ARRI’s ALEXA camera offers several recording options, including recording directly to SxS cards in Apple ProRes format. This is called the Direct-To-Edit (DTE) option, and it makes for a very simple workflow. ProRes has proven to be a high quality and robust video format that is widely used in the industry today. The ALEXA has an uncompressed video output, but I believe many productions will choose to record in ProRes directly in the camera. Here is a 3 step guide for how to import ALEXA footage into Final Cut Pro.

1. Insert your SxS card into your MacBook Pro’s ExpressCard34 slot. If you have a computer without an ExpressCard reader, then use the Sony SBAC-US10 SxS Memory Card Reader. The card will show up in your finder as ARRI UDF. UDF stands for Universal Disk Format, which is an open file system.

2. Copy your footage onto a hard disk (preferably a redundant array). The files are named with Camera Name, Reel, Scene and Take numbers. Make sure to copy all clips AND the index.xml file. I recommend making a separate folder for each card copied.

3. Import the index.xml file into Final Cut Pro. Use the File -> Import -> XML function to do this.

Final Cut will pop up a dialog asking for some information. Set your destination to whatever your project name is (my project is called “Alexa”) and click OK.

Now all of your clips should appear in the bin. Notice they are under a folder named after the Camera Name and Reel info.

Repeat Step 3 for each card and you should have all of your footage imported in no time. Now you can start editing!

The below article is no way represent the view of the website owner and the sole intention of the

article to be reproduced here to reach out to wider audience. All the credits for the article

should go to Philip Bloom. To know more about him you can visit is website www.philipbloom.net

Shooting on the 5DmkII for LUCASFILM

I get asked this the most. Apart from which lenses should I buy. There is a lot of confusion amongst potential buyers as to which camera to buy. Not just from the Canon line, that is the Rebel T2i/ 55D, 7D, 5DmkII and 1DmkIV but also the GH1 and the Nikon D300S , D3s, D90 and D5000.

It’s almost impossible for me to recommend which model camera to buy because they all have their plusses and minuses and many of those are subjective, down to personal opinion. What may be important to me may not be important to you. Even when context is provided such as they are mostly shooting music videos, events, documentaries, movies etc then I still cannot answer.

We already put these cameras through the big test for Zacuto…but what about actual every day use…?

What I am going to do in this blog post is list what I believe are the pros and cons of each camera.Take that info and then decide for yourself what is the most important for you. For example some people love the look of the 5DmkII over the others whilst others find the shallow depth of field too much…

I am in the fortunate position of owning most of the cameras in this post (apart from two of the Nikons) so I feel quite qualified to give my opinion on this topic!

Here is a sensor chart showing you the different sizes available in the market. I will be referring to this a few times in the blog.

Nikon D3s

First off let us go over the non Canon options as that’s easier.  I have to say unless you have an huge array of G series Nikon lenses (if you have manual aperture Nikon lenses then your lenses will work will the Canons using a simple adaptor like the Fotodiox Pro) then forget the D90, D5000 and D300s as they don’t offer full manual control in video mode making them a huge pain in the backside to shoot with. The only Nikon that offers full manual control is the D3s. To get the full manual mode you need to be in tripod live view mode rather than hand held live view mode.

What do I think of the D3s? It is an incredible stills camera and a so-so video camera. It has a full frame sensor, one of only two cameras in this blog to have that. The thing that made me buy it was the absolutely incredible low light performance as highlighted in the Zacuto Shootout. It was this alone that made me buy it. In my low light test I shot at 25,000 ISO and got incredibly clean pictures due to a brilliant NR chip in there for video. This makes it outperform all the Canon DSLRs by a huge margin in low light. It’s just a shame that it is not as impressive in general use. All the Nikons are 720p 24p only too. That is not a huge dealbreaker but it’s a limitation. As is the old fashioned MJPEG recording format and 5 minute clip length. The HDMI live out seems to be slower than 24p when you hit record.

I bought this camera as a low light tool to supplement my Canon DSLRs, not to shoot whole projects on. For some of my documentary work low light will be extreme and this camera will shine. I will be able to shoot in very low light without having to shoot wide open with crazy shallow DOF. To think I could shoot in candlelight at F4 and it will look gorgeous…That’s epic for me. Shooting wide open is great but sometimes you don’t want that crazy shallow DOF, you want to control it. This camera will give you that option. You can stop right down and with the incredible high ISO you can shoot in not much light and still get exposure!

