» Posts Tagged ‘alexa’
For all of the stellar spec sheets and newfangled doodads coming out of the RED camp at NAB this year, one look at the active production landscape will show you that one camera is absolutely everywhere: the ARRI ALEXA. From feature films like Drive to TV shows like Game of Thrones to seemingly every TV commercial in existence — seriously, almost every commercial is shot on an ALEXA these days — the camera is as ubiquitous on high-end productions as HDSLRs are for low-end shoots (though the latter is changing with the advent of “real” large-sensor video cameras). Why is the ALEXA everywhere? Because of its stellar imagery, ease of use, established workflow, and fast turnaround time. It is not a stretch to say the ARRI ALEXA is the camera that killed film, not anything from RED (or anyone else for that matter). More »
I’m a bit uncomfortable with how camera-focused this site has been over the past couple of weeks, but there’s so much going on it’s hard to keep up! That’s one reason I’m hiring more writers (I’ll be closing down the application in a day or two). Here’s some more camera news, though: ARRI has released Software Update 5 for their ALEXA, which brings 120 FPS recording to the camera along with several other new features (list below). To help ARRI demonstrate what 120fps looks like, I decided to grow my hair out and take up juggling. Check out my favorite vest: More »
I’m not going to go into much detail on Sony’s new F65, which I covered at launch, or the new offerings in the ARRI ALEXA lineup, because cameras that run six figures aren’t exactly the purview of DIY filmmakers (though they’re nice to think about, at least as a rental). Briefly, here’s what I saw at NAB about the latter: the ALEXA has gotten a number of new features, upgrading it to Plus status — 3.5K ARRIRAW codec, 120FPS shooting mode in 2K (which was working fully on the camera I toyed with briefly), and iPad wireless camera control. There are also two new models — the ALEXA M, which separates the camera head from the recording body, and the ALEXA Studio, which has a mechanical shutter, optical viewfinder, and 4:3 sensor with anamorphic de-squeezing. And of course, Sony has their new F3. More »
We’ve taken a look at RED’s High Dynamic Range mode, dubbed HDRx, in the past. But now that over a hundred EPIC-Ms are out in the wild, shooters are putting the camera through its paces in the real world. According to most tests the ARRI ALEXA has around 1/2 to 1 full stop more dynamic range in native mode (14.5 to 13.5), but with HDRx RED is claiming up to 18 stops total. Here’s a shot that wouldn’t be possible without HDRx: More »
Roger Deakins, ASC is up for a cinematography Oscar this year for lensing the Coen Brother’s masterful True Grit, and according to Deakins himself, it might be his last movie shot on film. Deakins — whose other credits include The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, No Country for Old Men, O Brother Where Art Thou?, and The Shawshank Redemption — has been nominated for nine cinematography Oscars but has never actually won one (really?). Coming from the legendary cinematographer, who up until now has never shot digitally, it’s not just another “film is dead” quote. More »
Well, I should say, “what your DSLR is missing — among other things.” But one of the less obvious shortcomings of our DSLRs (other than aliasing, lack of good sound options, etc.) is the lack of dynamic range that DSLRs exhibit in video mode. And what better way to demonstrate this lack than by putting a Canon 7D side-by-side with a high-end ARRI ALEXA, and do a comparison video? More »
The forthcoming RED EPIC and ARRI ALEXA cameras both claim 13+ stops of dynamic range, which is just about equal to that of 35mm film. To me, dynamic range is a more important metric than resolution (others would disagree). Regardless, for those of us who own a 5D Mark II, how does our DSLR fare when measured against these high-end cameras? More »
When it comes to shooting a DIY feature, one of the foremost questions for DSLR owners will be, “rent a camera or shoot with what I own… and know?” I own a 5D Mark II and I’m honestly not sure if I’d rent a RED, even if the latter came in at the same cost. I happen to think that the importance of resolution is overstated; that is, similar to the megapixel war with still cameras, people tend to focus on resolution because it’s a simple metric. One number is larger than the other, so it must be better, right? But there are many characteristics more important in a moving image than just resolution, and while RED is offering greater resolution than the forthcoming ARRI ALEXA, does the latter camera offer advantages that aren’t measured in resolution? Here’s a quick side-by-side video: More »
In the battle of large CMOS-based cameras with capitalized names, ARRI is looking to steal RED‘s lunch money. Earlier this month, RED’s Jim Jannard announced the high-end EPIC and less expensive SCARLET cameras have been delayed due to a major bug, for which “the fix could be tomorrow. Or not.” Meanwhile, ARRI today announced they are shipping their ALEXA camera, which in the words of 24 DP Rodney Charters, “will probably be the [camera] that transitions us away from film and towards truly electronic capture on large features.” More »
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