The case of the Stolen Camera

[Robert Piantanida]

Hello all, Im a returning member of RedUser...

I was young and looking for a camera and found someone who had one on here for sale out of Germany... and I bought it.

After wiring my money to some random account, I waited for months for my camera, eventually contacting the FBI Cybercrimes unit to see if anything could be done. Then... my building mate yells at me to come to the front of the building right away. A beat-up cardboard box had arrived, and I slowly pulled out the Red Epic S35 I had been waiting for. It was wrapped in little, I mean the tiny bubble wrap... just one layer, and thrown into the box... to ship across the ocean. I presume it went by slow freighter despite the extra $300 I sent for shipping. The cam was beaten up and the fan cover was broken, but it powered up and I used it on nearly every shoot since 2014 without too much issue.

When I tried to upgrade firmware after receiving it, I noticed the serial was partially scrubbed out. After a back and forth with RED we realized it was stolen... I gave all data, coms, and accounts over to RED and asked to be kept in the loop. But nobody ever reached out to me.

The cam to this day is running firmware from 2013, and RED will not touch the camera to this day.


Just wanted to share a cautionary tale and stupid admission to the community. Don't make my mistake.

And... If there is anyone in Germany 2013-2014 that is missing a Red Epic, please reach out to me.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

I gave all data, coms, and accounts over to RED and asked to be kept in the loop. But nobody ever reached out to me.

The cam to this day is running firmware from 2013, and RED will not touch the camera to this day.

Awesome story, but... what? Why won't Red help you with this? Seems pretty odd. Primarily since they're probably the only one who sits on the records of who owns what and could assist with who's camera this was. It's not your job to track down the original owner, even if that is noble of you. I would assume that the original owner also got an insurance payout, so hopefully everything ended up well for everyone. But moral of the story... if something takes months to be delivered, then delivers in a beat-up cardboard box, it might be something fishy about it, or a head in a box.

 

[Robert Piantanida]

Awesome story, but... what? Why won't Red help you with this? Seems pretty odd. Primarily since they're probably the only one who sits on the records of who owns what and could assist with who's camera this was. It's not your job to track down the original owner, even if that is noble of you. I would assume that the original owner also got an insurance payout, so hopefully everything ended up well for everyone. But moral of the story... if something takes months to be delivered, then delivers in a beat-up cardboard box, it might be something fishy about it, or a head in a box.

What stinks is I am not even after any new firmware for the cam... its just a sticky power button I would love to get serviced. When its mildly cool out you have to press and hold it for like 5 min to power on. And I just bought a new Gemini so you would think they would help out... oh well..

BE CAREFUL WIRING MONEY LOL as if most of the people here don't already know that, use Paypal peeps.

 

[Tyler Besh]

I love this story and also how i also am stuck on 2013 firmware no matter what I try. I've called red to even offer my camera as a test subject as to why it doesn't upload. I also changed the factory olpf for fun haha so my EpicX is a funny little box. But hey, I won't put it on the shelf until it doesn't turn on...