With the ready availability of large format and high quality digital cameras to rent, this is having a dramatic effect on filmmaking. Why? Because the ARRI Alexa is now both an industry standard and an example of pioneering but highly practical camera design.
It’s accessible without sacrificing image quality, putting expert cinematographic tools within easy reach for far more filmmakers.
History of ARRI Cameras
The origins of ARRI lie in a small shop in Munich, opened by August Arnold and Robert Richter in 1917. Among the various things the shop sold were film cameras and other related apparatus.
ARRI’s first products were printing machines and lights for filmmaking. The first camera Arnold and Richter built was the KINARRI 35.
When Richter visited the USA in 1925, he saw how Hollywood studios were using bigger and heavier cameras. This observation influenced future ARRI camera designs.
The breakthrough came in 1936, with the prototype for a new kind of lightweight camera, the ARRIFLEX 35.
During World War II, German combat cameramen used ARRIFLEX cameras, and the first ones to make their way to America were captured by the allies during the war.
After the war, with ARRI resuming manufacturing, the company released its next generation ARRIFLEX 35 II camera. With more Hollywood films being shot on location from the late 1960s onwards, ARRIFLEX cameras became more widely used.
This included such cultural landmarks of cinema as Easy Rider (1969).
The ARRIFLEX 35 III was the new model released by ARRI in 1979. In the meantime, it had also come up with the 35BL, its first silent 35mm production camera.
Various notable Hollywood films used this model, including Taxi Driver (1976), Apocalypse Now (1979) and The Shining (1980).
From the end of the 1980s onwards, larger formats and faster speeds began to dominate filmmaking. The ARRIFLEX 765 arrived in 1989, innovating the use of a separate, electronically-synchronised camera movement motor to minimise noise.
In 1994, the ARRIFLEX 535 represented a further technical advance, with its adjustable viewfinder system. The company went on to refine this initial version to make it less bulky.
Meanwhile the ARRIFLEX 435 replaced the 35 III.
The company adapted agilely to the digital age, bringing out ARRICAM cameras in the early 2000s, and the first ARRI Alexa models in 2010.
The Move to Digital: ARRI Alexa
The move to digital worked well for ARRI. The Alexa looked and felt familiar enough as an ARRI camera, and the company’s researchers had looked extensively at things like image processing and what pictures should look like.
The images that the Alexa captured didn’t look like video, they appeared cinematic. The camera’s dynamic range and exposure range was similar to film, as was its ability to expose highlights and shadows.
It had the image processing capability to achieve cinematic imagery.
The original Alexa 35 went on to become one of the most successful digital cine cameras of all time. By 2017, it was being used in 80% of major motion picture productions.
In the 20th century, filmmakers wanted a silent, portable, compact camera that would be high quality, and would work just as well out of the studio as in it.
The digital era has brought in the technology to make this happen.
But importantly, ARRI already had the name and the reputation to back up its new camera technology.
Crews were already familiar with the name and with its kit, including the lenses and peripherals they could continue to use with the new, digital ARRI cameras.
But the real proof was in the results: pictures that looked more like film.
Another major benefit of the ARRI Alexa, which has supported its widespread adoption, is how simple it is to learn to use and operate.
Excellent Image Quality
A key feature of the ARRI Alexa for filmmakers is image quality. Colour reproduction and grain texture are stand-out features, due to the way the camera has been engineered to produce more textured, softer images.
With the ARRI Alexa, you don’t get images that feel too sharp or overly digital.
The way the company’s engineers have concentrated on colour science has continued to pay off. The Alexa presents good skin-tones, for example.
The Alexa’s imaging system is highly sensitive, and it will maintain its dynamic range at all sensitivity settings.
In its default mode, the Alexa doesn’t record the entire image in its sensor, but presents non-recorded space around the image. This provides plenty of warning for when an object will enter frame.
It’s an example of how the Alexa effortlessly combines technical excellence with ease of use.
The Same Sensor
All Alexa cameras have the same sensor. This shows an enormous amount of confidence in their original concept. By designing it well in the first place, they don’t need to keep upgrading it.
For the end-user, it means they can rent any ARRI Alexa and be sure of the results. The imagery will be of the same high standard that people have come to expect from ARRI.
Different designs will vary in terms of size and functions, but they are all fundamentally built around the same sensor.
ARRIRAW Format
ARRIRAW is ARRI’s format for sensor data. This format retains the camera’s natural colour response and exposure as uncompressed and unprocessed sensor data.
It is the digital equivalent of a film negative, which the camera then processes, converting the single channel image into a colour image for normal viewing.
It retains the pristineness of the raw recorded data, which allows you to go back and refine your results.
This represents a significant advantage for digital cinematography and producing high quality visual effects.
ARRI Alexa Mini
The ARRI Alexa mini has proved to be extremely popular with documentary and independent filmmakers.
Essentially, it’s a lightweight variant of the Alexa model, with a carbon fibre body weighing in at 2.3 kg. You can operate it in several ways:
Using wireless remote control
As an A-camera with a multi viewfinder attachment
With an on-board monitor, using the controls on the camera body.
It enables filmmakers to shoot anywhere, and with superb image quality. It’s perfect for gimbal and drone work too. It has interchangeable lens mounts, and is capable of working with anamorphic lenses.
And the Alexa Mini is more than capable of shooting big projects. These cameras have been used on recent studio films such as Us and Aladdin (both in 2019).
The Alexa range of cameras continues to set the industry standard for modern, digital filmmaking.
