Upgrading from Epic MX to Dragon, What are the different MUST HAVES?

[Patrick E. Coker]

I have a full Epic MX kit and I'm probably going to upgrade to Dragon before NAB (like everyone else now we have the price drop and Weapon on the horizon) and I'm wondering what are MUST HAVES that you need for the Dragon that you didn't need for the Epic MX? Trying to get a real feel for how deep in a credit bind I will be putting myself... I'm going to do it anyway, just trying to see what lies I have to tell myself :w00t:

 

[Tom Greenberg]

I can't think of anything that you "must have" for a Dragon, that you didn't already need for MX. I suppose that the Interchangeable OLPF's would fall into that category…so get one of each (although we have no info on how this feature will work or get implemented on Weapon). The only other thing that comes to mind is ND filters…Dragon does not require IR protection like MX did…but that is something you don't need any longer. I guess you would also need to decide if you were going to make the switch to MiniMags right now, with all that switchover requires…Side SSD, MiniMags, SSD Readers.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

Minimags is a must if you want Weapon later on. But I bought an MX with minimags and I can say that even with Dragon or MX they are much better, both in size but also getting one or two extra steps of less compression when doing high speed is really great.

 

[Patrick E. Coker]

Thanks for the help guys, seems like it is going to be less painful than I thought!

 

[Patrick E. Coker]

The regular "large" mags do work with the Dragon correct? I'm thinking it might be a smart move to stay with those for now seeing that the price on used ones will probably drop with everyone going to minis.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

The 1.8" [large] mags do work with Dragon, however they are more restricted as to which frame rates and compression modes they can handle. The 512GB and 240GB "high speed" mags are best for use with Dragon, but still not as fast as the newer mini mags and the 512GB redmags also have a few other issues of their own -- the readers need AC power as USB bus power isn't enough on its own with the 512's, for example.

Mini mags will be required for the move to Weapon when you decide to make that upgrade. I would recommend getting the mini mag side module and a reader along with the Dragon upgrade or not too long after when you're ready to actually pick up a mini mag or two. If you have both, you can make a gradual transition of sorts. There are some good deals on used mini mags every now and then around here. I just picked up two more 512GB mini mags -- it was still expensive at $4K, but that was almost $1K cheaper than buying new from RED.

The market for the 1.8" redmags will be healthy for a while, but those values will drop as more people adopt the mini mags, so at least keep an eye on that aspect of the market. If you wait too long, the transition may be more expensive if mini mag prices don't drop.

As for the biggest things needed for Dragon... You'll need to cultivate a new understanding of how to expose and shoot your camera. Much is still the same, but some things are truly different. Dragon clips take more CPU horsepower to work with and it's not just about the move from 5K to 6K, which of course already is a significant increase in the processing department. You may need to bring some software up to date if you have been slacking there or perhaps do some computer upgrades.

 

[sam windell]

^^Jeff,

Will the current minimag modules work on the weapon though? Isn't there a redesign coming for the minimag module to work with the weapon? I'm hesistant to go minimag right away if I'm going to just have to buy another module to replace it to work with weapon.

 

[Patrick E. Coker]

Thanks Jeff, Gave me some things to ponder.

 

[Bob Gundu]

^^Jeff,

Will the current minimag modules work on the weapon though? Isn't there a redesign coming for the minimag module to work with the weapon? I'm hesistant to go minimag right away if I'm going to just have to buy another module to replace it to work with weapon.

Correct. The current mini side module will not be compatible with Weapon. But we also don't know what kind of trade in value you might get for it either.

 

[Sergio Perez]

If you have a MX Epic,what you need when going to Dragon is probably more media- it "eats" much more cards than the Epic in its optimal 6K recording, update your Rocket- longer transcode times on 6K than on old MX Epic, and probably better glass. In 6K you really see the difference between average and sharp glass.


If you're thinking Weapon, you could jump into the mini mag bandwagon immediately, but since you stated you own an MX already, you should probably have media for it, so , in order to avoid buying a module you won't be able to use on weapon, which is still money, I would say to stick to mags and purchase an extra card or 2 to your existing set.