When you stick your head above the parapit you have to accept some flack, it seems like Philip has had his fair share of abusive comments from some users on RED USER a forum for people who like and use RED products.
Philip has written about his problems with his RED EPIC especially having Beta software installed and it seems to have let him down till it got to a stage his confidence was no longer with the camera… PB “I was no longer comfortable with using the camera on paid jobs.”
You need to be 100% confident in your bread and butter otherwise it can cost you a job and possibly your reputation. If I ever spend $80K on a camera I would not tolerate anything going wrong with it let alone signing an EULA…thats an end-user license agreement which is a contract you sign between you and a manufacturer when you are usually assessing new equipment or software.
Mr Thomas from Philip Blooms comments page “When buying an Epic, RED gave my boss an EULA to agree to that included wording that made it clear that any issues were to go through RED and nobody else. Would be really surprised if you didn’t get the same terms of use.
If this is true its the one single point that would stop me from ever buying a RED camera, can you imaging Sony selling you an F3 and asking you to sign such a document…GET REAL !!! This must be the first time in my production life of over 25 years that a manufacturer has had the nerve to impose restrictions when buying a video product.
I think this episode has been very damaging to RED, Philip has a huge following of potential customers and if I were RED I would seriously be looking at improving my products reliability issues and stop being obsessed with what people might say about your product…good or bad.
And just like magic Jim has actually posted on RED USER with an apology to Philip Bloom.
The Case of Philip Bloom… – Today, 06:29 PM By Jim Jannard
“I guess everyone makes mistakes… this one was mine.
A lot has been posted about this so I thought I would clarify from our perspective.
This situation is my fault… no one else’s. My apology was offered to Philip and apparently accepted.
Philip has returned his EPIC and cancelled his Scarlet order.
We will not allow any disrespectful posts here on Reduser about Philip or anyone else…
We consider the case closed. Nothing to see here… move along.”
Lets hope Philip is back to his cheery old self as was seen here at the Skywalker Ranch 2 years ago.
Yeah i think this kinda stuff is the beginning of the end for RED. Cant imagine a compnay that truly knows their best trying to pull this kinda of sh@t. Looks like RED is yet again left looking like a child in the sandbox rather than a company worth my $.
P. Bloom has always struck me as a sincere person who takes lengths to be balanced, honest and unbiased. Part of what makes me return to his blog is the fact that he tells you the bad about otherwise good gear. At the lower end of the budget spectrum, gear will have shortcomings. Mr Bloom doesn’t pretend otherwise.
Another reason I return to his blog is that he takes that gear and creates often beautiful work with it.
If there are folks out there who have it in for him, or are jealous, I’m not surprised.
On his blog I don’t think he treated the RED Epic harsher than the many Sony, Canons, Panasonic’s he’s used. He likes cameras to be reliable for paid gigs. Who doesn’t?
I do think however that some folks have blown this Epic issue out of proportion, and RED staff and fans may now be more responsible than Bloom for highlighting the cam’s shortcomings. In the early days, RED Ones were often seen as glitchy. I heard producers say the cameras were unreliable and the post-route tricky. No one says that about Red One now.
Since purchasing a serious camera (PMW-F3) I think I’ve read my fair share of forums and blogs this year and I can’t praise Philip Bloom enough for his insight in this modern age of video.
It’s not his fault that he became so popular in recent years. He just happened to stand out from the rest of the crowd with a passion! Without having met him, he appears honest and friendly enough. I have no doubt that RED are revolutionary in the movie industry, but you have to worry when they repeatedly highlight the clause: “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone with a bad attitude.”
Their PR firm are perhaps a little precious and their ‘fan boys’ (whether they acknowledge them or not) probably do more harm than good.
Oh, by the way, Philip (Johnston), you also appear to honest and friendly, even though I’ve not met you either.
Peter Johnson
(Melbourne Australia)
Ditto, Red’s response to this will do nothing but damage their bottom-line with all of the lower income people that follow Phil’s posts… all of us dream and aspire to better cameras, but this will tilt many away from Red
Is it even legal to have to sign an eula when buying a product for personal use? This whole affair is a freedom of speech issue more than anything else, who the help are red to tell you what you can and can’t say about thier half finished camera!
EULA or no ELAU Red has pushed the camera industry to innovate and bring us new options and large format video cameras, That I thank them for !!
[ …. EULA or no ELAU Red has ….]
people like you have no idea about your rights and wrongs !