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Red Scarlet 4K RAW deal of a lifetime tonight- don't miss it!
  • ‏just caught this tweet about a one-time sale on the Red Scarlet 4K cameras

    @r3duser Scarlet Deal of a Lifetime http://bit.ly/UZotWD

    http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?87124-Scarlet-Deal-of-a-Lifetime

    $7100 gets you in the door! Insane deal, but you do need accessories also...

    If anyone has or needs Red accessories, might want to post here!

  • 24 Replies sorted by
  • Damn, I wish I were sitting on $7100. I'm tempted to put it on a credit card.

  • I think that more real reason is dropped sales.

    Also remember that this thing is pain in the ass to sell (and very costly if you want to retain support)

  • I can tell you this much, as a production company we looked at the RED EPIC/Scarlet for doing mid priced TVCs. We are now purchasing 3 BMCCs which will do 90% of what we want, and all up still cheaper kitted out than 1 x Scarlet with all the fruit. If we need a RED going forward we will just hire an EPIC for certain projects. RED still has it's place, Full format, high frame rate, 5K for cropping etc, but in a lot of cases you don't need these features if you are shooting corporate or mid range TVCs. 1080P 12 bit raw recorded to standard SSDs is staggering for $3000. RED will lose a huge potential market to the BMCC as many shooters will suffice with 1080P RAW for most commercial productions. The price of second hand RED cameras, especially Scarlet will plummet once the BMCC camera has saturated the market place. I think the RED is an exceptional camera but you really need to do the sums before you invest in this technology if you want a descent ROI. Deep down we are all gear sluts, I would love to have a RED epic all kitted out, but I am also in business to make a living and for me the BMCC will return a hundred times the investment I make. Please add your own thoughts to this thread as I am keen to hear what people are thinking on this subject. cheers

  • @Vitaliy_Kiselev Interesting theory, but I have no experience in trying to sell one yet, so my ass is still OK... ;-)

    You do need at least one 64 GB Redmag, 1.8" Redmag Reader, Redmote remote control or touchscreen or sidehandle for camera control, AC Power Cable, HDMI monitor, and Battery solution to have fully functional kit for Portable 4K Camera, plus external microphone if you want scratch sound... really no different than any other cinema camera setup.

    Arri Alexa will also take a hit once they likely release the 4K Alexa next year.

    I may consider selling some extra Red accessories if someone wants to take that deal- just PM me if you need some of those accessories. I have some brand new unused and some lightly used Red accessories if interested.

  • The people I know that got Scarlets soon upgraded to Epic.

  • yeah i'd be tempted if it was a ready to shoot package for $7100. But no such luck,
    needs a monitor, red station, battery adapter and batteries which will set you back another few thousand.
    plus media is about $12/gig
    $725 for 64gb
    looking at about $12,000+ b4 u can shoot and that's if u bring your own canon lenses
    but the image is just about as good as you can get right now. although still noisy in the underexposed areas, looks like an acid trip
    maybe the bmcc is cutting into scarlet sales. wish jannard stuck to the 3k for $3k pitch.
    as they say if you don't cannibalize your sales someone else will
    yeah and like @truestory said, I'd rather get a 1080 or 2.5k image off the sensor than a 5k or 4k one.

  • @truestory I think BMCC is GREAT for the price , but it is a gen 1 camera and will be quickly forgotten as they release a gen 2 camera, especially if their next one is S35 and 4K and has a realtime workflow for editing the RAW footage. Plus, better buy big stock in Hard Drives with that BMCC if you want to archive that RAW uncompressed footage!

    BMCC shouldn't affect Red sales as much as some other brands, as Red focuses on high-end Cinema, and in some cases BMCC will make people want to buy Red once they understand the value of Redcode and the workflow- let me explain...

    The #1 main benefit of the Red Scarlet is recording compressed Redcode RAW at 6:1 or above onto 64GB cards. the second is the resolution of the 4k HD recording mode, and the 3rd is realtime editing established with Adobe. Consider the upfront savings on storage, workflow with realtime editing. Plus, Red is planning a Sensor upgrade path for the Scarlet for loyal customers.

