ALEXA 35: New Arri Camera Announcement -January 28, 2025

[rob norton]

How much does anyone think it'd cost Arri to make an A35 or more like a large volume of them? What would their margins be for each camera?

Many people seem to be riled up by the change to the sales model for the 35 by Arri, but when the 35 was first released, it was really the first Alexa that they’ve sold without license options(the Amira had license options, as well). Also, I think the vast majority of those people complaining A) Don’t own a 35 and B) Probably never intend to buy, anyway.

It seems like the overwhelming majority of people see it more as a sign of the times and think it's a shame, even if some criticise the move for other reasons. You're right though, it's funny even commenting on a $100+k camera package with such emotion with no plans to ever own or rent one.

One of my sales reps said that none of their rental house customers seemed to be bothered by this move by Arri. The only ones with skin in the game that are probably not happy, are ones that just bought a camera within the last ~3-6 months, because some may have opted for a base model vs. “Premium”. They also said that, besides more owner/ops, this will possibly get the camera into a lot more corporate environments and with sports leagues and teams, since many/most don’t want or need things like ARRIRAW or the ability to shoot open gate and anamorphic.

That sounds hugely naive from rental houses. It sounds like a comment from a rental house employee rather than an actual owner. Separate to this point in time if this is a potentially a huge writing on the wall moment, I don't see how rental houses can be happy. Are we sure about the corporate environement? I've priced out an Arri as a Director/DP so many times for single day shoots and it hasn't worked yet. Just say it's a 1st AC owner situation, you're still up against taking them away from charging a premium for commercial work, so you usually get commercial day rate quotes. And yes, there are monster corporate, cinematic, high end projects, but as a percentage, it's almost always about value and sensible spending, which is where canon/sony do a lot of their best work. I'm sure there will be an uptick in corporate shoots now accessing the base A35 but you can't rely on that just yet.

I'm surprised nobody here has mentioned the blackmagic news. Their identical price cut is a pretty aggressive move. At $7k USD for a ridiculously capable (still of course imperfect) camera, there's not too much room to move.

Interestingly, at this very point in time, I'm attached to shoot a low budget feature. Rental quotes for 2 weeks for an alexa mini were about $10k. At this point, why not buy a BM 12k Cine LF? Seems like the choice has been completely made for me.

 

[Doug Bee]

It's complex I think. First, with so many shows going LF, there's less of an overall market for a S35 camera. Other LF options also tend to do a bit better in low light though I don't think it's as much as the box says but I digress. So even less of a market with some choosing different sensor size options where the OG Alexa, this was the biggest. Now there are options.

Arri have always released different versions of cameras. 435, then had the 435 extreme. SR3 then had the SR3 HS. They have also previously sold licenses / upgrades in software only. You had to pay to get some features on Amira and Alexas in the past. What's different now is that you can "rent" them or buy them. Not so big a deal I don't think.

I heard they considered making the 265 a purchasable camera but the price was about the same as the model number. And I think no one wants to pay that much for a cut down Alexa 65 with a 15 year old sensor.

I think Arri lighting went from doing great with the Skypanel to a giant bomb with the Orbiter. Now others like cream source are making better sky panels. The new Sky Panel X is great, but the difference now is very close to other players.

Cameras aren't great. And lighting isn't great.