Sound wise it has a crappy built in mic like most of the cameras here but you can put an external mic in, but like most you have no control of the audio or any way to monitor it.

So that’s the Nikon D3s. A great stills camera with a killer low light video ability. Shame the rest is not great.

PROS: Full frame, INCREDIBLE low light in video

CONS: Expensive, 720p only, 24p only, 5 minute clips, MJPEG recording format, poor monitor out, no audio control.

Pansonic GH1

The Panasonic GH1 I have had since April last year and I still love it. It’s not a DSLR as it has no mirror but is often bunched up in the term Video DSLRs as it is a still camera with a video function too. We really should not get hung up on names for these cameras.

What do I think of the GH1? Well I love the small size. Love the EVF, moveable LCD, ability to take so many different types of lenses due to the lack of mirror and of course the price. Downside is the 1080p bit rate if a bit stingy meaning it breaks ups quite easily when trying to grade it. The 720p mode seems to hold up better but it’s such a shame that the 1080p is lacking. The 720p mode is 50p or 60p depending on where you buy the camera.

The camera comes in different flavours depending on where you buy it. In the EU it is 25p in 1080p mode (embedded in a 1080i stream) and 50p in 720p mode, so great for slow motion. Record time is limited to 29.59 minutes for EU tax reasons. If it could record 30 minutes or more it would be classified as a video camera and therefore have higher tax. Other PAL countries get this camera also in 25p but with the record time limitation. The US gets it in 24p (again embedded in a 60i stream) and 60p in 720p mode with no record time limitations. All the Canon cameras shoot in either 24p, 25p or 30p. They are non regional specific. A big downer on these cameras.

It has the best built in mic on all of the cameras and it’s stereo, although again we have no headphone jack. NONE of the cameras in this test have a headphone jack! If you plug in a monitor it switches off when you hit record. A big downer really! That needs to be fixed in the GH2.

Negatives aside. It’s a great little camera. The stock lens has the most impressive auto focus I have ever seen on a video camera as it tracks people’s faces and with a large sensor like in this camera (four thirds) it makes a huge difference. This makes it ideal for steadicam work as you can let the focus do it’s thing. Normally I say DO NOT USE AUTO FOCUS on any video camera. Manual will always be the way to operate a camera for me until it can read my mind and know what I want to be in focus! The image out of the camera is also pretty damn good. Of course what I want is a GH2 with better bit rate and proper monitor out, a headphone jack and controllable audio levels. A lot of this camera is already very good, it just needs a bump up in specs…

Low light is not brilliant. I find 1600 ISO way too noisy.

PROS: Cheap, light, small, 50p/60p mode in 720p, full HD, nice stereo mic, EVF, articulated LCD, great lens mount, some Panasonic lenses have amazing auto focus ability.

CONS: Weak AVCHD code, no HDMI out when recording, poor audio options again, recording limitations in EU,  geographically locked recording formats.

Canon Rebel T2i/ 550d

The new kid on the block and a damn impressive one too. I have left the 500D/ T1i out of this. Even though I own it due to the odd 20FPS 1080p mode and lack of manual control. This baby ups the game and is the first consumer DSLR that Canon have made with full HD and full manual control. It’s killer. With an image of almost comparable quality to the pro 7D it has taken the market by storm and rightly so.

With an APS-C chip in it which is a 1.6x crop of a full frame it has a bigger sensor than the GH1 but smaller than the D3s. It takes all the EF lenses designed for full frame cameras as well as the special EF-S lenses which are designed for this sized chip. These lenses are generally cheaper than their full frame versions so you can save money that way. Only downside is EF-S lenses cannot be used on full frame camera if you come to upgrade cameras at some point. The major investment with any of these camera is the glass, not the body. So always keep that in mind when buying lenses.

It has the same crappy audio options, as in no control and no headphone jack. But does have the full range of recording options. 24p, 25p and 30p in full HD and 50p and 60p in 720p mode. Meaning you get shoot great slow motion with this baby.

