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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Which upgrade? Dragon or Epic?

Daniel Christensen

Daniel Christensen

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Which would be better? Essentially they're the same price. No one knows what Dragon will look like image-wise, so we can't judge 100% accurately if it will be worth the upgrade price. What are your opinions?
 
I think many people are contemplating the same thing....I know I am. Personally, I feel that going to the Epic is the better deal because you'll always be able to upgrade to full Dragon....But for the most part I don't need 6k....so 60fps at 5k dragon would work for 99.9% of what I do....Its tough...no doubt about that.
 
I was going to post the same topic. I'm thinking Epic. I think dragon is over hyped. As it is I know many feature films shot on Epic and thats good enough for me. I have good Canon ef glass and not sure if I absolutely need better dynamic range.
 
If upgrading that EPIC to Dragon is part of the plan, go EPIC. But if you really don't want to spend the 19k and plan to stay with what you get for 9500, then think really hard about how much you need higher fps, because thats nearly the single thing that sets a EPIC-MX above a Dragon-Scarlet. It's 5k@120fps vs 5k@60fps and so on, but a Dragon-Scarlet will have higher DR and less noise, things you'll see in all your footage, and who knows what else.

And while Scarlet-MX isn't powerful enough for HFR the new Dragon Scarlet would even be enough to shoot Hobbit in 5k@48fps, the movie might even look a bit better, because of the newer sensor. ;) The gap between Scarlet and EPIC has clearly become smaller with the upgrade.
 
Dragon Scarlet is still really far off.

Upgrading to EPIC now will give you a useable 5k and more frame rates. By time the Dragon is readily available your new epic should earn you 9500 for the upgrade to dragon epic.

I just really wanna shoot 6k 100fps...
 
I wonder if too many people switch to Epic and hardly anyone wants Scarlet Dragon if the nix the idea lol? Stop switching guys lol!
 
i havent been on reduser, or keeping up with dragon in quite a while. has any footage been released yet? anyone know when they plan to ship?
 
The high framerates kind of trick me, because I imagine super slow motion stuff, but honestly, if I can get 1/3 speed slow motion at 72 fps in 4K, that's good enough for me. I think I'll be going with the better low light and higher DR of Dragon in July...
 
David Dominguez said:
i havent been on reduser, or keeping up with dragon in quite a while. has any footage been released yet? anyone know when they plan to ship?
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No new frame grabs besides the one early one of the lizard. Pretty depressing as it is. I was excited but now its gone past the point of caring anymore. While I'm not a fan boy I do see the point now of the haters. I just dont like all the hype machine and delivering months and months after making an announcement.
 
I just recieved my Epic upgrade a few days ago and do not miss my Scarlet. She was good to me...but we had our differences. I Look forward to dumping my Epic MX and going with the Dragon (pre-ordered). The difference Im seeing from 4k to 5k is huge IMO. Clients like high frame rates and being able to film at an higher res and higher frame rate (faster than 30) is awesome for them. HDRx is awesome. 3:1 is awesome. 5k is awesome. I feel like when I was a Scarlet owner I was aware of how awesome Epics were. Now...I know. I have a feeling Dragon is going to look good...why would anyone think RED, or any company for that matter, put out a product, an "upgrade", that didn't surpass the original? (That sounds rhetorical. In fact its a sincere question...should I be worried of my pre-order.............?(Im not))
 
I think it might come down to whether you're willing to spend $9500 or $19000 on the upgrade. If you can only budget for $9500, then I think the Scarlet Dragon will be the better camera - besides higher frame rates, I don't see any area (on paper) in which the Epic MX would produce a better image than a Scarlet Dragon, and for many 75fps at 4K or 100fps at 3K will be plenty. If you have $19,000 then for sure Epic and then Epic Dragon will be the way to go.

It is all well and good the advice to upgrade to Epic and then Epic Dragon - but $20,0000 isn't in everybody's grasp, or maybe they just don't want to spend that much, and in that instance I think a Scarlet Dragon will be an amazing compromise, and will most likely produce a far superior image to an MX Epic. That being said - what's the rush? Images from Dragon will need to be released sooner of later.
 
Samir Patel said:
I think dragon is over hyped.
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It really will be interesting when the first images from a Dragon sensor camera are released, and whether people are blown away by it compared to the MX, and even compared to Alexa or F65.

I wasn't really around here at the time, but what was the initial reaction like when the MX upgrade came out? Were people blown away? I know when watching an M vs an MX movie the difference it pretty noticeable, but this could also come down to the post side of things - people better understanding the material, and creating better images with it.
 
Mike Garrick said:
Funny I work with both cams in TV land & I can't tell the difference.
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My night shots/low key shots are like from a completely different camera. Absolutely notice a difference in latitude. I can shoot at higher ISOs and not worry too much. I would love to have my scarlet back just to do a side by side of that alone. And you can tell the difference between the res @ 2k60fps and 5k60fps. I may not need slow motion but my clients use and abuse it. And maybe a little irrelevant, but I gave an artist a 1080 file and a 4k file of his music video the other day (shot on scarlet) we paused both videos at the same point and it was night and day difference viewing the QT files. Even though both were on the same screen, the 4k had much more detail no if ands or buts. I'm seeing that same difference between 5k and 4k (epic and scarlet)
 
Daniel Pearson said:
I think it might come down to whether you're willing to spend $9500 or $19000 on the upgrade. If you can only budget for $9500, then I think the Scarlet Dragon will be the better camera - besides higher frame rates, I don't see any area (on paper) in which the Epic MX would produce a better image than a Scarlet Dragon, and for many 75fps at 4K or 100fps at 3K will be plenty. If you have $19,000 then for sure Epic and then Epic Dragon will be the way to go.

It is all well and good the advice to upgrade to Epic and then Epic Dragon - but $20,0000 isn't in everybody's grasp, or maybe they just don't want to spend that much, and in that instance I think a Scarlet Dragon will be an amazing compromise, and will most likely produce a far superior image to an MX Epic. That being said - what's the rush? Images from Dragon will need to be released sooner of later.
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This sounds intelligent. +1
 
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