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Arri Alexa Mini


Mariano Costa

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i was surprised too. didnt know anything about it until all the aerial companies started blowing up about it.

could be very rad to use during concerts shooting and other long vest times.

and the more i read about it the more i like it. five pounds! opens up a lot of possibilities, inside and outside steadicam.

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The only thing that seems problematic for us is that it looks like the fan is on the back so how would one mount anton bauer or similar? Looks like it would be cabled to another battery plate mounted separate from the camera. Thats just conjecture though, hoping arri has a solution so its not just a drone/gimbal/hothead camera.

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The only thing that seems problematic for us is that it looks like the fan is on the back so how would one mount anton bauer or similar? Looks like it would be cabled to another battery plate mounted separate from the camera. Thats just conjecture though, hoping arri has a solution so its not just a drone/gimbal/hothead camera.

 

have a cable made to run power from your rig

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like many epics have cages, so i would think cages may be made for the mini. we still need to put wireless, etc up there and need mounting options, so there will likely be ways of moding the build so that a battery can be included. theres always a way to build something that works for your rig.

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This is what I think, and I may be totally wrong perhaps the ops out there with far more experience than me will disagree...

 

I think that on features particularly the ones that only use Steadicam as a daily call would instead have a mini as the backup body in the truck and then as more and more people have gimbals will lead to say the DIT assistant having his gimbal that he just bought as he got out of film school on set or in the truck and then happily use that.

 

Or say the dop/1st/2ac will also have their own gimbals sitting in the truck and so on.

 

I know of jobs that I didn't get due the production/DP/director wanting to use their own gimbals that they purchased, in fact I know of about 4 people with their own ranging from sparks to dop having now.

 

The only shots I've ever seen done by gimbals are low wide shots and the bts shows them all hunched over, just watch the bts of the Alexa mini video on their website.

 

Yes I believe Steadicam is far superior especially if u have honed your craft but I think the gimbals have effectively done what gunpowder did to the mounted knight.

 

There were many people that said film will never die, it's far superior, yes it is but that didn't stop digital cameras effectively bankrupting Kodak especially Alexa.

 

Also gone will be the ease of use that comes with using a standard Alexa and bring on the mayhem of every body coming with different accessories just like every Epic I've encountered.

 

Maybe I'm wrong and I dearly hope I am but I think we are going to be severely affected by this camera, live guys maybe not but defiantly features and commercials.

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I think you make good points Richard, though the hope would be that your relationship with the DP (and director) as a proficient operator would trump the introduction of another's gimbal. Even if the gimbal shows up, hopefully you're the one operating. well be able to keep the camera rolling and the shot going longer on our rigs than on a gimbal. anyways, i dont want to dig too much further in this, though, because weve already got many threads dedicated to the topic.

 

It sorta seems like a semi-specialty camera, but it still may live in the same realm as an epic which could make it a regularly used camera. its really hard to tell at this point, and i am pretty unplugged from the knowledge of the industry, so im really just spit-balling. its worth our time as camera operators to know the camera and our time as steadicam operators to make the mini's use on our rigs unique and worth the cost. maybe itll be a more efficient camera for low mode shots because it can be very easily top mounted, maybe itll be great for locations with difficult power logistics and the rig will run it all day, maybe itll be great for AR or tango, maybe maybe maybe.

 

ultimately, weve got to embrace it. and frankly its a pretty rad little box.

 

brett.

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As always, the brushless gimbals does not eliminate the steps of the operator. This is clearly visible in the BTS at the Arri site.

 

Many of the shots I'm called in to do, are walk and talk, as I suspect many of us are. Keeping eye height is also a challenge with brushless gimbals.

 

The epic weighs less than the Mini, but will easily end up at 10kg in real world features and commercials. Of course Arri will try and sell the camera as a versatile camera that can be used on stick or gimbals or whatever. That's just good business policy.

 

I think the brushless gimbals are here to stay, but I think we are too. The brusless gimbals will prove to be great for certain type of shots and so forth.

 

Instead of fearing the unit, I'd advice you to learn to use it.

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