Arri Alexa offers film look for studio

The Arri Alexa and Milan Krsljanin

The Arri Alexa has become the camera of choice for high-end drama and music videos. The music industry spends millions making their music videos look great. So, wouldn't it be a good idea if that "look" carried on into music-based TV programmes.

Well someone suggested that to Arri, which has developed the new Alexa Fibre Remote Box and a software upgrade that allows users to control the film-like parameters of the camera from a broadcast control panel. It is aimed at those customers “doing high-profile music shows who wanted to have a filmic look,” said Arri’s Director of Business Development, Milan Krsljanin here at IBC.

“This is not a camera for sports. It’s for programmes that want to reach new heights in terms of quality and the look,” he added. The camera can be used with PL-mount lenses or, via an adapter, B4 broadcast lenses (although you lose two stops – “but with the huge sensitivity of this camera it is not an issue”). Indeed, its sensitivity and dynamic range was why four fibre-equipped Alexas were used on a Coldplay concert in Paris just before IBC, intercut with conventional cameras – to avoid burnout on the faces in difficult lighting.

It uses a Telecast Copperhead system for fibre output, and the Alexa and Fibre Remote Box combination costs just €40,000 (which is price competitive for a studio/OB-type camera, but this doesn't include the Alexa SxS recording module, although that can be added later). The Box itself costs €10,000 (plus the Telecast system) if you already have an Alexa.