I am a big fan of this camera as it has brought the power of DSLR filmmaking to the mass market. Some people see this as a bad thing, in that by making the cameras so affordable there will a flood of people on the market selling themselves as cameramen. It’s only a tool, like any camera. What we will have is people discovering or even re-discovering a love of video due to this large sensor.

Things I don’t like about this camera? Well it’s a consumer camera and is therefore missing a lot of what I love in the PRO bodies. It uses SDHC cards, they are cheap are small but I hate their flimsiness. I much prefer CF cards, but that’s just me! I miss the top LCD. We have no display on this camera other than the main LCD. Not a deal breaker but a shame not to have it. Also missing is the second dial on the back of the body which means aperture and shutter speed are controlled by the same dial, via pressing a button in at the same time. I don’t like this at all. The build quality is pretty good, but when compared to the pro line, in particular the 7D it comes across as bit cheap, but then again it is! It uses different batteries to the 7D and 5Dmkii, but they are cheaper…HDMI out sucks too….it’s 1080i letterboxed image live out which drops to 480p when you hit record. You do get full 16×9 playback though.

Like all the Canon cameras the most you can record at a time is about 12 minutes. If you point at something that does not move much you can get it up to 14 minutes or so. The LCD is surprisingly the best of the bunch of all the Canon DSLRs. Highest resolution.

There is much debate over how good the video is of this camera compared to the 7D. Very damn close. I haven’t seen any specific side by sides, only that in my limited use of the T2i it just seems to be not quite as good as the 7D and am not sure why…it’s close. But just not quite as good…I would love someone to show me what it is that is different!

PROS: Cracking image in video mode, very cheap, smaller than the pro line, full list of video modes to record in, nice big APS-C sensor, great LCD screen

CONS: Not weatherproofed like the pro line, missing top LCD screen, missing second dial, poor HDMI out, no audio control, no headphone jack, no intermediate ISOs, no ability to dial in your white balance like the pro line, 12 minute record limit.

Canon 7D

The first Canon camera to embrace the video feature as it has a switch to set it in video mode or stills mode!

It’s got the same sized chip in it as the 550D/ T2i albeit in a MUCH more robust package. The 7D is a beast. It’s completely weathersealed. I have left this camera outside for 4 days in snow and rain doing timelapses and it has come through without a glitch. This is for me what sets it apart from it’s cheaper brother. The build quality is simply superb.

Video feature wise it’s the same…24p, 25p, 30p in 1080p mode and 50p 60p in 720p mode. It can also rattle of about 8 or 9 pictures a second in stills mode. Very impressive. It has the same audio limitations that we run into again and again. No manual audio controls and no headphone jack.

The image out of it is superb. It’s sensor is almost the same sized as the sensor in 35mm movie cameras meaning with a mod or two it can take proper cinema lenses. A massive plus in the indie movie world and of course in the big movie world! I have used it with Cinema lenses three times now and it’s simply incredible!

The live HDMI out is the best of the cameras so far. Still letterboxed 1080i but it stays like this even when you hit record. This is a big deal and something you must consider when looking at the different cameras to buy. Getting critical focus when the image drops to SD when you hit record is very very hard!

Some people say it overheats a lot, something people say happens with their 550D too. But I have not experienced this much. Although I do live in a bloody cold country! I did experience it when I was doing very long interviews for 2 hours or so of non stop recording, but even then it was just a warning light. It never switched off.

Low light ability seems to be about the same as the T2i but not a patch on the D3s

PROS: Superb weatherproofing, stunning image, good in low light, switch for video mode, HD monitoring even when recording, Nice LCD screen, great price.

CONS: Not as good as the other pro Canon line in low light, not full frame, crappy audio options AGAIN, 12 minute record limit

Canon 5DmkII

This was the one that started it all and is still for me the camera with the nicest image. That comes down to it’s full frame goodness and full HD. The 5DmkII is absolutely unique in the video world as it is the only video camera in the world, currently, that shoots video in full HD with a sensor as big as this. Now this does cause us some issues. Some people find that the full frame sensor makes it harder to get focus, as the larger the sensor the more shallow the depth of field. For me, I always say if it’s too shallow then stop down! It has great low light, better than the 7d but nowhere near as good as the D3s, so you can easily stop down and up the ISO to compensate…It’s aesthetically unique and that is what attracts so many filmmakers to it, including me, there is nothing else out there like this. The 7D has better options…the 5Dmkii has no 720p mode, has the same crappy hit record and drop to SD mode HDMI out, no dedicated video button. It does have manual audio levels which have been pointlessly hidden away in a menu that you can only set before you hit record and give you no audio levels on the LCD at all so there is still no way of knowing if you have are recording sound or not.

