Arri Digital

[Lars Erik]

Has anyone actually seen footage from this camera?

 

I understand it uses dual exposures of both high and low gain signal to create one HDR image. Sounds fantastic.

[Jens Piotrowski SOC]

yes,I've seen it, compared to the Competitor A, which I believe is the F35, much less visible noise, especially in underexposed areas of the frame. yes it uses a high gain and low gain pass to create the image much like their 2nd generation scanner.....

 

 

http://arridigital.com/

 

http://arridigital.com/sites/default/files...CS_Brochure.pdf

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

yes,I've seen it, compared to the Competitor A, which I believe is the F35, much less visible noise, especially in underexposed areas of the frame. yes it uses a high gain and low gain pass to create the image much like their 2nd generation scanner.....

 

 

http://arridigital.com/

 

http://arridigital.com/sites/default/files...CS_Brochure.pdf

 

 

I'm very certain that Competitor A is a F35 (Vertical streaking of highlights kinda gave it away) and yes they are doing in camera HDR to achieve a higher dynamic range and it looks amazing. The camera right now has a native ASA of 800 and it may change upwards when the camera is released.

 

This camera is truly THE game changer. It's everything that Panavision and Sony aspire to in a form factor that is pure film camera.

[Robert Starling SOC]

Me likey, me wanty!

[Jens Piotrowski SOC]

first working! prototype revealed:

 

article

[Jens Piotrowski SOC]

http://www.arridigital.com/alexa

 

it's official!

 

 

 

time to invest in a HD-transmitter and a HD-down-converter.....

[Lukas Franz]

Guys here we go!

 

First test footage of the Alexa:

 

And here is the Behind the Scenes of the clip:

 

It actually looks fantastic.

 

Lukas

Edited April 11, 2010 by Lukas Franz

[Ari Robbins]

Hey Guys,

I flew the Alexa for the World Cup shoot with Stargate Productions. I was told I was the first to fly it as a working camera. So a little about this new dream camera.

As far as for us, its 12lbs, completely centered, didn't even need to adjust my side-to-side to balance it. We flew it with a Optimo 15-40mm, and I still had the perfect amount of weight. Not too light, not too heavy. The perfect camera for those full 12hr days. As far as recording, we used the on-board flash mag, the dual link to SR2, and a cool little back pack to support using an OB-1. The new plates by ARRI are incredible, having the option to mount rods either to the camera itself or quick release out of the camera dovetail. It will have a top cheese plate and easy to remove handle, making going to low mode a piece of cake as far as mounting. We had both of my dovetails on the top and bottom, and switched over incredibly fast. As far as powering, I ran it as 24v but I believe Michael and Stephan said that it is possible to run at 12v only it drains fast. 3pin Fisher outs for 12v and 24v out on the camera. The body design has shoulder room for handheld, which with other cameras normally means a not so sturdy mounting when attaching to a plate or tripod, with the Alexa the mount stability felt like I had a 435 on, not an ENG camera. The eyepiece can have an independent setting regardless of recording settings. Always a little nice to have that play inside the eye-piece, tired of my eyes being burnt out by those damn RED viewfinders. We won't need to buy a new cable for this one either, its the same pin outs as an ARRI 24v film camera, the 2pin Fisher. All in all it was a sweet camera to fly. She was so simple, so light, and so easily accessible with all the options we need. The image quality...un-fucking-believable. We shot at night in a street that by the swarm of light meters read as under exposed, however the clarity, and sensitivity made it seem as if we lit it to the T. It handles incredible information, from the deep back ground of night, I could make out the model, color, and style of cars 500yards back in the background. We shot in direct sun for a whole day, the camera didn't overheat, didn't have any issue, and the fan was still silent. Which is apparently swapable on set should it give you trouble, its a consumer grade fan, and yet its still absolutely silent. No more needing to role "B" camera while its a one camera shot cause the sound mixer can hear the other camera cooling down. ARRI has really hit a home run with this one, hopefully our community will pick this one up. It made the RED MX chip look like cheap video. Its just nice to know a familiar company made a professional tool to replace the prosumer garbage that is tearing our industry up. Starts at 50k Euro for the EV1, this baby is gonna snag the market. If anyone has any specific questions feel free to hit me up, I"m more then happy to pimp this camera out. Also, its so nice to know we can put those RED DITs in their place finally :rolleyes:

[Jens Piotrowski SOC]

Hey Guys,

I flew the Alexa for the World Cup shoot with Stargate Productions. I was told I was the first to fly it as a working camera. So a little about this new dream camera.

