Before anyone gets all riled up, I'm just playing devil's advocate here, so please play nice. I'm pixel and brand agnostic.
This comment is
not about (a) RED's patent (b) whether BRAW is superior to ProRes RAW (c) whether DaVinci Resolve is better than a half dozen other NLEs (d) who is a nicer human being, Jeromy Young or Grant Petty or (e) Sony vs. BMD. It is
just about the internal/external thing.
So the argument goes that if you want ProRes RAW, you've got to buy into the Atomos ecosystem (gasp!) - but if you're itching for internal BRAW, aren't you likewise shackled into Blackmagic's ecosystem? That is, aren't you constrained to purchasing a BMD camera that may or may not be as suited to your needs (I know, right?) as say,
any other cinema camera - or even a MILC?
Imagine if you will that due to present circumstances we're no longer able to shoot Hollywood blockbusters but instead, we're compelled to shoot mundane documentaries, travel and nature films, product photography, YouTube videos, music videos, corporate training videos, weddings, real estate, fashion and beauty, food or fitness videos. Cringe, right?
An Atomos recorder suddenly opens up RAW recording to over 30 different cameras by a half dozen manufacturers (incl. some mirrorless cameras whose internal codecs Netflix foolishly deemed sufficient for Netflix Originals). We can even put that miserable
hybrid to use to put food on the table. Recording externally also opens up the possibility of a previously unheard-of number of formats - in addition to the internal RAW of the camera itself, ProRes RAW, Blackmagic RAW, H.265, Log, HLG, ProRes and more - translating into extraordinary versatility.
As for the alleged cost savings of recording internally, two approved Angelbird SDXC V90 256GB cards will set you back USD $800.00, the same as a Ninja V / 1TB SSD - kind of like throwing in two extra Angelbirds and a 1,000 nit HDR monitor that can also record 6K RAW for free! I've heard a few souls online complain that external recorders eventually don't support the formats you need, but isn't that also true of SD cards? I've got dozens of expensive SD cards gathering dust in my dresser drawer that are no longer fast enough for many of today's cameras!
All tech stuff eventually becomes outdated - including BMD cameras.
Lastly, serious productions kind of require external monitors anyhow, and HDR absolutely demands one.