It’s highly unlikely we will ever see this camera get 50p and 60p. I simply think it cannot take it…It would overheat too much…talking of overheating, this camera has no warning light telling you it is overheating. What can happen, and I stress CAN, is the image can degrade the more heated up it gets. Then it will just switch off.

PROS: My favourite image out of them all, full frame beauty, manual audio levels, very good in low light, great build quality, you can get this camera for not that much more than the 7D if you shop around, did I say incredible full frame image godliness?

CONS: HDMI live out sucks, manual audio buried away in menus, no 720p mode, no overheating warning, DOF too shallow for some (although as I say just stop down!), 12 minute record limit, not as good weatherproofing as other pro Canon cameras, probably the most susceptible to rolling shutter issues of the pro Canons.

Canon 1DmkIV

The big daddy of the Canon line. This is first and foremost a stills sports shooters camera. The video is hidden away and is obviously secondary BUT must not be overlooked as it betters the other Canon cameras in it’s low light ability. It has a strange sized APS-H chip which is a 1.3x crop. This is a bit annoying for wide angles as there are no lenses made for this chip size so you will lose some length on the wide end.

The low light as I said is very powerful, again, not a patch on the DS3 but very impressive anyway. 3200 ISO is pretty clean, 6400 ISO is usable with a bit of post cleaning up.

It has the same video options as the 7D so we do have 720p 50p and 60p and we also have the same HD monitoring out even when recording. Audio of course still sucks with no manual audio level and of course no headphone jack.

The camera is built like a tank. It make the build quality of the 7D look like the T2i and that is saying something. This is one camera that can probably take some serious knocks and keep on going. It takes both CF cards and those flimsy SDHC cards. It also takes it’s own special batteries which make it last a lot longer in video mode. The batteries in the 7D and 5DmkII get eaten up very fast!

PROS: Incredible build quality, beautiful image, superb low light, great long life batteries, probably the best of the bunch for least rolling shutter issues.

CONS: Awkward 1.3x crop, heavy, expensive, crappy audio, 12 minute time limit.

In conclusion…

Is that helpful? I hope so. As I said, there is no one clear favourite…I prefer the full frame image out of the 5DmkII for sure, but the HDMI out is killing me, on a professional set it is just a big problem. Also it doesn’t have the 720p mode that all the other Canon cameras have. Although the 720p mode is not great due to the hideous aliasing and moire that it can bring up if not careful.

The 7D is probably the best all rounder. Has all the video rates your want, HDMI HD monitoring and is a great price. Many prefer the aesthetics of the 7D over the 5DmkII, me I don’t but it simply comes down to personal preference. It has best build quality for the money, great image…but I just prefer the 5DmkII image…it probably ticks more boxes than the rest. Please don’t put weatherproofing as not that important. Being from the video world where nothing is weatherproofed, it’s so exciting to use these cameras in appalling conditions and not worry about them!

Of course one thing that also holds people back is the worry that a replacement will come out for one of these making their camera obsolete. Well, that is a danger with everything in life! That is why your main investment is in the glass, not the body. Your lenses will last 20 years! Your bodies you will change every 2/3 years. That’s the market!

Sony will soon jump on the bandwagon with the Alpha range. Be very interested to see what they are bringing to the table. I have heard a couple of interesting rumours. I wonder if they are true? The Sony NEX 5 and 3 are coming out soon and are very cute but lack manual controls in video mode and are only 30p…

Whichever camera you chose, don’t forget…it’s only a tool! The most important thing is what you do with it!

Note: Based on the above article and user of Canon 7D & 5D mark II and after seeing the footages of all the mentioned cameras, the real winner is Canon 5D mark II with full frame 35mm type sensor and future proof EF lens  mount.

