Never Buying or Shooting RED Again

[Benjamin Reece]

So what was the end of this story? I'm guessing RED offered to repair and it had a good ending that we didn't get to hear :)

[Aris_Gavriilidis]

So what was the end of this story? I'm guessing RED offered to repair and it had a good ending that we didn't get to hear :)

RED did indeed offer to evaluate and repair, which is very gracious to say the least, considering the Epic Dragon is a fairly old model at this point, however I haven't yet decided if/when I'll proceed. RED's tech support is stellar, there's no debate there, the technicians I spoke with were immensely helpful, alas, my initial thoughts on the camera itself in terms of its build quality and reliability as an electronic device haven't shifted. It was an impulsive decision on my end to buy it when I did all those years ago, so I remain sceptical when it comes to putting even more money into it. The market has changed immensely in the last few years and so have the projects I'm interested in working on, so I have to make educated decisions moving forward.

[Dennis Hingsberg]

I came here to sell some Tiffen filters and strangely ended up here and reading this entire thread.

Now I too need to know --- did you send the camera in or not? I think you should, RED is a magical company and will do magic on your camera for sure and I bet surprise you in the end.

Let us know !

[Daniel Soderberg]

RED did indeed offer to evaluate and repair, which is very gracious to say the least, considering the Epic Dragon is a fairly old model at this point, however I haven't yet decided if/when I'll proceed. RED's tech support is stellar, there's no debate there, the technicians I spoke with were immensely helpful, alas, my initial thoughts on the camera itself in terms of its build quality and reliability as an electronic device haven't shifted. It was an impulsive decision on my end to buy it when I did all those years ago, so I remain sceptical when it comes to putting even more money into it. The market has changed immensely in the last few years and so have the projects I'm interested in working on, so I have to make educated decisions moving forward.

Definitely send it in! It could end up being something much more simple/inexpensive than a sensor replacement and even if it is in need of a new sensor, I’ve found these big camera manufactures can be sympathetic to situations your in and do take into consideration the bad luck of this extremely rare issue and can offer big discounts. Best of luck!

[Aris_Gavriilidis]

Thought I should give my post some closure. Although I have noticed that RED officially discontinued DSMC-1 DRAGON repairs on December the 10th, I wasn't going to go ahead with a repair regardless. I had a lot of time to think about it, the amount it'd require could buy me a fully-accessorised kit on eBay and even if I did opt to repair for some odd reason, there'd be no guarantee that dead pixels wouldn't appear again and the 90-day warranty offered after repairs I find laughable at this price range. But all that is besides the point - beautiful images as it makes, the EPIC DRAGON is an old platform, outclassed in every respect by some of the most affordable cameras on the market today. The demand for the RED brand here in Greece has dwindled as well, reasons which I believe ultimately prevented me from making the same mistake twice and pouring even more cash into a camera I perhaps shouldn't have bought in the first place.

I won't be moving to a new platform yet however, at least not as an owner. With the help of After Effects' phenomenal content-aware fill tools, I'll keep on shooting the camera for as long as I can/need.

I sure learned an important lesson though and if I ever invest that much money into a camera down the line, I won't keep it past the end of its warranty period.

This brand might have lost me for good as a customer, but the fantastic support team and the community here on Reduser still have my thanks!

Best of luck in your creative endeavours,

Aris

[Andrew Dease]

Thought I should give my post some closure. Although I have noticed that RED officially discontinued DSMC-1 DRAGON repairs on December the 10th, I wasn't going to go ahead with a repair regardless. I had a lot of time to think about it, the amount it'd require could buy me a fully-accessorised kit on eBay and even if I did opt to repair for some odd reason, there'd be no guarantee that dead pixels wouldn't appear again and the 90-day warranty offered after repairs I find laughable at this price range. But all that is besides the point - beautiful images as it makes, the EPIC DRAGON is an old platform, outclassed in every respect by some of the most affordable cameras on the market today. The demand for the RED brand here in Greece has dwindled as well, reasons which I believe ultimately prevented me from making the same mistake twice and pouring even more cash into a camera I perhaps shouldn't have bought in the first place.

I won't be moving to a new platform yet however, at least not as an owner. With the help of After Effects' phenomenal content-aware fill tools, I'll keep on shooting the camera for as long as I can/need.

I sure learned an important lesson though and if I ever invest that much money into a camera down the line, I won't keep it past the end of its warranty period.

This brand might have lost me for good as a customer, but the fantastic support team and the community here on Reduser still have my thanks!

Best of luck in your creative endeavours,

Aris

Yes its rough now.

Company cares more about you tubers than the original RUs.

Its rough time. I don't know. Maybe Jim comes back somehow.

I don't know what Red is doing behind the scenes, maybe they have something.

I hope so.

[Amanda Griffin]

Sadly, right now, Youtube is where the money is.

[Maira Fravel]

Quailty videos have an edge over tons on YT. Some are just of low quality but maybe they're just starting.