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Red Epic purchase. Advice needed. Budget 37K

S

Sergio Perez

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Hi all,

After years of posting, of overseeing Red One projects and of doing guerrilla filmmaking work, I decided to jump ahead, skip the Scarlet and go Epic. My current budget is 37K. Here's what I'm planning to get:

1-Epic brain with Canon Ti Mount (Had the mount ordered for Scarlet since October) -29500 USD
2- 5" touch LCD-1600 USD
3- Side handle 950 USD
4-SSD Module 1500
5- 5X Redvolts- 1000
6- 2X travel charger-250
7- SSD Reader- 250 USD
8- 4x 64gb ssd- 3250

Total 38 300 USD, a bit over budget.

What do you guys think?

Am I missing something?

Cheers and thank you all,

Sergio
 
Just be sure to order before 12/31 so you avoid the price increase.
 
I also have a somehow related question (with budget). I have a Macpro 2.8 dual quadcore (2009), have 8gb ram and have the quadro fx 4000. Will Having Premiere CS 5.5 allow me to edit 4K realtime? Or do I need to upgrade this? Internal Raid (2x500gb 7200RPM in Raid 0)
 
This is just my opinion but I think you're stretching your budget a little to much. These are only the essentials. I don't think 5 redvolts will last long enough but that depends on what you're shooting. If you're on a budget I wouldn't get the touch LCD. The resolution of the touch LCD is not high enough for critical focus and you can control the menu from the Side Handle anyway. Instead you could get a higher resolution monitor like the Small HD Dp6 or the TV Logic for cheaper than the touch LCD. Again it depends on what you're shooting but I also think it's going to be hard to get by with four 64 GB mags.

You won't have any way of mounting rails, matte box, follow focus, etc. That's a big investment for a very incomplete camera, while for the same money you could entirely gear out a Scarlet Package. When I finally jumped on the Epic I spent a little over $70K and I still feel like I'm lacking in a few areas. However if you feel very confident that the Epic will allow you to make enough money to invest further in accessories and pay itself off then go for it. Good luck.
 
Sergio Perez said:
I also have a somehow related question (with budget). I have a Macpro 2.8 dual quadcore (2009), have 8gb ram and have the quadro fx 4000. Will Having Premiere CS 5.5 allow me to edit 4K realtime? Or do I need to upgrade this? Internal Raid (2x500gb 7200RPM in Raid 0)
Click to expand...

Sergio -
PPro CS5.5 is pretty awesome, and while you can definitely edit 4K in realtime with even a basic system, the ability to playback at better ratios (1/4 SIZE - 1/2 SIZE) definitely increases with a better system. First and foremost, I'd suggest getting more RAM, a much bigger raid, and if you can afford it, a Red Rocket, which will give you the biggest RED workflow benefit... But even then you may find yourself playing back at 1/4 - 1/8 scale, if only due to your actual screen size. Having edited 4K in variety of studio and remote situations, the biggest drawback to NOT having a Rocket is that final full res Full debayer rendering for output purposes goes VERY slowly...
 
I also don't see any mounting options in your list.
 
ditch the redvolts and chargers, change out the 64g cards, they only hold about 10 minutes...go for the 4 x 128. u need the 5.5 ' lcd, if you think not, you have not used the camera enough. it is the primary control option. find a way to buy the 128's even if you can only afford 3 not 4.

dino
 
Thank you all for your very helpful answers. I know its a very incomplete setup for an Epic. But I intend to build on it over time! Just that this is my start up budget. Realistically, I'm not planning any long form shooting for the time being. As for the 5 Redvolts, I think this could get me roughly 2 hours shooting, maybe a bit more, no? I actually have Anton bauer Gold mount batteries, just didn't want to carry the bulk and somehow feel this would go agains the purpose of the DSMC size. Do you think I should get an adapter for this to use with the epic for, say a belt setup, for example?

Also I have a question concerning Redcode. In order to get a RED One quality picture on the Epic, would recording redcode 12:1 suffice? or do I need to go 7:1? I'm not shooting a Hollywood blockbuster, but independent films with this. I'm looking into having a compromise between compression/recording time and broadcast quality pictures.

As for Cs 5.5, I'm a FInal Cut 7 editor that started on Premiere 4, which means my Premiere knowledge is limited at best right now. However things seem pretty similar. If I can't edit 4K for the moment, Would keeping the r3d raw files and convert them and grade them in Redcine X to prores 4:4:4 be a good workflow?

I'm sorry for the completely uninformed questions. Its my first Red purchase. Hope you guys can help me on this.

I'm planning to increase my budget with extra 5K in 6 months time. Until then, 38K is about the limit.

I haven't considered much mounting options. I was planing on using the epic with Canon lenses, Guerrilla style: Lightweight tripod, DSLR like handheld. This might sound foolish but I've seen that its possible, and its how i will shoot initially. I have a Glidecam 4000 and Smooth Shooter which I will use with this also, as well a other support gear like microdolly, lights, etc.

I know I could get a very, very tempting fully geared Scarlet with this budget. But sincerely living where I live, the only way to start a cinematic revolution is to be able to deliver stunning, never before seen pictures of this place to a local audience that is not used to quality. I'm obviously confident about my work, its been well received internationally, but I want to venture into serious narrative and my visual style (http://vimeo.com/32508174 http://vimeo.com/31008876 http://vimeo.com/27187442 ) will, as you can see, benefit greatly with the Epic extra capabilities. I know the Scarlet is capable of incredible, Red One and superior images, but the High Speed aspect of the Epic is just unbeatable at the price range. Its a risk I'm taking but a calculated one. In 1080p world over here (and SD broadcast) having a Scarlet would not have the impact of having an Epic visually. And using the APS-H size of the sensor in 5K is a plus I feel worth investing (A LOT). Being this a LOT of money, I might as well get the most expensive model and have a more, well, "softer" upgrade path than to go Scarlet and then have to pay more for the upgrade, with the possibility of inferior performance.

Immediate return of investment is not necessary.



Thank you for your time and do keep up with the suggestions. I need all the help I can get. I'll make sure to post first images here when I get the camera!
 
Same here. Parabéns Sérgio!

E :-)
 
Steve Marshall said:
Throw in an AC Power Adaptor. Very useful.
Click to expand...

That's one of those things I didn't even think about. I thought the camera came with one? Well, definitely remembering that one. Thanks for the heads up!
 
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