The Great Camera Shootout 2010:

Believe it or not, with the launch of Canon 5D mark II way back year and half back, there is only one camera which can record 2K images and you can carry the camera in your hand anywhere you want and to shoot anyplace you want. But all changed with the successive launch of Canon 5D mark II(Initially 30p and later 23.98p), Canon 7D (23.98p @ 1080p & 60p @ 720p) and Canon 1D mark IV (ISO 6400 with less grain).

With support from Vincent Laforte, Philip Bloom and Stu Maschwitz on web with their successive videos in a professional level which were then shown on their respective blogs and recent development of Canon & Vimeo partnered for contest with starting mobizode shot by Vincent, Canon sell cameras like hot cake. Then comes the accessory manufacturers like Red Rock Micro, Zacuto, Marshall electronics who started creating cinema style accessories for Canon HDDSLR cameras got bigger. The biggest of all comes NAB 2010 where there is talk or demo on every booth either about 5D or 3D(S3D).

Then comes The Great Camera Shootout 2010 done in partnership with Zacuto and industry leading DPs.

The above test where done in comparison with Kodak and Fuji Stocks, Canon 5D mark II, 7D, 1D mark IV, Panasonic GH1 and Nikon D3S.

You can watch all the 3 webisodes from the following link – http://www.zacuto.com/shootout

Winners

Adobe – everywhere you went people were talking about CS5. It was partly because this is a big 64-bit update but partly because Adobe has packed the release with some jaw-dropping features that make a demo. Premiere’s Mercury Playback Engine, After Effect’s RotoBrush and Photoshop’s Content Aware Fill together made Adobe the topic of NAB among post-professionals.

Avid – like Adobe, Avid got a lot of good buzz with the introduction of good product. Even Final Cut Pro only editors were talking about Media Composer 5, it’s native support of all QuickTime formats and the new “drag and drop” timeline. Add 3rd party hardware support and the web-based editing demo and Avid had one of their best NABs in a long time.

3D – It was everywhere with baskets full of 3D glasses at what seemed like most every demo booth. There were hardware and software tools abound to support stereoscopic production and post. And it was a common question at many a vendor’s booth: “Do you do 3D?”

ProRes – The announcement that the new Arri Alexa camera could deliver a native ProRes file started the ProRes win but the Avid QuickTime AMA support in Media Composer 5 continued it. Pretty much every Avid demo you saw mentioned QuickTime AMA support of Apple ProRes as a signature feature. And the AJA KiPro (while introduced at last year’s NAB) still generated it’s share of discussion partly because of that ProRes support.

Canon’s DSLRs – They weren’t just at every booth, atop every tripod, steadicam or crane, or surrounded by vendor after vendor’s support gear but also in the hands of seemingly everyone shooting and covering NAB. This was the year that P2 cards and XDCAM disks were out and CF cards were in.

Mac OS – Smoke on Mac, DaVinci Resolve on Mac, demos on Mac … Apple may be busy with iPads but the post-production community is still busy with Macs. While the Mac OS’s Linux underpinnings probably made it easier to port Smoke and Resolve to Mac it was the ever present Macs on the South Hall show floor that let you know Macs are clearly the platform of choice for post. I hope Apple still notices.

DaVinci – The industry standard in realtime color grading hardware was once expensive to buy and expensive to support. The company had fallen on some tough times and were bought by Blackmagic Design. The marriage had been a bit silent until the bombshell was dropped that the flagship (and six figure) Resolve product would now start at $995. That was big news.

Losers

Apple – Sure there was still Final Cut Pro and Macintosh computers all over the show floor (and ProRes as a winner) but FCP really looked long in the tooth and badly in need of a modern update after watching those Avid and Adobe demos. Add to this the (silly) rumor of an offsite Apple announcement on the Wednesday of the show and their silence was deafening … and easily ignored. Silly rumor is almost an understatement. The whole thing smelled more of desperation from Mac rumor sites to have something happen from Apple at this NAB. Just look over this posting and you can see the direction they took it. To add insult to injury the FCP product manager began his SuperMeet presentation with the words “I have a secret to tell.” He then went on to tell no secret at all. It was a groan-producing moment after great presentations by Adobe and Avid at the Final Cut Pro User Group SuperMeet.

