Arri Alexa vs Arri Mini

Bledar Çili · January 21, 2016

HI everyone, i want to ask you, who is the best camera for film indystry. Arri Alexa Clasic or Arri Alexa mini. I have second project with arri alexa mini fotage for color grading and i think is not like arri alexa clasic in look.

Thanks

Bledi

David Mullen ASC · January 21, 2016

Same sensor, same Log-C or Rec.709 recording gamma you choose, so they should match in look. What formats & gamma are you using in both cameras?

Bledar Çili · January 22, 2016

Hi Sunstaing, i shooting with arri alexa clasic in LOG-c recording gamma. I want to ask you is the same in quality for Indystry??

David Mullen ASC · January 22, 2016

I was talking last night to some ARRI people and they are as confused as I am about your post -- the Alexa Mini should be giving you the same image as the other Alexas, it has the same sensor, the same color science, the same Log-C recording format. In fact, people are shooting with the two cameras all the time, one of them being a Mini and the other a regular Alexa, and the images intercut fine.

Adrian Sierkowski · January 22, 2016

Are you using the same lenses on both? Do the lenses match?

Bruce Greene · January 23, 2016

The Alexa Mini has built in ND filters and the older Arri Alexa Classics do not. I have found very large color shifts with on the lens IR/ND filters on the Classic Alexa. The Mini, with it's built in ND filters, may look far more neutral and grade much easier. Might that be the difference that you're seeing?

I say this after struggling through a grade on a film that we used the Tiffen IR/ND filters for day exteriors. The LogC files were very very yellow/green and did not match from filter to filter. Every clip was a new grade that was difficult to neutralize and match. Yellowish zoom lenses did not help either. I would definitely try to use an Alexa with the built-in ND filters.

Miguel Angel · January 23, 2016

That actually happened to me too on a short - film a couple of years ago.

We got all shades of green / yellow because of the Tiffen IRND filters on day exteriors, sometimes the cast was very difficult to take off while grading because we had a very limited time on the grading suite.

Since that happened I avoid using any Alexa which has no built-in ND filters when I have the chance to use one.

Have a good day.

Charles Papert · January 23, 2016

On the IRND issue, I have been using the Mitomo ND filters for the past few years which deliver very minimal to imperceptible color shift compared to the Tiffens or Schneiders etc. That used to be a big struggle and haven't worried about it since. They are more delicate and require the AC's to be much more vigilant.