The Arri Alexa Mini is a beast having been used in Knives Out, Us, Les Miserables, John Wick 3, Spider Man: Far From Home, Black Panther and Blade Runner 2049. However, what makes this camera so damn popular and not just in Hollywood but also among indie filmmakers? (A Thread)
1. Launched in 2015, the Alexa Mini was created to be a gimble camera. With the rise of blockbuster movies, you can imagine the quality of action scenes needed to be better than what is captured by crash cams. With its s35 ALEV 3 sensor, it became the go to camera for gimbles.
2. Despite being a small camera (around 2.3 kilograms with the PL mount on), the Alexa Mini has some amazing capabilities including having internal ND filters, has a 3.4k Open Gate mode, 14 stops of dynamic range, captures ProRes at Log C up to 4444XQ and has 800 native ISO.
3. The Alexa Mini was designed to be compatible with existing 35 mm traditional cinema components from #Arri such as PL lenses, SDI ports, follow focus systems, baseplates or batteries with 12 or 24 voltage power. This helps DPs when it comes to the budget making it ideal.
4. With a sensor of 3424X2202, the Alexa Mini can not only record 16:9 for spherical lenses but also 4:3 for Anamorphic lenses which definitely is great for Anamorphic acquisition. This makes the image you get from the camera, an industry standard plus it's Netflix Approved.
The ARRIRAW format is one of the best raw formats out there considering ARRI has true to life colours owing to their Debayer algorithm (bigger than REC 709). The Mini has 3 licenses for shooting ARRIRAW hence you can get more information and more bit depth from such a tiny camera
What is your favourite fact about Hollywood's favorite cinema camera? Let me know on the comments. #Filmmaking #cameras #signatureprimes