Canon as a whole – What if you were a company that had produced one of the most popular, paradigm shifting cameras of all time? What if everyone expected a video professional version of that camera as an encore and it never came to be? What if you introduced a couple of new professional video cameras and nobody cared?

FilmLight – Speaking of nobody caring … what if you introduced a new entry-level price for your Baselight color grading system and nobody noticed? When $95,000 is that entry-level price it may be that nobody cared in the wake of the DaVinci price drop. It’s probably unfair to say that nobody cared but since they weren’t on the show floor (instead showing product at a nearby hotel) out of sight meant out of mind as I only heard about the Baselight price change until after the show.

Film itself – Aside from a film scanner or two there wasn’t all that much to see of real celluloid on the 2010 NAB floor. I was talking with a Evertz engineer (Evertz are the guys who’s name is often synonymous with film and Keycode) and he said this is the first year Evertz didn’t bring a single piece of film-related gear to the NAB show.

Push

Blackmagic Design – Okay, the reintroduction of DaVinci with an affordable Resolve was a clear winner for Blackmagic but their other big development seemed to be support of the new USB 3.0 standard. While interest was good in the products that interest was often followed by the realization that Macs don’t natively support 3.0. At least not yet. Maybe Blackmagic knows something we don’t.

AJA – last year at NAB the buzz was all about the AJA Ki Pro. You were hard pressed to even push you way into the AJA booth to get a demo. While they had a nice, big booth again this year, without any major new products to announce not many folks were talking about AJA this year. And if they were it was usually about last year’s Ki Pro. I guess you can’t have a blowout show every year.

Panasonic – While the GH1 DSLR underwhelmed, Panasonic’s new AG-AF100 was being shown under glass and includes the GH1’s Micro Four-Thirds sensor in a proper camera body. Tthe excitement of the camera was often tempered with the discovery of the lower bit rate codec. Same with the 3D ready AG-3DA1. That camera looks like the venerable (and affordable) HVX200 with two lenses but the $21,000 price was what many came away from that camera with. 3D acquisition isn’t cheap!

RED – RED once again didn’t show on the NAB floor, instead opting for a user event, on Wednesday of NAB, at a neighboring hotel. There probably wasn’t as much discussion this year as last about them not being on the show floor but truthfully there probably wasn’t as much RED discussion overall since everyone was shooting Canon DSLRs and talking about the Arri Alexa camera. And there were no Scarlets to been seen. Why is RED a push and not a loser? RED was really pimping the EPIC camera, even having a working prototype at the REDuser event, and those RED users who were able to get up close were very impressed, talking a lot about the camera’s size and modular design. And those I talked to weren’t just fanboys but rather serious camera owners who are looking for the best tool for the job. When it finally ships it might just be its own revolution.

ARRI Alexa Camera: Digital Cinematic Bliss

I may never shoot on an ARRI Alexa camera—after all, it’ll cost around $60,000 this summer—but a man can dream, can’t he?

ARRI, makers of legendary film cameras, has finally unveiled the full specs of their upcoming digital camera, the Alexa. It’s an interesting camera—its Super 35 CMOS Bayer sensor (ARRI’s own) can shoot uncompressed 2K resolutions output to an external source (like a hard drive), or downrezzed to 1080p and stored right on the camera thanks so SxS card support (expensive flash memory). Incidentally, this SxS card support is part of a module that could be removed and swapped out for a different storage technology in the future.

Did I lose you?

So the neat thing is this: You can shoot really high end 1080P video with the camera and have it encoded in Final Cut Pro native codecs (Apple’s ProRes 422 and ProRes 4444), meaning you could literally edit what you shot, right when you’re done shooting it without conversion—a rarity in the cinematic HD world.

OR, you could edit this footage while having a 2K backup of everything. Cut the 1080p footage, then use the timecode information from your cut and apply it to the 2K…saving a ton of hard drive space and processing headaches in your postproduction workflow.