As far as for us, its 12lbs, completely centered, didn't even need to adjust my side-to-side to balance it. We flew it with a Optimo 15-40mm, and I still had the perfect amount of weight. Not too light, not too heavy. The perfect camera for those full 12hr days. As far as recording, we used the on-board flash mag, the dual link to SR2, and a cool little back pack to support using an OB-1. The new plates by ARRI are incredible, having the option to mount rods either to the camera itself or quick release out of the camera dovetail. It will have a top cheese plate and easy to remove handle, making going to low mode a piece of cake as far as mounting. We had both of my dovetails on the top and bottom, and switched over incredibly fast. As far as powering, I ran it as 24v but I believe Michael and Stephan said that it is possible to run at 12v only it drains fast. 3pin Fisher outs for 12v and 24v out on the camera. The body design has shoulder room for handheld, which with other cameras normally means a not so sturdy mounting when attaching to a plate or tripod, with the Alexa the mount stability felt like I had a 435 on, not an ENG camera. The eyepiece can have an independent setting regardless of recording settings. Always a little nice to have that play inside the eye-piece, tired of my eyes being burnt out by those damn RED viewfinders. We won't need to buy a new cable for this one either, its the same pin outs as an ARRI 24v film camera, the 2pin Fisher. All in all it was a sweet camera to fly. She was so simple, so light, and so easily accessible with all the options we need. The image quality...un-fucking-believable. We shot at night in a street that by the swarm of light meters read as under exposed, however the clarity, and sensitivity made it seem as if we lit it to the T. It handles incredible information, from the deep back ground of night, I could make out the model, color, and style of cars 500yards back in the background. We shot in direct sun for a whole day, the camera didn't overheat, didn't have any issue, and the fan was still silent. Which is apparently swapable on set should it give you trouble, its a consumer grade fan, and yet its still absolutely silent. No more needing to role "B" camera while its a one camera shot cause the sound mixer can hear the other camera cooling down. ARRI has really hit a home run with this one, hopefully our community will pick this one up. It made the RED MX chip look like cheap video. Its just nice to know a familiar company made a professional tool to replace the prosumer garbage that is tearing our industry up. Starts at 50k Euro for the EV1, this baby is gonna snag the market. If anyone has any specific questions feel free to hit me up, I"m more then happy to pimp this camera out. Also, its so nice to know we can put those RED DITs in their place finally :rolleyes:

 

Hi Ari,

 

congrats.

 

I saw the behind the scenes and was wondering why you choose not to fly the OB-1, rather than carrying 2 bnc cables, which is certainly visible in some shots. Was it your decision or was Arri not prepared to mount it....

Does the HD MONITOR out bnc has the promised overscan funtion?

 

Jens

[Ari Robbins]

Yeah, the first day we were stuck to recording to the SR2, via dual link, which forced me to be fully attached. On the second day, we had the OB-1, but I didn't have the power cable/mounting to rig it onto the sled itself, which would have been very nice. Instead I had a little back pack that had a smaller feed but still a dual link. Had we been in high mode, I would have been able to rig on the OB-1, with just a feed to video village, but unfortunately nothing but low-mode.. The other problem was that, IDX HD cam waves don't run at true 24fps, so I also had to be forced to be cabled for video village anyway, so it was what it was.

Also, for note, IDX is working on getting the Cam Waves to do 24fps, and better choices for SD, spoke with them last week, and they said due to high request they will be working on that.

 

So in the future, we can expect full mounting options for the OB-1, however the flash mags are an option, should there be situations with a desired link to an OB-1, the mounting support for studio and steadicam will be an option.

