Why EXACTLY did Red drop the price of the Komodo X?

[@demz3514]

RED probably has a big debt and that’s why Nikon wants to burn off that debt

[@reasons2win]

This is from Red Leo (RED Digital Cinema) Aug 2, 2024, 8:50 AM PDT Hey Chester, Thank you for your email and for your interest in RED. And thank you for sharing a little bit about your story! Although we would love to be involved with all of the great ideas and programs presented us, we have been overwhelmed with simply bringing cameras and new technology to market. In order to provide the exceptional performance-to-price ratios that RED has achieved in their revolutionary offerings, our overhead is cut to the bone, eliminating the traditional costs of advertising and promotion. This currently prevents us from offering sponsorship or support for all the great projects and events that are presented to us. As the company matures and success brings with it additional resources, we will enjoy giving back to the community in as many ways as we can. ( this is a email from them, so this is the reason the prices went down

[@waveland]

Mid-tier cine camera prices are in the middle of a reset with the C400 in some respects leading the charge. No one expected Canon to come in at that price point which they have followed up with the C80. Even after the price cut the Reds look expensive, especially when you factor in the uncertainty of new ownership, and the knowledge that RF mounts are on the way out. They will need to scramble to stay relevant and a $3k price drop is definitely them scrambling.

[@Vitaphone]

It’s definitely what’s known as economies of scale, folks highly focused on a niche market like cameras are a little less familiar (same has happened in the synthesizer market not long ago when behringer entered the market)… but it’s super common in other industries… the larger the order the better the pricing on chips/sensors or materials to build said product and as r&d costs are recuperated…. The goal is almost always the race to the bottom for pricing to expand market capture. Gamers are familiar with this concept even if they don’t know it… it’s why traditionally console prices get slashed later in the life cycle of a console… the longer the console last the more the more the tech becomes optimized and cheaper to produce, the less chipmakers charge Sony/MS. Plus the lower the price you can charge for your entry level products, the more potential consumers will come into the eco system and develop brand loyalty.

[@Bobsmithabc]

You’re out of your mind. This is liquidation. No company says let’s save people money 😂

[@joshkiddfilms1295]

Nonsense. Almost every camera brand right now is offering huge price drops and monthly discounts etc. Panasonic is giving away lenses. The market is super competitive. A price drop is incentive for users to buy.

[@mattheword]

Fr dude… they’re dumping all the Canon RF mounts isn’t that a no brainer? Nikon would never produce anything new with a RF mount.

[@JojoJoget]

@@matthewordtechnically they can’t without running into patent laws

[@mattheword]

@@JojoJoget hence why I said never 😅

[@bernardlanguillier7970]

Non sense, it's simply an aggressive move to capture market share

[@RockyMaiviaMiami]

1)C80 2) see #1

[@Shurehlm]

RED is dead. ARRI is next.

[@matthewlivingston6635]

I was also wondering if Komodo is making room for a Komodo Full Frame camera coming soon.

[@PatrickBergerPhoto]

Idk because sensor and image quality is where they already shine. Nobody in the community is bothered by the KX S35 sensor but compared to Sony/Canon they should fix their autofocus if they want to stay relevant in that mid-tier segment.

[@sidvicious3129]

I think Nikon knew what Canon was doing with the c400 and the c80, and they reacted to stay competitive. Heck, the Canon C70 is now $1000 cheaper, Nikon had to lower Komodo prices. The Canon C80 is shapin 14:11 g up to be a beast, and it will sell out quickly, forcing Sony to reduce the price of the Fx6 as the C80 is cheaper with more features.

[@RoadFromNowhere_SE01]

I don’t think anyone has realized that Hollywood has killed itself and that means many MOW’s and low budget features don’t exist anymore. It’s only the biggest film studios playing at the high levels now it seems. So the question for me has become: Where do we distribute our films now and what do we shoot them on? C400 sounds like the Swiss Army knife, Red’s blowing out old stock for a new game?

[@eksmaan]

You nailed it. And companies need to looked forward, rather than backward. Just give us KX people, say, the extended highlight. Throw in N-Raw to the KX, charge an upgrade key to Z8/Z now.

[@YouTube_can_ESAD]

How many times must it be said that the KX does NOT have the horsepower for extended highlights, it’s been said so many times… There’s a reason why that camera body is so small and the power to process imaging is tapped the F’ out.

[@jujus_reviews]

Wondering if they’ll make a full frame global shutter for the red camera

[@CreativeFamAcademy]

They have it. It’s the Raptor X

[@jujus_reviews]

@@CreativeFamAcademy looks like the price filtered it out of my search! Not sure if you have a video on it yet. I shoot wedding’s and I want to get into video with a dedicated camera. What do you think about the c400 vs c80 vs Komodo x?

[@philscanlan7321]

A 6K60fps VV Raptor-X for the original Komodo-X price would go hard.

[@jujus_reviews]

@@philscanlan7321 I didn’t know about the full frame already. I was hoping a full frame Komodo would be crazy! Raptor is a bit of a stretch at 30k

[@this_time_imperfect]

Quantities of scale is probably correct, and they have some new stuff dropping soon that’s gonna be even better.

