1M-X. It's a helluva camera. For me, last year was about adding to my reel, and I did client work but even more spec spots and a really beautiful short film in post right now... I could have waited and done the Epic upgrade. But Epic wasn't ready. I'm glad I didn't wait, it'd have sucked to just get started on those projects now.

In fact, I'm shooting with my R1M-X tonight. Outfitted with a SSD, it's still a pretty whizzy cam and the only reasons I'll buy Epic/Scarlet are the times when I want to shoot without permits, or for travel gigs. Which actually happen a lot, so I'll have both eventually. Having Dragon in the R1... well, that'd make the R1 match the footage upcoming RED camera lineup even better. We'll see! If not, it's still an awesome camera and will be competitive in any market for at least a couple of years.
 
I traded my Red in over a month ago and it is STILL making me money! Just today I took in over 2 grand in footage sales and all this shot on Mysterium! Long live the R1!!
 
There is a post from Jarred here somewhere where he definitively said that not only would R1 not be able to upgrade to the Dragon sensor but the Scarlet as well. They just don't have the horsepower. Only EPIC will be able to upgrade to the Dragon sensor.
 
That link's not working for me, Matt.
 
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