    Ultimately, I bet you'd make your money back just as well with the Red Scarlet (especially at that deal price) as well as the BMCC once you consider the total cost and benefit, but $2995 is insanely cheap for that camera's capabilities right now. It's all good.

  • JVC are also jumping in the full frame market, with a 'new' camera to be announced in December. Looks like a very interesting 12 months ahead for the industry. I think RED will be ok for now, but if the majors start to roll out similar packages to compete in this segment then someone will have to lose.

  • JVC are also jumping in the full frame market,

    You want to say "Panasonic is jumping into full frame market", as JVC is owned by Panasonic and now is more like division.

  • true, but JVC are autonomous with their R&D and product design, this camera will have its own new codec as well so will be interesting to see if they up the specs on the back of the BMCC.

  • but JVC are autonomous with their R&D and product design

    As far as I remember, this is not the case anymore, they are now more tightly integrated.

  • JVC are a test bed for Panasonic products. If you want to know what's in store on the Panny pipeline, look to JVC. Their products are almost like prototypes for Panasonic

  • What stands in the way of using a regular SSD instead of a RedMag? is it firmware. RED obviously is just buying SSDs

  • If you only just barely have enough money for this, I think it's really not a good decision to buy. In terms of equipment, you would be so much better off getting better lighting / sound / post production equipment. If you have twice the cost of this thing just laying around, then, sure, it's a good deal. :-/

  • @disneytoy The Redmag SSD media is "overpriced" at first, but turns out to be the least expensive item in the long-run... buy it once and don't look back, offload to external storage ASAP for redundant backup.

    The real price you are paying for is the convenience not to worry about media support issues, hence why the proprietary connector and casing you could drive a car over.

    If you are buying, it may be aqequate to simply buy a pair of 64 GB Redmag and rent larger Redmags for extended shooting situations or going to external SSD recorders like the PIX 240...

    PS. I have heard of people buying the Scarlet and only recording to an external recorder, but to me it defeats the purpose of getting a 4K RAW camera in the first place

  • Things may change soon, but still there are no real options for a 4k monitor or Projector to view your footage. 4K is much harder to manage. If you are doing a feature then 4K is ok. But I think everything else 1080p will be fine. For atleast the next year. If you bought this camera, how would you ever screen the 4k?

  • I just want to briefly throw in my comments on working with the Scarlet.

    The image quality, file size (compared to DNG) and post flexibility are really desirable and there aren't a lot of "hidden issues" like with the GH2 (shadow flicker, ISO bug, etc.) so the learning curve can be a lot shorter than you might think on the shooting side.

    It may take a little getting used to being so dependent on the touch screen if you are used to a camera with more buttons and dials (even the GH2), it's a heavier camera and the fan on the camera is typically quite loud whenever it is turned on but not shooting (though much quieter while recording) so keep that in mind if you want to stealth shooting.

    Anyway, the camera was alread the cheapest 4K RAW option out there and these ones are cheaper still, so if you are looking down that route, it's definitely worth checking out. You'd have to spend over twice as much to get another model with 4K RAW support (Epic, F65 and the announced C500 via external recorder).

  • The bad thing about such deals are they never last long, so in the words of a portly sage:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gBzJGckMYO4

    (Only 240p however, not quite 4K)

    Anybody lucky enough to pick one up in time?

  • Red scarlet vs red one mx which is the best??

  • @rajamalik Both use the MX sensor, the Red One MX offers more framerate options right now, but the Scarlet-X is eligible for the trade-in/sensor upgrade while the Red One MX is end of life from everything I've heard to date. It is a completely different form factor, and most people do not want the large form factor of the Red One any more.

  • I prefer the RED ONE MX. I like the in camera created proxies and the framerate ramping. You don't get those options with the Scarlet.

  • As far as image quality, the Scarlet does support Epic's more sophisticated color science that One's boards don't support.

  • @Sage and @Brian202020 Both are good tips... It's a good idea to try them both at a local rental house.

    I think it's a true toss-up depending on what's most important to you. To me, the Scarlet-X upgrade to Dragon sensor and portability take the prize.