F5: Would you swap your F5 for an ARRI AMIRA?

Sparky874

Sparky874

Well-known member
This might sound like a mad question, but how many F5 users out there would do a straight swap if offered for their F5 for an ARRI AMIRA?

One of the big plus points for me for the F5 is that fact that a couple of V-LOk batteries can keep you going all day long - and this is certainly important when you're traveling (which I do a lot) and are out on the road for a long time. It's lighter too with a big selection of codecs and shooting options, 4K for example.

But then for the AMIRA, there is that sensor...x.. Plus an amazing build quality and a camera that will hold its value - unlike anything Sony produces as it brings a new camera to the market every month.

Be interested to know your thoughts. Thanks.
 
OK I own the F55 but if I had an F5 would I swap for an Amira?

If I only shot features and commercials probably. But otherwise no.
 
That's very interesting and thanks for taking the time to reply. Would that be because of the AMIRA's size?
 
For me the highlight handling on ARRI cams are unmatched and render better than any other camera in the world. period.

Color differences on the other hand seems to be getting less and less different, also a "good" colorist can do a lot.

It seems lately that Sony has been responding, and who knows what's next from them.
 
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For an F5? I would certainly swap but in real life, nobody would do anything like that. The Arri look is so great and they just get it right; and you would just get a lot more jobs with an Amira. But yeah, it's a really heavy compared to most other one man band cameras and it's not ideal for a gimbal which I seem to use almost every shoot lately.

The big surprise for me is the universal praise of the Alexa Mini. I saw it at the CineGear Expo and of course the image is great, but the body design is very poor. There's no mounting points so you have to buy several pieces to just attach a base plate and top handle. There's no pre-amp which I find insane, so to use a mic you have to rig a 3rd party pre-amp to the camera. The strangest thing is their choice to put the fan directly on the back so a battery has to be on rods a few inches behind the port. By the time you rig it up, it's a pretty heavy camera as well.

If Red, Sony or Canon make a body design that terrible, people would destroy them; but since it's an Alexa Mini they get a free pass.

But damn.... that image is so nice people are willing to deal with all the other stuff.
 
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gene_can_sing said:
For an F5? I would certainly swap but in real life, nobody would do anything like that.
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I was thinking the same. The question is who in his right mind would trade a Amira for a F5. Not only because the picture is better in the Amira but it’s also much more expensive and in a couple of years the F5 will be the price of a Ursa Mini or less and the Amira will still command a better price. I actually doubt you would find anybody who wanted to trade an Amira even for a F55.
 
In a heartbeat. I've grown used to 16-bit 4k raw very quickly now that I've added the AXS-R5 to my F5, but 12-bit ProRes4444 goes a long way, and the superior operational ergonomics of the Arri, not to mention the greater popularity with producers, wins out for me in every single argument.

For me, I purchased the F5 as a poor man's alternative to the Alexa - it came closest in terms of highlight handling and feature-set. Given the chance to move to what I'd wanted in the first place, there wouldn't be any hesitation in doing so.
 
If I worked in mainly feature films and commercials there is no doubt that the Amira would be the way to go. But I mainly work in broadcast and cable television. My biggest issues with the Amira are weight and power consumption. While it does better than an Alexa in power consumption its in a different league than the F5/55.

Also in the broadcast/cable world it is a struggle at best to get a client to pay the proper rental rate for an Amira package. So for those reasons I will be keeping my F55!
 
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