Dragonframe 4 is out and and it costs the standard price of $295, or now $325 with a Bluetooth controller rather then the corded controller. So if you have been thinking of upgrading from free or cheep software to the industries best and most stable stop motion software but have held out, congrats, costs have not gone up and the latest version should have everything that is currently loved with an even better camera support then before. However, if your like me and have been using Dragonframe 3 for a while the upgrade cost is $95 or $125 with Bluetooth controller.

Now I don't know this for sure but the the Bluetooth controller (which you can purchase as a stand alone) should work with older versions of Dragonframe and could be a huge quality of life upgrade for some people.

Why should you upgrade if you already have v3.x?
I have looked through the update to see what Dragonframe 4 brings to the table and there are two things that stand out to me.

The first is full control of Dragonframe with only the controller. As my sets are on a stand up work place and across the room from my computer (which is not easily movable) and is a sitting work-space, having to deal with a mouse & keyboard in addition to the controller can be annoying, particularly setting up shots in the Cinematography mode. Being able to control the whole program with one controller rather then having to bring in a mouse would be great. But this is also just a quality of life upgrade and might not be worth the $100 price tag. I don't think this really worth the price to me even though I regularly do freelance work using Dragonframe, but it might be worth it to you if you really need full control with one simple keypad.

The next major advantage, and I do mean major, is far greater camera support. You can now you your iPhone and iPad cameras for capture with Dragonframe, which is neat, although not super compelling to me, an Android user. But Dragonframe 4 supports mirrorless cameras! Check it out. It supports 3 Olympus cameras and 2 Fujifilm cameras. The Olympus cameras have micro four-thirds sensors and the Fujifilm's both have APS-C sensors. If you are like me and have an extensive collection of Nikon lenses you can get a micro four-thrid or Fujifilm-X mount to Nikkor mount for about $35. Of these the Fujifilm TX-1 is the cheapest at around $800 for the body only. Shooting mirrorless has advantages for stop motion over using a DSLR as the mirrorless cameras have no moving parts.

Version 4 also supports Sony Alpha cameras! (but some require a HDMI capture card, be sure to check camera support to see if you need one) The Sony A7 camera's are popular among live action film makers and having a go to, 4K live action camera that you can also use for stop motion would be great for folks who want to shoot both live action and stop motion film but don't have the budget for two cameras. It also supports the cheaper A5xxx and A6xxx camera models. A Alpha a5000 is $380 new and with a $175 HDMI capture card that is still less the the cheaper Fujifilm camera and could be a great option for someone planning to upgrade from a web camera and free software to a nice camera and Dragonframe at the same time. However if you want to use Nikon lenses on the Sony camera the lens adapter seems to cost more then the Olympus or Fujifilm adapters.

So if you already have Dragonframe but really want to use it with a mirrorless camera then you should upgrade, however if you already have a compatible DSLR and don't plan on getting a new camera any time soon it's probably not worth the added cost.