F55: F55 with high end primes or Alexa with mid range primes?

D

da24MK

Member
Since I've been testing the F55, I've been very impressed with the cam. We tested it with some Zeiss Master Primes, Ultra Primes and some Cookes (S4/i). The other day a colleague of mine, who is thinking of getting his own cam/lens setup, stepped by and saw some of the results. He is now scratching his head whether to buy a system to shoot his next projects (TV and cinema) with the F55 and some high end primes (Masters, S4s or even Leica Summiluxes, if we can find em) or go with his original plan of going with an Alexa and mid range primes (Schneider Cine Xenar IIIs and Cooke Panchros). Personally, I'd go with the F55, but I was wondering if you guys would go with the Alexa.

I know lens/cam selections are very subjective, but I just wanted to know what my fellow DVXUsers would go for. Cheers.
 
Tough call.

Alexa still wins in the highlights and highlight rolloff (though not by much), the F55 wins in resolution and offers a global shutter. The F55's onboard XAVC recording is really nice, but ProRes4444 on the Alexa is a really simple and already firmly entrenched post-workflow. The F55 will eventually offer substantially higher frame rate capabilities than the Alexa - but not for a while yet.

The F55 is substantially lighter and therefore requires less enormous support gear, but the Alexa seems considerably more robust.

Sony has 16-bit linear raw and Arri has 12-bit logarithmic raw - excluding the clear resolution advantage the F55 has, these should be reasonably comparable.

At ISO 1250 the Sony is 2/3 of stop faster than the Alexa's ISO 800 base sensitivity - so it offers some really exciting possibilities for lowlight shooting.

To my eye, I think I still prefer the general look of the Alexa to the F55. And I definitely prefer 12-bit ProRes4444 to the 10-bit 4:2:2 XAVC codec (though that's in no way a slight on XAVC which is very robust, 12-bit and 4:4:4 are simply on another level). However the feature set (or eventual feature set... depending how you look at it) of the F55 is the more compelling one.

I honestly don't know which way to swing with this one. On the surface, the F55's sensitivity combined with the ability to use faster lenses with it, should allow for a considerably smaller lighting package - but then the additional highlight latitude of the Alexa will allow it to get away with things the F55 can't...

I think I have to call it a draw to be honest.

I think you'd have to write up a chart of the specific camera features that would make these productions easier, and then choose the camera that best covers those features.
 
If I were taking the long look ahead I'd pick the F55. In the short term the Alexa work flow is accepted everywhere. For my point of view I'd pick the F55 as more future proof, plus better glass for the camera after that (again future proofing.)
 
The Alexa has a huge name and reputation.
Sony is still considered by many producers as a video brand.
if you have the money to burn to make an impression buy the Alexa.
if you want to shoot great images and be a real glass owner for years to come go the F55 route.
 
Wise words from all you guys, thank you. I have to agree with everything and I'm feeling much better after recommending the F55.

Personally speaking, I'm a glass man and I'd always go with the better glass given the cams are similar (and in this case I'd say the F55 looks about 90% like an Alexa, apart from the highlight rolloff that Grug mentions). I feel that skintones on the Alexa are a bit better and the image "feels" organic. However, using the ACES workflow on the F55 solves a lot of that.

Of course, the only disadvantage of the Alexa is the lack of 4K and the lack of a global shutter, which isn't much of a deal breaker for me. The only reason I'd shy away from an F55 is the 1.1x crop factor of the smaller 2 perf sensor. I love the MP 27mm, but it becomes approximately a 30mm on the F55. Being nitpicky, I know, but when I was testing lenses, it was a shocker, since I didn't know that the sensor was smaller than a 3 perf.

Whenever clients hear ARRI they're happy (to say the least). But I'm sure the F55 will turn some heads. At least, you could just cover up the F55 with a lot of ARRI gear (LWS kit, MB et al) and make them feel safe and happy ;)
 
I've seen a couple Alexas at $40K mark these days.

Hell, I know of a F65 *package* selling for $40K right now.

F55 is causing a little of this. Weird times.
 
Nate Weaver said:
I've seen a couple Alexas at $40K mark these days.

Hell, I know of a F65 *package* selling for $40K right now.

F55 is causing a little of this. Weird times.
Click to expand...

F65 Package for $40K?? Damn. The cheapest I saw was $74K with a lot of goodies thrown in. That's an awesome deal if you ask me.
 
So far 10-bit XAVC 422 is proving to be quite robust, but let's not forget that next month's major firmware upgrade will enable the SR Codec for 10-bit 4:4:4 at up to 440 Mbps.

There's no telling how much "better" the quality might improve at that point, but its definitely something to keep an eye out for.
 
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