In regards to Overscan, we did have it both in view finder as well as in the BNC out, I had everything in my monitor, with extra room for camera information. I found this to be incredible comfortable, I wish I had a photo to share. It was the best video out I"ve seen for an HD camera yet, minus the obvious F35 and Genesis. Also, the overscan was higher on top and bottom for the info, which was crystal clear, and didn't feel like it affected my vision while objects were riding the edges. Also, I did feel like I had a bit more on the Horizontal plane then I've seen in others, at least for the video out side of things. (was working with the Ultra2 monitor) All in all the feed was just perfect. everything was right, and for the first time I finally had a tap going in that my Ultra 2 monitor couldn't hold the quality of. Not to boast on the Tiffen monitor, we have all had that discussion, but I"ve always felt like my monitor is better then 90% of the monitors on set, in this case, no monitor was really good enough for the footage coming in. The cinetel was for video village, and you still felt like the image was being tuned so far down for the monitors, I"m sure it looked incredible at the screening.

 

all in all this camera was a nice return to working with quality equipment. I got a little tired of all the Prosumer equipment and accessories needed just so I could get a real, long eye piece on a RED to do a difficult dolly move. Now we can have our cake and eat it too. Producers,directors, and Dps can have what they need/want for their production and we can have a tool that will actually allow us the comfort needed to succeed in the task we put them through. I sacrifice a lamb every night to the film gods in hope that people will use the Alexa as widely as the RED, or hope to say DEAD.

;)

[Jens Piotrowski SOC]

cool, thanks for the infos.....

[nealnorton]

This camera looks really good. I hope it works as well as promised. I hope hundreds of them are delivered SOON.

 

While reading about the camera I came across some information about the new "cinedeck" on-board recorder. This $10,000 product looks like a great match for the Alexa. Removable <$400 solid state hard drives. So instead of a $150,000 data collection solution like Codex we would be able to use a much less expensive. . . so widely available. . . product. Includes a monitor and wave form. Seems really well thought out.

 

This could drive a stake through the heart of that awful beast the Sony HD recorder and the big/heavy/power mad crappy cameras that match up with it.

 

The F35/23 handheld with the deck on board (or steadicam) should soon be just another story for the new guys to not believe. Kinda like the stories about showing up for work and finding a BL4s or a converted Panavision Gold ready and waiting for a big day of steadicam.

 

Maybe video cameras are growing up?

 

Kind Regards,

 

Neal Norton

[Sanjay Sami]

As we speak, Larry McC is shooting a 3D film with Martin Scorsese with Alexa cameras. He has finally gotten rid of his Ultra and upgraded to an Ultra2. There are some awesome photos of him with the Alexa Twins on his rig ... looks crazy. Apparently within the capacity of his G-70 arm.

 

This camera looks really good. I hope it works as well as promised. I hope hundreds of them are delivered SOON.

 

While reading about the camera I came across some information about the new "cinedeck" on-board recorder. This $10,000 product looks like a great match for the Alexa. Removable <$400 solid state hard drives. So instead of a $150,000 data collection solution like Codex we would be able to use a much less expensive. . . so widely available. . . product. Includes a monitor and wave form. Seems really well thought out.

 

This could drive a stake through the heart of that awful beast the Sony HD recorder and the big/heavy/power mad crappy cameras that match up with it.

 

The F35/23 handheld with the deck on board (or steadicam) should soon be just another story for the new guys to not believe. Kinda like the stories about showing up for work and finding a BL4s or a converted Panavision Gold ready and waiting for a big day of steadicam.

 

Maybe video cameras are growing up?

 

Kind Regards,

 

Neal Norton

[Charles Papert]

Maybe video cameras are growing up?

 

As we speak, Larry McC is shooting a 3D film with Martin Scorsese with Alexa cameras. He has finally gotten rid of his Ultra and upgraded to an Ultra2. There are some awesome photos of him with the Alexa Twins on his rig ... looks crazy. Apparently within the capacity of his G-70 arm.

 

sigh--just when things were getting good, this 3D thing makes everything all poopy, all over again.

[Thomas English]

I wonder what 3D rig he is using.... The Alexas are heavier than the REDs stripped down so I am seriously impressed that he has managed to get two of them on a Steadicam with a G70.