First pics and leaked specs of Arri's new Alexa 35

Izod, you remind me of someone else!

Spidey senses are tingling!

I saw the camera last night. The minimal shoulder pad felt great. I was surprised the pots on the audio module don't have hard stops.

Were you at the Brisbane launch last night? I've been up in the Gold Coast on a shoot for the last four days, so did a mad dash up to Brissie when we wrapped last night, didn't get there till 8:30pm though. Would have been nice to finally put a face to the name!

No hard stop should mean audio comtrollable in menu, remotely ir with an app

You can configure the user buttons to gain audio up or down (which will be handy if you're handheld and recording in the field).
 
. The Venice seemed to be just about catching up to Arri's image, not quite there, and now is left in the dust by Arri's new camera.

I'm looking forward to doing some competitive testing to see how the Arri 35's noise profile stacks up against their previous offerings (where I generally topped out at 1250), but I don't expect it to approach the capabilities of the Venice with the dual ISO function. I've been a big fan of this utility since I started using Varicams six years ago and while Arri's remain my main choice for image quality, I miss the flexibility of high ISO shooting every time.
 
I'm looking forward to doing some competitive testing to see how the Arri 35's noise profile stacks up against their previous offerings (where I generally topped out at 1250), but I don't expect it to approach the capabilities of the Venice with the dual ISO function. I've been a big fan of this utility since I started using Varicams six years ago and while Arri's remain my main choice for image quality, I miss the flexibility of high ISO shooting every time.

Apparently Ari Wegner’s piece was shot at 3200 ISO (whether that’s the whole thing or just the night scene, I don’t know).

I tried to have a look at the noise at higher ISOs at the launch event by looking at the 1:1 focus-checking zoomed image on the EVF, the conditions were pretty terrible (dark pub lighting), but 2560 and 3200 ISO did both look impressively clean and usable.

The guys from Arri suggested the Noise-Reduced/“ES” 3200 ISO image would be on par with regular Alexa at 800 ISO. Now I don’t know if that’s quite true (it’ll need a proper test to find out) but looking at the 1:1 crop on the EVF it certainly wasn’t out of the realm of possibility - it looks clean enough to be usable (unlike 3200 on the old cameras).

1600 looked extremely clean, so perhaps (at worse) 3200 on the new camera might look like 1600 on the old - that would make it usuable for me.

Will be interesting to test it properly.
 
newsshooter shows a graph of dynamic range and highlight/shadows distribution at various ISO settings

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At ISO 1600, you have the same number of stops below middle gray as you do on the ALEV III at 800 (6.7 stops). And at 3200 on the Alexa 35, you have roughly the same number of stops in the shadows as the ALEV III had at 1600 (5.7 stops on the Alexa 35 vs 5.9 on the ALEV III). So, it would seem that you're effectively gaining 1 potential stop of exposure with the new camera?

Here's the ALEV III chart from the same newsshooter article

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newsshooter shows a graph of dynamic range and highlight/shadows distribution at various ISO settings



At ISO 1600, you have the same number of stops below middle gray as you do on the ALEV III at 800 (6.7 stops). And at 3200 on the Alexa 35, you have roughly the same number of stops in the shadows as the ALEV III had at 1600 (5.7 stops on the Alexa 35 vs 5.9 on the ALEV III). So, it would seem that you're effectively gaining 1 potential stop of exposure with the new camera?

Here's the ALEV III chart from the same newsshooter article


The ES mode is supposed to add a stop in the shadows... so 3200 ISO ES theoretically should look like the older Alexas at 800 iso. Also consider that S35 has a one stop advantage at the same field of view/depth of field over Vista Vision cameras
 
ah, Enhanced Sensitivity mode... is there any way to record the interframe noise data and use it to apply noise reduction later? this is strictly a baked-in in-camera tool, correct?
 
ah, Enhanced Sensitivity mode... is there any way to record the interframe noise data and use it to apply noise reduction later? this is strictly a baked-in in-camera tool, correct?

