Film Vs Digital - Why Is Arri Alexa So Expensive

[David Hessel]

People seemed too mad at me. An update: I decided to return the camera as per the conditions of the buying house I signed with. I did have to pay a "rental" amount equivilant to how long i had it (2 days / 1200$)...but I decided that perhaps blowing all my change in one basket where Technology is known to be outdated is not the best bet. In either case, getting hands on with the ALEXA was a nice experience.

 

I myself am looking for a more modest RED camera than the ALEXA. I will rent it first and see if I may buy it...but it seems like Renting is the way to go for me.

 

No one is mad at you, I think we all just felt that you could be making a costly mistake and were just trying to offer some guidance.

[Prashantt Rai]

Brother,

80K is a hell lot of money. Buy a super 16 for less than 5K. and buy stock on the interest of 75K. still want to spend? buy a 30 ft cruiser boat. it will last you 20 years. Sail and shoot. :-)

[Mark Kenfield]

People seemed too mad at me. An update: I decided to return the camera as per the conditions of the buying house I signed with. I did have to pay a "rental" amount equivilant to how long i had it (2 days / 1200$)...but I decided that perhaps blowing all my change in one basket where Technology is known to be outdated is not the best bet. In either case, getting hands on with the ALEXA was a nice experience.

 

I myself am looking for a more modest RED camera than the ALEXA. I will rent it first and see if I may buy it...but it seems like Renting is the way to go for me.

 

I think that was the right call Michael. If you're considering the Reds, I'd suggest getting the 'Scarlet Dragon' - it's got a great feature set and excellent image quality and the price makes much more sense given how new you are to all this.

[john gibson]

Pretty sure this is an outdated forum right now, but you should also look into the Canon C500. Dynamic Range isn't SUPER amazing, but the low light, skin tones, and great 4k at the price is an amazing camera. Small and lightweight, you don't really have any equipment besides memory, lens, and battery that is needed to actually use this camera. The REDs are awesome, but you do need to buy extra stuff to get it up and running. You sound like you don't know a 'whole lot' about each camera ATM. So just keep looking into each one, if you haven't bought one, yet.

[john gibson]

Shane Hurlbut used three different cams in Need for Speed. The Alexa, C500, and the Canon EOS 1D-C, and they all pretty much matched up nicely together in the movie. Really, it's not the camera you buy; as i'm sure you've heard this before, but it's the way you film it. So I agree with John E. Clark. Just get a camera with a lower cost-C100/C300, RED one, or black magic, then focus on good audio equipment, lighting, studio equipment, and maybe a cheap van to carry it all in. Write-Shoot-Edit-Repeat. Constantly strive to get your films and ideas out, then you'll learn as you go along. Although, John, if you see this, then I do disagree with one thing. Anamorphic lenses are amazing. ^_^ If you get a true anamorphic, then it'll have a nice and smooth image with all the pixels pushed down together, vertical oval bokeh, the lens flares (which I, honestly, don't care too much for) and a different compression in the depth of the image. I, personally, would always use anamorphic, if I get one. Now anamorphic adapters suck. That's what I've seen with a completely warped image and an unnecessary ring of light around the image