SSD Module, Side Handle and Card Reader are obvious tho!
Maybe to anyone working in the industry. I'm talking more people who have in the past spent ~$10k for a Z1 for their wedding business or event videography business, who look at the Scarlet for <$8k and get caught up in 'upgrading their equipment' and moving the business in an new direction without realising that the RED is a completely different type of camera, and that you'll need to invest an extra $5k+ to get it working.
The same kind of people who have never shot anything before but want to get into filmmaking, and look at buying a Blackmagic Cinema Camera because '2.5k raw for $2.5k!! OMG' as if that's going to make their movies suddenly look they were shot by Roger Deakins.
As I said, I'm not disputing the fact that it's cheaper at all.
I've already got some V Mount batteries and a charger, so the investment for the package above will be £17.000. That being said, stuff like the side handle can be purchased later.
With the lower prices, you're essentially getting an extra accessory or so for 'free' which is great.
Initially I wanted to buy the Scarlet package, but the EPIC is just so much better. 5K at up to 120fps in WS mode. Plus the Dragon Sensor is only supposed to be 6.000 US when it comes out. Makes more sense to buy an epic now and then upgrade to dragon for 6k than buy a scarlet and spend about the same price again on the dragon sensor. Even more probably!
To be 100% honest, speaking from extensive experience using both cameras:
IMHO, the Epic is not worth triple the price of the Scarlet. Especially once the new sensor comes out. Take it as you will, but they're almost identical. The Epic has one or two little features over the Scarlet, but nothing (IMO) worth an extra $11,000 - $16,000.
Unless
all of your work requires you to do slow-mo stuff..
But then, I also think that investing in cameras is a false economy, and that you should only invest in a camera if you have the work lined up to use it and pay for it - IMO, using a camera to sell yourself ends up being just that. You're selling the camera, not yourself as a DP.
But that's a different discussion, and I'm not trying to suggest you'd be buying an Epic for any reason, let alone any that I've stated
You forgot lenses... but you'd have to buy stuff to go with the varicam as well...
My point is more that even an Alexa comes with a viewfinder and a card slots. I have nothing against RED as a brand (though I find their cameras to be temperamental at the best of times) and nothing really against their pricing structure.. If anything I have something against their marketing wording, or more the words that people tend to throw around the internet like '4k raw for $8k!'. Yeah, that's technically true, assuming you've already bought into the RED ecosystem, and own accessories that you can transfer over from your Epic. But how many people that they're targetting with the Scarlet are already invested in an Epic...? And of those, how many people are looking to swap their SSD modules and side handles every time they swap brains?
Selling an all in one package doesn't work for the target audience. Selling the main component allows the Camera Dep't to add on all of the stuff they want, same as they've been doing for a hundred years with film. The actual camera is just the gear mechanism and housing.
I agree with you, mostly, when talking about the Epic, though I'd add that most productions don't swap out their viewfinders because htey like x one better, they only do that these days because DSLR and RED shooting forces you to. And in reality, RED is forcing you into purchasing their own touchscreen, otheriwse you're forced to control the camera via a confusing and difficult to use REDmote or Side handle.
Example... Here's a pic from Phillip Bloom's blog (used without permission) from shooting "Red Tails" for Lucas Film -- note the tiny little $3k camera in the middle of that rig:
I'm not disagreeing that productions don't pony up for extra accessories and different rigs. Just that most camera 'bodies' come with the basics of being able to shoot. Buy an Alexa, whack on a lens, slot in a card and plug it into power and you can shoot straight away. Buy an Epic or a Scarlet, and you then have to also buy a side SSD module. And then their proprietary SSD drives. And then their proprietary card reader. And then their proprietary touchscreen.
And then you can whack on a lens, slot in a card, plug into power and start shooting.
Even film camera bodies came with mags and ground glass.
I'll also add: how much of the Scarlet target market is used to buying a complete array of accessories to get their cameras shooting?