Weapon Magnesium, Dragon M & Raven, or Scarlet -W & Raven?

[Chris Jordan]

Hey guys, simple enough poll: I have enough to either trade in the Dragon M for the Weapon MG, buy the Raven and keep my Dragon M (with 1.8" side, not mini) OR Sell Dragon and get the Scarlet -W and Raven.

What are your thoughts? Dragon-M is 6k, but it's limited due to all the new DSMC2 abilities. I do Drone work, and a ton of handheld Movi work.

If I trade in for the Weapon MG, I'll then only have 1 camera again. We've often needed 2.

If I go SW and Raven, they are both DSMC2, but i'm giving up resolution.

torn!

Cheers Red Family.

 

[Levi Arnold]

Do you USE that extra 1K of resolution. Sure it's nice and I shoot in 6K whenever I can, but is it going to hurt your work and flow to shoot in 5K and 4.5K instead. I'd say that if 80% of your work is online then go with the two Scarlet and Raven. I'm going from Epic Dragon to Scalret-W because the DSMC2 capabilities and future options outweigh my need to have that extra 1K of res.

 

[Nick Morrison]

Not an easy choice.

6K is hard to give up.

But Scarlet-W looks fantastic.

Good luck!

 

[sam windell]

You're in a tough little pickle that can only be answered by what your current and future potential clients demand. 2nd'ing what Levi said essentially, will the extra sensor coverage, high speed, resolution and lower compression help you in the long run? You'll more than likely be making more off a Weapon MG Rental over scarlet/raven-w. I feel like budgets that demand more than one camera should have the space in budget to rent a 2nd body without you having to own another one. It is nice having 2 cameras set up without having to transfer off one rig to another, but again is the client compensating you fairly enough to justify owning a 2nd body to provide them on set is the real question. I would look at exactly how many and what the percentage of shoots that I could have used a 2nd camera on that the clients would actually pay for and see if that investment would pay itself off within a year and if the answer is yes I would pull the trigger. To me the Weapon MG is more versatile and more future proof then the latter and a Raven-W is a cheap rental away and plenty of them will be out there available.

 

[Chris Jordan]

Do you USE that extra 1K of resolution. Sure it's nice and I shoot in 6K whenever I can, but is it going to hurt your work and flow to shoot in 5K and 4.5K instead. I'd say that if 80% of your work is online then go with the two Scarlet and Raven. I'm going from Epic Dragon to Scalret-W because the DSMC2 capabilities and future options outweigh my need to have that extra 1K of res.

Great points. I often pull stills from my footage, but i'm not sure that's a deal breaker.

The mess of selling the Dragon on the forum, vs trading it in for Weapon is something i'm thinking about too. It's at a place where Dragon is dropping in value quick, which sucks since it's such a fantastic camera. So i'm feeling the burn lol.

 

[Chris Jordan]

hmmm, I like your flipside thought. We do quite of bit of BTS, and being able to shoot drone to drone, or bts of set is a big one. I don't usually rent my stuff out. I should. So second cam is luxury, but also needed. I'd rather not shoot BTS with GH4 etc.

You're in a tough little pickle that can only be answered by what your current and future potential clients demand. 2nd'ing what Levi said essentially, will the extra sensor coverage, high speed, resolution and lower compression help you in the long run? You'll more than likely be making more off a Weapon MG Rental over scarlet/raven-w. I feel like budgets that demand more than one camera should have the space in budget to rent a 2nd body without you having to own another one. It is nice having 2 cameras set up without having to transfer off one rig to another, but again is the client compensating you fairly enough to justify owning a 2nd body to provide them on set is the real question. I would look at exactly how many and what the percentage of shoots that I could have used a 2nd camera on that the clients would actually pay for and see if that investment would pay itself off within a year and if the answer is yes I would pull the trigger. To me the Weapon MG is more versatile and more future proof then the latter and a Raven-W is a cheap rental away and plenty of them will be out there available.

 

[sam windell]

Selling the Dragon-M is going to be a huge time suck for sure. The majority are all hopping on the DSMC2 train. Trading up is very seamless transition AND Red is going to favor your Dragon-M body more than buyers with the trade in value increase over a Dragon Epic-X body. Just more to consider and weigh in.

 

[Louis Maddalena]

You mentioned that you often need two cameras but you didn't mention where your second camera went. If you trade in the dragon and you get the Mg Weapon, where did the second camera go that you currently have? Maybe you can sell that camera and get a Raven as a second camera / back up brain.

 

[Erick Liu]

WeaponMG will put you closer to the 8K upgrade in the future than Scarlet-W, also Raven won't be able to upgrade at all...

 

[Michael Tiemann]

WeaponMG will put you closer to the 8K upgrade in the future than Scarlet-W, also Raven won't be able to upgrade at all...

Nowhere, ever, have I seen that Weapon MG puts you on track for the 8K upgrade. It has been said again and again that only CF can handle 8K, and that the cost of MG -> CF, if anything like it ever were offered as a trade-in option, would be "very, very expensive".

 

[Chris Jordan]

I don't have 2 right now, but need 2 ( would like 2 ) We've had to use GH4 for BTS and 2nd cam and that sucks. It's an ok bang around cam but not worthy of mixing together footage with Dragon unless we have a ton of time and are delivering in 1080P. (Personal preference)

As for upgrade to 8k, I'm not worried or interested yet. Sure i'd love it, but it's not a need at all for me.

Essentially MG would be paying $20k for better compression rates, 6K, a few better Prores options, and Higher frame rates ( I usually don't go over 72, and rare at that) But its the smoother easier option. Is that worth $20k is the question...

BUT let's throw a wrench in the mix:

It's really not that far off to go MG from out of pocket to Scarlet-W after trade in and $5k rebate. There are a few things i'd sell I don't need that come with it too. BUT it doesn't have a mount ( I swear it did in the package first few days??) so I'd have to steal that off Dragon.

I already have a Weapon-Carbonfiber ready to go, they allocated it a month ago. I just decided to slow down a bit, and think.

Am I making any Sense?

You mentioned that you often need two cameras but you didn't mention where your second camera went. If you trade in the dragon and you get the Mg Weapon, where did the second camera go that you currently have? Maybe you can sell that camera and get a Raven as a second camera / back up brain.

 

[luigivaltulini]

For me buy 2 Scarlet-w, this is amazing camera.