Nope, that’s happening at a sensor-level apparently, so it’s getting baked into the footage (same as the “textures”)
 
I realized my dream for an $8Kish AMIRA just wasn't going to come true anytime so I grabbed a Classic just for fun...really never had a chance in my 15 year career to get deep into an ARRI because I was too busy chasing Blackmagic and Canon and Sony in circles with the occasional RED or Panasonic or something else here and there, but it's safe to say there is absolutely no possible way I'm ever using anything else besides this company.

OMG, this camera is insane. Pennies are being saved immediately for a mini LF.
 
I realized my dream for an $8Kish AMIRA just wasn't going to come true anytime so I grabbed a Classic just for fun...really never had a chance in my 15 year career to get deep into an ARRI because I was too busy chasing Blackmagic and Canon and Sony in circles with the occasional RED or Panasonic or something else here and there, but it's safe to say there is absolutely no possible way I'm ever using anything else besides this company.

OMG, this camera is insane. Pennies are being saved immediately for a mini LF.

Nice! It'd be great to see some samples if you ever have time. What are you doing for lenses?
 
I bought a 25mm Meike just to test it...I won't invest in any other PL lenses so I'd rent if anything.

Right now I'm just messing around and trying to figure out the best way to use this camera for running-and-gunning (yeah, I know). :engel017:

Weight is not much of an issue (for normal operation and nothing creative) as much as battery power is...need a backpack full of 150+ Wh bricks just to get through a relatively short day.
 
I bought a 25mm Meike just to test it...I won't invest in any other PL lenses so I'd rent if anything.

Right now I'm just messing around and trying to figure out the best way to use this camera for running-and-gunning (yeah, I know). :engel017:

Weight is not much of an issue (for normal operation and nothing creative) as much as battery power is...need a backpack full of 150+ Wh bricks just to get through a relatively short day.

Sounds awesome. That's another great thing about the latest generation of micro v/gold mounts, you end up with a much smaller case or bag.

Maybe Abe can step in to AC anytime you need help, you guys would work well together.
 
Well, my new baby is due in two and a half weeks, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of free time to help out
 
I bought a 25mm Meike just to test it...I won't invest in any other PL lenses so I'd rent if anything.

Right now I'm just messing around and trying to figure out the best way to use this camera for running-and-gunning (yeah, I know). :engel017:

Weight is not much of an issue (for normal operation and nothing creative) as much as battery power is...need a backpack full of 150+ Wh bricks just to get through a relatively short day.

One of my few gripes with my Amira is that it eats batteries like a fat kid eats M&M’s.
 
Here's a still from the film Drive shot on an Arri Alexa. Notice the red light goes to white and only starts to get red on the outer edges

Sadly, I don't think that's a very good example of what an Alexa can deliver. I would put a lot of that down to the grade quality. Have a look at the following image. I purposely used this image as others can download the clip it's from as it's been made available by FILMPLUSGEAR specifically for people to grade and to return feedback on. This is off an FX6 It's from a XAVC Intra 4K, 4096×2160, 50 fps, S-Gamut3.cine/S-Log3, 4:2:2 10 bit, 500 Mbps ISO 12800 file. This is a camera that CineD have an IMATEST result which calculates 11.4 stops at a signal to noise ratio of 2 (SNR = 2). So not in the same class as an Alexa generally speaking. Back in 2010 Art Adams and Adam Wilt's testing was indicating just on 14 stops from the Alexa. This clip does actually have slight clipping on the highlights. Anyone can see this if you download the clip and run in through Resolve's or your fave NLE's scopes. Yet it can be pulled pretty well into shape without the red traffic lights blowing out too much, and yet overall still retain a reasonable degree of shadow detail throughout the clip in what is a very basic 709 grade. Therefore, this clip really needs to be viewed on a true 709 display. Not a PC monitor running 0-255 levels. Viewed on a true 709 reference, one can still see detail retention in the shadows and even see the outline of the trees against the night sky. NOTE: You can also see nasty compression artifacts, but that's purely down to the JPG compression on the upload.

Chris Young

https://filmplusgear.com/sony-fx6-test-files-for-download/

FX6 Comp.jpg
 
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