[@jacob_90s]

In terms of the silicon disks, I think Nikon might have been able to help a little bit with the price, but not that much. As I understand it, the photo lithography process has to be retooled for each specific chip you want to make, so there's a HUGE fixed cost associated with each specific chip design you want made, and that applies regardless of whether you're Red or Apple. What helps with that price is just to make as many of them as you can, so that fixed cost gets divided up amongst each individual chip you sale.

[@reasons2win]

The glazing on red is crazy, other companies are hurting greedy red period. Blackmagic is really helping their customers, Sony is hurting them too 😅

[@reasons2win]

That was a horrible take, can’t believe they did it for us

[@JojoJoget]

RED has always been a terrible company

[@definingslawek4731]

Red gets their sensors from forza silicon, they seem to have an exclusivity deal with them as no other camera has a forza silicon sensor.

[@Sgyozo]

I have some theories too. :D Looking at the used market, as you mentioned, pro RED stuff became crazy cheap. Under 5k you can get Dragon or Helium 8k sometimes, in a package deal. RED Pro gear is less and less rented out, customers don't ask for it, not really used in big productions. I guess Nikon will drop this category, and target the videographers, hence the price drop in new Komodos, to pull in as many people into the universe. Probably they are working on a proper autofocus, as these guys need it, weddings, events, corporate, documentary, etc. So if i were there, i'd work on that, top notch color science, AF, keep the global shutter, especially for using in cars, on drones.

[@AlexDerrick_DP]

6K full frame Raptor Jr on its way 🤔

[@DSFking]

How much of a drop was it?

[@joshkiddfilms1295]

All I want is R3d on my Z8

[@PinkstonFilms]

It’s probably something similar like with Nvidia and their GPUs, they’ve been throttling back a bit on producing gaming GPUs because they have guaranteed bulk AI GPU orders…

[@juanthyme1569]

It’s called Economies of Scale.

They don't use the same sensors for Red and Nikon so they can't bundle orders. Nikon will still buy the same amount of different product so the price will be similar. Price drop was made just to get komodo in competition again, also Nikon doesn't need to get high margins right now.

[@leebrandt8597]

The amount of self deception here is quite large. Red absolutely fleeced its customer base by overcharging their product, and there's been plenty of videos showing exactly how much overpriced their components were. Great cameras, but overpriced

[@nes.torfernandez]

Honestly, from the point of view of people like us, or most of us, I don’t think brand or price really matters. Let’s be honest-we all have a favorite brand that we like to use, but when it comes to work and creating, we might be using RED, Sony, or ARRI. From that perspective, the drop in price isn’t relevant. However, from a brand or prestige point of view, RED lost some of its popularity when it went from being a hard to access cinema camera to being used by new KZbinrs and TikTokers ‘cinematographers.’ This all started when Nikon dropped a bag of cash in Jared’s hands. Do I care about it? Nope, but little by little, Nikon will be merging with the brand until it’s no longer RED, but Nikon, with Z-mount and all that. After many years of bullying Nikon, the monster has given everyone a lesson.

[@dm.b7560]

A Monstro brain is $5990 right now

[@CreativeFamAcademy]

😬😬😬

[@robertdouble559]

They want to sell them. Pretty simple.

[@robvision3888]

Nikon didn’t pay to manufacture the Komodo. Therefore there is no need for Nikon to add manufacturing overhead costs to the Komodo msrp which was about $3000. The costs to manufacture those old Komodo bodies was payed for by the old RED company. Make no mistake the RED camera bodies of the future won’t be as cheap as a comparable Canon cine body.

[@bernardlanguillier7970]

There is just no way for your to know the pricing of future Red cameras

[@robvision3888]

@@bernardlanguillier7970 Utilizing historical data on the market segmentation of the brand and a look at the current tier level prices of the direct competition I can confidently say the RED cameras aren’t going to be cheap. Whatever the price is, it’ll cost more than a Nikon, and Nikon’s aren’t that cheap lol

[@noctwice]

Doesn’t Nikon use Sony sensors?

[@rodneyturnerphoto]

Nikon design and Sony manufactures.

[@DreamReleases]

Answer. Yes, they use Sony sensors. Period.​@@rodneyturnerphoto

[@JojoJoget]

Nikon picks from a catalogue and Sony makes for them

[@DreamReleases]

Rediculous theory.

[@solarion33]

wafers , its called wafers

[@definingslawek4731]

They're still overpriced. Red is for youtubers / low end productions save for a few exceptions. Nikon needs to make a seperate cinema line as there's no way back to prestige for red.

[@baekmedier]

Nope nope... thats not it... They are selling out alle the old RF mount cameras for cheap because they are almost ready with the new NIKON/RED with NIKON mounts, Nikon Aurtofocus and so on and so on..

[@ErikWerlin]

That would be aweomse. While I dont need a red camera anytime soon the 2 main reasons I would not buy one is terrible autofocus as I am an 1 man band and I hate that it uses the Canon RF mount which the lens selection is so small and expensive.

[@bernardlanguillier7970]

They will keep RF and add Z mount

[@baekmedier]

@@ErikWerlin hmm I find that the lens selection is good... but you are right that it is crazy expensive.

[@mpower718]

I think red mystique and rain in the film industry is dying. The one thing they did have was being and feeling exclusive for example, Ari and red was Rolexes and an omega, exclusive expensive premium that for changed now that Nikon owns them. They’re gonna be mass produce and put in the same category as Sony canon Nikon. Gucci citizen and Timex.