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Upgrading from Epic-W to Monstro VV, Is it worth it?

Rodrigo Violante

Rodrigo Violante

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I would love to have your feedback here, I'm thinking in upgrading from a Epic-W to a Monstro VV.

The main reason was the low FPS on the Epic-W at 8k and its a plus the dynamic range.

But is it a good upgrade option? Or will you go to the Weapon Helium only?

What clear advantages you have with a bigger sensor?

Thanks!

Rodrigo
 
i suggest you to read this article:
https://www.provideocoalition.com/panavision-70mm-part1
make sure you read part 2 as well...
i find myself with an epic w too. if i had the money i definitely wood upgrade to the mostro sensor.
lager format and high resolution makes a image that you won't believe. its just flawless.
 
I wish there's an upgrade path for Epic W to Monstro VV. Full frame, keep the same fps and compression rates. for $10K. :)
 
Jens Jakob Thorsen said:
I wish there was and upgrade path for Weapon Helium to Monstro that was €15.000 and not €30.000! Gonna get it anyway...
Click to expand...

Totally agree! Could almost buy a Sony Venice just for the price of the sensor upgrade alone. I totally understand giving Weapon Stormtroopers a hell of a deal-but making up for that by charging everyone else the price of an Epic-W just doesn’t seem fair.

I’ll just stick with my Helium and focus on lenses this year. Maybe I’ll eventually go Monstro
 
It is SUPER pricey, but this is the highest end of sensor technology available, and to be able to get high yield VV sensors is crazy. They lost SO MUCH money off cooking Dragon VV sensors, that they were 'giving away' at 10k. I can't imagine the cost of each batch they made, and they would get 1, or even 0 sensors they could use for VV. RED also R&Ds their own sensors vs buying from Sony, etc. That has to be expensive. I think they will make a 6k / smaller sensor version of Monstro. However, it's almost like they are cooking new sensors out very quickly now, so perhaps they might make a different 8k S35 sensor, that overtakes Helium?

Just trying to make sense of the cost, as I will never be able to buy one, lol.
 
yeah my Minis are the hot items for rentals, they are never on the shelf and my REDs they stay busy here and there but the COI for the new Sensor is $80k, thats going to be hard sale for productions and rentals too. Alexa mini is around $41, my Helium $50K, and Epic W is $30k.
 
Neil Dearman said:
yeah my Minis are the hot items for rentals, they are never on the shelf and my REDs they stay busy here and there but the COI for the new Sensor is $80k, thats going to be hard sale for productions and rentals too. Alexa mini is around $41, my Helium $50K, and Epic W is $30k.
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I've been wondering if this is the reason we're seeing an uptick in sales of VV cameras on here?
 
BrendanLeahy said:
I've been wondering if this is the reason we're seeing an uptick in sales of VV cameras on here?
Click to expand...

I think a lot ordered their vv's 2,5 years ago and things change over time and back then it was just 10k extra ontop of weapon dragon. So an opertunity to sell and make the difference between that cost and 80k usd
 
Im for sure not selling mine, got it yesturday and well its as majestic as you could ever think. just been fidling with my fd lenses and dog shildt so far. Love the looks.

fd135 wide open in really shity tungsten mixed light ipp2 no other processing.

A003_C027_1216HA by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

A003_C025_1215Y1 by Björn Benckert, on Flickr

The light in the above images is, my hue Philips lamps in a tungsten setting and dimmed. Not ideal for photography at all still it shines.
 
Neil Dearman said:
yeah my Minis are the hot items for rentals, they are never on the shelf and my REDs they stay busy here and there but the COI for the new Sensor is $80k, thats going to be hard sale for productions and rentals too. Alexa mini is around $41, my Helium $50K, and Epic W is $30k.
Click to expand...

As much as I LOVE Red the reality in rental space is that Minis get rented alot faster than Red's which means as a commercial investment, at this point in time, the odds is against Red. However, I do believe Monstro it's going to change that. Though paying 30k for a sensor upgrade when an additional 10k would get you a new Mini, does seem crazy. That's 2 income stream vs 1 income stream. Illogical I guess but my bet's still on Monstro.
 
Abiodun Shote said:
As much as I LOVE Red the reality in rental space is that Minis get rented alot faster than Red's which means as a commercial investment, at this point in time, the odds is against Red. However, I do believe Monstro it's going to change that. Though paying 30k for a sensor upgrade when an additional 10k would get you a new Mini, does seem crazy. That's 2 income stream vs 1 income stream. Illogical I guess but my bet's still on Monstro.
Click to expand...

I think the industry leaning towards minis is alot due to the delay of monstro and the release of helium when still in beta. Lot of my clients and DP friends did simply not want to take the risk of using something new that they had not tested before and that had questionable renderings of color. But now in retrospect I think the steps to IPP2, helium and now also monstro was very much worth doing even if it scared some people in the process. To me red now stands stronger than ever and those in question that decided to go with minis or what not will probably reevaluate the situation now when all bits are in place.

Arri will sooner rather than later come out with a 6k sensor, even if everyone using arri cameras now says resolution is not an issue, im sure those guys will change thier minds right then and there. The only thing is that I doubt that a 6k arri will cost less than a monstro. More likly it will cost more.

And when that is out most dps will look at the current alexas the same way they look at the first gen alexas that only shoots hd.

So even if a mini cost less now, question is what its worth when the next generation comes.

People want to rent the latest and greatest and when that causes a bit of struggle they tend to look for other options. 8k will take some time for people to adapt to. Even though its not higher data rates or, now, in any way more difficult to handle.
 
Weapon Helium onwer here since end of last year. This thing produces absolutely gorgeous images, but I'm really looking forward to Monstro. Ultimately that's what I ever wanted since My Epic MX days, then Dragon. I am a big, big fan of the Vista, "full frame"look since forever. Its the true convergence of the Professional Stills and Film worlds. Now if it was only 10K cheaper for us... Its really a big hole in the already empty bank account after the jump from Dragon to Helium! Will take me a while to be able to get the funds. But I'm definitely upgrading!
 
Monstro is worth every penny. Shot a spot for Discovery last week, My DIT who was a huge Mini fan, was blown away. Havn't been this excited about a camera since I got my old Scarlet MX coming from the 7D world.. that's how big a leap this sensor is.
 
Only recently moved up to Epic-W, but Monstro images are definitely making my fingers itch again...
 
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