* * WHY does Red Equipment NOT hold its VALUE ??

[Hrvoje Simic]

F35 kits can be had for under $8500 now.

F35 was one of the transitional cameras with HD delivery. And then Red stepped in.
Let's see if F65 or F55 will have that slope.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

F35 was one of the transitional cameras with HD delivery. And then Red stepped in.
Let's see if F65 or F55 will have that slope.

They will de-value, that's for sure. I don't think the downward slide will be as drastic as what the F35 experienced, but the F65 and F55 will both be supplanted by at least one new model each, probably two models each, by the time they are 5 years old. Mostly, I'm curious to see what sort of "upgradability" Sony has planned for the F65. They have been telling people that the cameras "can be upgraded". I also mentioned the F900 being worth next to nothing now, < $1K in many cases. It's not really sad, though. That's a camera that dominated the industry for a handful of years and held its value firm for the first 4 years of its life. Quite admirable, really. Although, I don't see the industry as it exists now being able to uphold a value like that on one product. Too many new offerings keep coming along. Just look at what Arri has done with the Alexa and how it continues to evolve. Rather smart on how they are handling it, IMO.

All things must come to an end, though. And in the cinema camera space we now have pressure coming from two sides -- the low end where prosumer and even consumer cameras are threatening to make in-roads and in many cases have already pushed into the industry. On the top end, we have players like RED, and Sony too, who are committed to releasing better technology and more capable product.

There are always going to be new features, new ideas, new technologies to incorporate into new camera models. I don't see anything changing from how it's been since pushing into the digital realm. The same digital progression of industry economics we have already seen time and time again in many other industries.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

They will de-value, that's for sure.

F65 is a very very good camera, it's only drawback is it's complexity and tedious workflow together with it's size. Don't think it's going to devalue that much, if much then mainly because of those reasons. If they were to downsize it, make the workflow as easy as Alexa, then it will hold for years to come. I see the F65 as the only true contender to Red, just look at Oblivion.

 

[Carlos Gonzalez]

I bought a Red One in 2008 and the camera body alone has made me about $90,000 in 5 years. Even if it became a paperweight right now it was obviously worth it.

 

[Brian Merlen]

the strange thing about red is there stuff really did maintain its price well, until they themselves sold new models for less... if you look at the red one, until they let their stock go for cheap, it was pretty darn hard for a guy like me to get one.... then same thing with dsmc, until the BT ones, and the price reductions, it wasn't exactly inexpensive to get a red, arguably it still isn't for a small scale owner op. had i seen either of those deals coming, like 2 months after i got in...it would of been a no brainer honestly...

hopefully they don't keep marking down and if anything discontinue the scarlet line entirely...maybe thats why there is not a scarlet dragon buy new price point out yet? who knows, its all rampant speculation until its shipping or they start talking again. i miss how informed we once were...

 

[BRANDON JAMESON]

F65 is a very very good camera, it's only drawback is it's complexity and tedious workflow together with it's size. Don't think it's going to devalue that much, if much then mainly because of those reasons. If they were to downsize it, make the workflow as easy as Alexa, then it will hold for years to come. I see the F65 as the only true contender to Red, just look at Oblivion.

We have an F65 and I agree , the camera is huge and heavy...But the workflow thing has come a long way and is now no more easy or difficult than any other raw workflow.

Both SR and F65 RAW files read natively into AVID and Resolve, making AMA clip choices effortless.

When we shoot F65 RAW and wish to down-convert to 1080, we use a PIX on-camera, or instead of a RED Rocket, we use the Sony "black box" to download the clips we need, it is very fast and easy.

Shooting 1080P in SR codec (high or low) is a native file format in many NLEs and a joy to work with.

The camera is quiet as a mouse and the imagery it produces is a constant joy and really impeccable both in 1080p and F65Raw 4-8K flavors.

For much of our broadcast deliverables, we record in-camera super-sampled 1080 files with SLog-2 color space, for beauty and high-end work we shoot F65 RAW.

We love and use our RED when we need a lighter body and smaller file format and the F65 for the majority of our jobs where the size and weight doesn't matter.

IMPO: We would not trade either our RED or our F65, but they are NOT interchangeable.