Despite shooting a max of 2K as opposed to 4K, ARRI is confident that their video quality will look just as good as anything shot on RED cameras. And they promise that the build quality, reliability and comfort of use will outpace anything released by RED…which is one reason the Alexa is bold enough to cost a minimum of $20,000 more that anything from RED in a shoot-ready configuration. ARRI is also less concerned about the resolution race, citing the fact that Avatar was technically shot in 1080p (Cameron’s Fusion camera system is technically just dual Sony HDC-F950s) and no one seemed to complain.

It’s a pretty convincing argument.

With the Alexa’s pro-focused build and simple post production workflow, ARRI hopes to attract Hollywood to shoot digital—a market that RED hasn’t been able to attract in mass. I’m interested to see if they can do it. But more than that, I love seeing true pro cameras—once tools locked behind the doors of studios and rental houses—become reusable commodities on the open market…even if they’re still a bit beyond our reach.

ALEXA Steps Out at NAB: Advanced Camera System Offers Highest Dynamic Range and ProRes Capture
(NAB 2010, LAS VEGAS) – After much anticipation, ARRI is pleased to unveil ALEXA — the first model in a new generation of digital cameras for feature, television, commercial, documentary, music video production and more. Compact, ergonomic and lightweight on one hand, robust with ARRI’s legendary reliability on the other, ALEXA’s new Super 35 format sensor delivers amazing images with a base sensitivity of EI 800, low noise and an unsurpassed dynamic range of 13.5 stops. ARRI Imaging Technology (AIT) captures organic, film-like images unlike any digital camera, with natural color rendition and pleasing skin tones.

The unique Dual Gain Architecture (DGA) design of ALEXA’s CMOS sensor ensures the same wide exposure latitude across a range of sensitivity from EI 200 to EI 1600. This creates opportunities in post-production, where it is easier and faster to get the most out of the rich, captured images. Good detail in both highlight and shadow areas as well as a very low noise level help the colorist to reduce time, effort and thus, cost in grading. ALEXA’s excellent signal to noise ratio and clean color separation are particularly effective for greenscreen and VFX work.

The ALEXA system represents the most versatile and quickest workflow from the set, through post to distribution. This is achieved through ALEXA’s efficient Direct to Edit workflow with a multitude of output options, complete metadata and integrated color management.
ALEXA is unique in that it can simultaneously record Apple QuickTime/ProRes files, output uncompressed HD video and uncompressed ARRIRAW data.
Completely new to ARRI cameras is the ability to record QuickTime files containing Apple ProRes encoded images onto on-board SxS memory cards. ALEXA’s internal recorder encodes ProRes 422 (HQ) or ProRes 444 images, along with audio, metadata and Final Cut Pro (FCP) XML files. These files load directly into FCP for editing, coloring and finishing work. Furthermore, the extremely high quality of Apple’s ProRes 422 (HQ) and ProRes 4444 codecs means that the edited result can be immediately distributed.

Two HD-SDI connectors supporting 1.5G dual link or two 3G signals can alternatively be used to output 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 uncompressed HD signals in addition to an ARRIRAW T-link signal. These different signals can be output to certified third party on-board recorders including those from S.two, Codex and Keisoku Giken. Through ALEXA’s Direct to Edit capabilities, the QuickTime/ProRes off-line editing proxy is created directly in camera, carrying the exact same images, audio, timecode and metadata as the on-line HD or ARRIRAW material. ARRIRAW is the only way to access the full potential of ALEXA’s sensor which has color and dynamic range capabilities far beyond standard HD. ARRI’s own ARRIRAW Image Converter (ARC) provides image reconstruction features for the Windows, LINUX and Mac OS platforms.
The Super 35 format CMOS Bayer sensor exhibits cinematic, shallow depth of field and allows the use of all 35mm PL mount lenses. The sensor’s 3.5K pixel count delivers an optimum in image sharpness, sensitivity and latitude for HD (1920 X 1080) and 2K DI workflows. Additionally, the ALEXA viewfinder was specifically designed to meet the needs of camera operators by offering an extremely fast image display, high image quality, accurate color reproduction and a number of features inherited from our optical viewfinders, including overscan.

To protect the investment in ALEXA and to expand the filmmaker’s options when shooting, three major components of the camera are specifically designed to allow an easy upgrade path. First, taking into account the rapid rate of change in storage technologies, the module that holds the memory cards is removable. Should another recording technology prove more desirable in the future, this module can be easily replaced with other storage modules.

