Ronin 4D Price Drops and ProRes RAW license is now $1

[eatstoomuchjam]

DJI just dropped prices for the Ronin 4D series.

The 6K version is now $4,999 (down from $6,800)

The 8K version is now $9,999 (down from about $13,000)

The raw license just went from $979 to $1.  Wish I hadn't bought it just a few months ago, but that's great news for existing owners who haven't bought it yet.  Note that with the base 6K package, the RAW license is likely to be useless without buying an overpriced DJI ProSSD ($800 for 1TB).

https://www.cined.com/dji-ronin-4d-price-drop-raw-license-now-1-instead-of-979/

If I'm guessing, I'd say that DJI are both aiming for a big sales bump with all of the press the R4D has been getting lately (especially with Adolescence) as well as finally undercutting the Komodo-X, C80, and Ursa Cine 12K.

I'd still say that it wouldn't be my choice if I only had one camera, but since I got it, it's been to set with me for every short film that I've worked on and I've used it every time.  The image from it is really nice, especially from the 8K.

[The Dancing Babamef]

the camera is really attractive for the right person but i just can't but help look at the price of the media for it though.

am i misremembering or did they have some kind of adapter that you could put your own M.2 SSD to?

[eatstoomuchjam]

26 minutes ago, The Dancing Babamef said:

the camera is really attractive for the right person but i just can't but help look at the price of the media for it though.

If you want to record in the high-quality modes (PRR or 4444XQ), you need to use their ProSSD which is $800 for 1TB.  At such a price, you might think that it would be an incredibly high-performing SSD.  You'd be wrong.  It's a mediocre USB-C SSD with a magic chip that tells the camera to use it.  At this point, you might think you'll find a way to buy one and then swap the 1TB disk inside it for a 2TB or 4TB one.  It is, after all, an NVMe SSD inside (if I remember right).  You'd be wrong again.  Someone tried this and even though the camera recorded to it without complaint, the files all came out unusable.

31 minutes ago, The Dancing Babamef said:

am i misremembering or did they have some kind of adapter that you could put your own M.2 SSD to?

Without the ProSSD adapter, the camera natively takes CF Express Type B.  I'm not sure, but I think it can record over USB-C to an SSD.  Both of these options will be limited to H.264 or ProRes 422.

[The Dancing Babamef]

wow, so i was way off lol. that's another thing i don't recall hearing these caveats when i was looking at the reviews for this. 

[eatstoomuchjam]

ProRes 422 is a nice codec.  Many people probably buy and use this camera and never miss raw.

[The Dancing Babamef]

that's true. maybe i'm just a balls-to-the-wall type of guy.

if i see me not needing to edit the footage extensively i switch out from NRAW to H265. but it's still kind of a bummer that they had the ProRes RAW internally but patched it out. especially how cheap fast CFxB cards have become, for one DJI SSD's price you could get 2 or even a 4TB model of CFX. and it would be that big of a hassle.

[eatstoomuchjam]

It has ProRes RAW internally.  You have to pay $1 for a license to turn it on and you need to record it to ProSSD.