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Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in one of the world’s most expensive cinema camera factories? Well, now you can see for yourself in this Behind the Scenes of ARRI, the German manufacturers of some of the world’s best cameras and lenses.
In this video, the guys from Potato Jet get to visit the factory, witness how they test the cameras for quality control, and literally try to break an Alexa, ARRI’s flagship $80,000+ camera.
“ARRI has agreed to a settlement with Rotolight”, a joint statement between the two companies begins. In September 2021, ARRI began legal proceedings towards Rotolight, amongst others, disputing the validity of their lighting effect patents. The challenge came in view of what ARRI called “myriad prior art”. Basically, it’s been around for years, so what’s Rotolight done that’s actually new and patentable? They argued that it was “not new, but rather state of the art”.
They argued that the patents should never have been issued in the first place. That the company’s “advances” were nothing more than building upon known technical solutions that had been “well established in the market for many years”. Well, ARRI and Rotolight seem to have figured things out because they’ve reached a settlement, and the patents still stand.
Almost everybody who’s into video dreams of one day shooting on an ARRI Alexa. But actually owning one is pure fantasy for most of us. Not for Adam Harig, though, who spotted an eBay auction for five ARRI Alexa cameras on eBay one day and put in an offer. There was only one snag, these ARRI Alexa cameras weren’t working and were in various states of… deconstruction, with a part missing here and there.
After chatting with the seller and feeling reasonably confident that he might get a single working camera together between them, the seller accepted his offer of $1,250. It was a big gamble if he couldn’t get one to work. And even if he did, this wasn’t going to be his only expense, as he later found out. Owning an ARRI Alexa is not cheap!
Most of us are guilty of babying our camera gear at some point. We want it to look pristine from day one until the day we die (or sell it). But camera gear – and cameras in particular – are made to be used. They’re designed and built to be able to handle the rigours of whatever daily working life can throw at them, at least once you get past a certain price point.
Arri recently posted a video showing off part of their durability testing process for their shiny new Arri Alexa 35 – which looks like an absolute beast offering an incredible 17 stops of dynamic range. But when you’re paying $65K for the body alone, you’d expect it to be pretty good.
In the grand scheme of things, vlogging is a pretty recent development. Thanks to the proliferation of smartphone cameras and the birth of platforms like YouTube, pretty much anybody can (and does) do it these days. But what would it have looked like if you’d tried to shoot a vlog with the camera tech of 30 years ago?
That’s what YouTuber Dan Mace wanted to explore in this video as he shoots the same vlog sequence twice – once with his iPhone 13 Pro Max and once with an Arriflex 16SR3 Super 16mm film camera – to see how the two compare both in ease of use as well as how the final result looks.
In the last few years, cine-grade gear is becoming more affordable. When I started shooting video, Cine PL lenses were basically a dream to rent. Let alone own. Laowa has been a key player in bridging that gap as they bring their new line of cinema lenses. They really knocked it out the park with their new Laowa 12mm t/2.9 Zero-D Cine. This video shows exactly just how well the $1500 dollar cine lens stacks up against an ARRI Ultra Prime 12mm T2.0 F Lens $35,000 lens.
The photography crowd might laugh at Arri’s use of the term “large format” when we’re talking about a sensor only a hair larger than a “full frame” DSLR or mirrorless camera. When it comes to video, though, that is rather large. At 36.7 x 25.54mm, the sensor offers 4.5K (4448 x 3096) resolution and is the same one found in the much larger Alexa LF released last year.
The newly announced Alexa Mini LF cuts the size down dramatically over the full sized Alexa LF and is compatible with LPL and PL mount lenses, supports full frame and Super 35mm recording as well as all anamorphic de-squeeze ratios. It has three built-in 0.6, 1.2 and 1.8 ND filters, and records to both Apple ProRes and Arri RAW.
Vertical video is the bane of the 21st century. We all (well most) wish it would just go away. But with Instagram Stories, IGTV, Snapchat and a bunch of other apps that thrive on vertical video, it’s going nowhere. And now it seems that Arri is getting in on the action with an adapter plate that allows you to mount your Alexa Mini vertically on the tripod.
A couple of months ago, we’ve seen how iPhone 7 Plus stands against the $50K Red Weapon. It performs pretty well in bright conditions, considering that’s it’s just a smartphone and Red Weapon is a powerful professional camera. But now, Potato Jet makes a new comparison. This time he compares the iPhone 7 Plus to Arri Alexa Mini, and shoots in various lighting conditions, not just in the bright sunlight. So, how bad is the iPhone compared to $82,000 Arri Alexa?
The last thing you want to do when testing out some equipment, especially when surrounded by your peers at the CineGear expo, is to drop a $70,000 Arri Alexa XT, but that’s exactly what one person did while checking out the NBStabilizer rig recently.
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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