Second, the camera electronics, which comprise the whole right side of the camera, can also be removed and replaced by upgraded electronics with advanced features. Last, but not least, the Exchangeable Lens Mount (ELM) system allows the use of PL as well as Panavision, Canon or Nikon lenses.
Almost a century of experience and an obsessive attention to detail have led to generations of ARRI cameras that are tough, reliable and simple to operate while offering the best in image capture. Those same high quality standards have also been applied to ALEXA, leading to a number of innovative and extraordinary solutions for creatives to bring their visions to the screen.
The ALEXA camera is available in June, pricing starts at 45,000 Euros.

Project details:
1. Project: Whirlpool 3D Commercial
2. Client: Whirlpool
3. Product: Whirlpool Proton 3door refrigerator

People Behind:
1. Senior Brand Manager: Neelima Burra (Client)
2. Agency: Draft FCB Ulka – Delhi
3. GM Draft FCB Ulka: P.Shridhar Iyer
4. Creative: Mukesh Kumar
5. Production house: Tellywise
6. 3D Team: Media Renewal Trust
7. Producer: Bindu Akash
8. Director: Shiva (Tellywise)
9. DOP: Rathinavel
10. Art Director: Kiran
11. 3D Technical Head: Jijo Punnoose (Director of India’s first 3D film “My Dear kuttichattan”)
12. 3D Stereographer: Nambiyathiri
13. 3D Stills: Jainul Abdeen
14. DIT / 3D Encoding & Playback: G.Balaji
15. Post Production: Red Post
16. Online: Nawaz (Red Post)
17. CG: Shafi (Red Post)
18. MRT Team: Tony Adrial, Jai Sankar, Kamaldas, Santosh, Robert, Abinandhan, Preethi

Equipments used:
1. Camera: Two Red ONE
2. Genlock: Black Magic Sync Generator Mini Converter
3. 3D Rig: Custom made MRT 3D Rig
4. Rig Type: Beam Splitter (side by side)
5. Converters: AJA HI5 (HDSDI to HDMI converter)
6. Projectors: QUBE E-Cinema HD Projectors (2 Nos.) [For Live 3D] / Optima 720 HD Projectors (2 Nos.) [ For Stereographer]

Camera specs:
1. Software version: build 21.4.1
2. Resolution: 4K 2:1
3. Frame guide: 16:9
4. Frame Rate: 24 fps
5. Connectivity: USB (Master / Slave) [ Between Two Red One] / XLR (Jam Sync) [ One camera TC out to Other Camera]

Hardware Used:
1. Computer: MacPro 2.66 GHz, 8 GB RAM, 3 TB HDD / MacPro 2.53 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 2 TB HDD / MacBook Pro 15″ 2.4GHz, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB
2. Display: 24″ Apple Cinema Display (2 Nos.)
3. Converter: Matrox Triple Head 2 Go (2 Nos.) [ side by side projection]

Software Used:
1. Operating System: Mac OS 10.6.2, Win XP & Win XP (64 bit)
2. Edit: Avid Media Composer 4.0.5
3. Compositing: Adobe After Effects CS4
4. 3D Convergence: Adobe After Effects CS4
5. 3D: Autodesk Softimage
6. Online: Avid DS Nitris
7. File Type: R3D / DPX Linear

Final Delivery:
1. Resolution: 720p 24fps (HD delivery) / 1080p 24fps (digital cinema delivery)
2. 3D format: side by side
3. Location: Atlantis Hotel, Dubai
4. Projectors: Christie 1080i Projectors (2 Nos) [Linear Polarized]
5. Silver Screen: 40 feet

3D Stereoscopic:
1. Type: Passive
2. Polarizer: Linear Polarizer
3. Glass: Linear Polarizer

From Idea to Exhibition Timeline:

1. Day1: [23 Feb,2010] Conceptualization
2. Day5: [25 Feb,2010] Test Shoot
3. Day6: [26 Feb,2010] Commercial Shoot Day
4. Day7: [27 Feb,2010] Edit
5. Day8: [28 Feb,2010] Compositing & 3D Animation
6. Day9: [1 Mar, 2010] Online
7. Day11: [3 Mar,2010] Exhibition