Rumors of a new Super35 ARRI Alexa have been swirling around ever since the 10th Anniversary Tech Talk in 2020. Said to be released in 2021, sadly nothing new came onto the market as the year came and went.
But as ARRI moves forward to standardize technology in the entertainment industry, we have another confirmation that the new camera is coming later this year.
However, with new technology, the need for power continues to grow, and ARRI is taking a major step forward to standardize a 24V battery solution for all its future cameras.
The hope is that this new standard will push the industry further along.
The New B-Mount
This news isn’t really new, as ARRI officially endorsed the B-Mount in April 2021. The battery standard has also been in use on ARRI lights and on some cameras for quite some time.
But according to ARRI, all of its future lights and cameras will rely on the B-mount moving forward.
Take a look at ARRI’s most recent tech talk for the lowdown.
What we’re seeing is an open standard that has been developed by Bebop, in collaboration with ARRI, to create a power solution that is available to any manufacturer.
Evolving on the 12V systems from almost 50 years ago, ARRI and Bebop’s new battery standard is a step forward, with a hand reaching out to the past.
The B-mount connector will come in two flavors for both 12V and 24V devices, as well as the ability for manufacturers to access the battery management system for accurate data and power readings. These can be used for detailed diagnostics for battery health and power management, or even to show how many times a battery has been charged in its lifetime.
How manufacturers will implement this open-source technology remains to be seen, but it’s a bold step forward to a unified technology ecosystem. The specs for the new mount will be freely available to increase mechanical and electronic tolerances.
The B-mount batteries are also stackable, allowing for up to three batteries to be stacked in a row, making them hot-swappable for long shoot days.
B-Mount 24V PlateCredit: ARRI
Not Just for Cameras
The high-power specs provided by B-mount are also a perfect solution for the massive amount of LED lights coming out onto the market.
With lights such as the Aputure LS 600d and now 1200d drawing more power to compete with HMI, 12V batteries just don’t have the juice to power these lights on their own.
This lowers the footprint of your lighting ( or camera set-up), as well as reduces the weight.
B-Mount on ARRI SkypanelCredit: ARRI
The Future
According to ARRI, a whole slew of battery manufacturers have requested the specifications for the B-mount standard. Hopefully, the future will be a lot less cluttered and a lot more powerful.
What will happen to Gold Mount and V-Mount batteries remains to be seen, but it’s always better to evolve and move forward than it is to stick to a dying standard.
As for the new ARRI Alexa? We’ll see more in the next year, but for now, we are happy to know it’s on the horizon.
