Alexa 65 rental rate

[Manu Delpech]

Hey there,

 

 

I was wondering if anyone here has any idea as to how much the Alexa 65 (not just the body, a ready to shoot package) goes for on a weekly rental rate? Considering it's been around for a few years now, that there a lot more bodies, etc, I figure the numbers have gone down substantially. Saw numbers here and there between 5 & 10K a while back which I guess made sense at the time. Seeing as it's being used now on several TV series (lately The Haunting Of Hill House on Netflix), and on more indie minded films, I figure it must be somewhat affordable.

 

What's confusing to me is those smaller productions being able to afford this when, from what I've seen, it'd be much cheaper to shoot on 35mm film for example. Hell, I'm guessing the post prod and data rate alone must be insane. I figured I'd ask the question directly to Arri Rental but they don't seem to have any email contact options, so I figured some folks would know here.

 

Cheers

[Miguel Angel]

Hi Manu,

 

Around 6 months ago we were interested in using the Alexa 65 for a commercial and we got in touch with Arri in Germany.

The guys over there told us that the daily rental rate was around $10K - $12K for the Alexa + lenses + Data Station.

 

Have a lovely day.

[Neal Norton]

The camera package rental would depend on the length of rental and the relationships between the Director and DP and the rental agency. A director with a 3 picture deal with a studio would be able to ask favors. A DP with an Academy Award might do so as well.

 

A six week rental would be much more expensive per week than a six month rental (per week). A 2 or 3 camera package would find a better discount than a one camera package.

 

In the case of Alexa 65 the post production costs would dwarf the camera rental.

 

I would guess that a 2 camera package with primes, zooms and lots of support would be around 25,000/week less discount based on duration of shoot. From 40% to 75% discount.

 

Neal Norton

DP

[Manu Delpech]

Hi Manu,

 

Around 6 months ago we were interested in using the Alexa 65 for a commercial and we got in touch with Arri in Germany.

The guys over there told us that the daily rental rate was around $10K - $12K for the Alexa + lenses + Data Station.

 

Have a lovely day.

 

 

Ah ah ah ! Jesus, this is weird considering it seems to be the same rate as it was back when it debuted. If Beale Street Could Talk shooting on the Alexa 65 (a $12 million film) makes even less sense now. Thanks for the answers guys.

 

I found this rental website yesterday that supposedly had the body only at 3.5 K/daily, 10 K for the week, but figure it's not legit since you're only supposed to be able to rent it through Arri Rental.

Edited November 8, 2018 by Manu Delpech

[Gregory Irwin]

Hi all,

Im working with the Alexa 65 right now through Arri Rental in New York. Arri doesnt discount the 65 but they do discount everything else. I cant remember what the body rents for but our 2 65 camera package along with an LF and Mini heavily discounted is over $50,000/week.

 

G

[Miguel Angel]

 

 

Ah ah ah ! Jesus, this is weird considering it seems to be the same rate as it was back when it debuted. If Beale Street Could Talk shooting on the Alexa 65 (a $12 million film) makes even less sense now. Thanks for the answers guys.

 

I found this rental website yesterday that supposedly had the body only at 3.5 K/daily, 10 K for the week, but figure it's not legit since you're only supposed to be able to rent it through Arri Rental.

 

Well, I wouldn't call If Beale Street Could Talk an independent film in terms of budget, at least in Europe :D :D .. 12 million dollars is quite a lot of money and the director and the dop came from shooting Moonlight so Arri would have definitely wanted to work with them on this new movie as Neal said.

 

Also, I remember that in 2016 the Alexa 65 was around €15.000 / day, which might be $18K / day!

 

For the same commercial we asked Panavision about the DXL2 and the price came back at about 8K / day including lenses.

 

Anyways, Arri is always open to projects so it might be good for you to talk to your local Arri rental house to discuss prices and etc.

 

Have a lovely day.

[Manu Delpech]

Thanks for all the answers. I was just curious, I don't know why one would choose to shoot on the Alexa 65 when they can afford anamorphic 35mm instead ^^ Roma & Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald look pretty stunning though.

[Brian Drysdale]

The Alexa 65 is a 4k camera, it depends if that is important to you and your production.

[Manu Delpech]

6.5K yes. If we're talking Netflix, that's a different story. I guess it's mostly about VFX, and all those sorts of practical considerations

[David Mullen ASC]

I don't think ARRI thought the Alexa 65 would be so popular, otherwise they would have put it into production for sale. I think they are hoping that the Alexa LF takes most of that demand.

 

Larger format film has more resolution and less grain than smaller formats, but with digital, there isn't as visible a change (because there is no grain) between the Alexa 65 and the regular Alexa, especially if you shoot 3.4K Open Gate on the Alexa and 6.5K on the Alexa 65 and finish everything to 4K (and there is even less of a difference if you finish everything to 2K / HD). The Alexa 65 image tends to be cleaner in low-light though.

 

I just saw "The Girl in the Spider's Web", which looked nice, but I was surprised to see that most of it was shot on the Alexa 65, which just shows you that we are so used to clean, sharp images today that it gets harder to impress us unless you see it on a huge IMAX screen or something. I only looked up the specs on the movie because it was made by Sony, and a Sony camera is featured in the plot, but it turns out it wasn't shot on a Sony camera.

[Gregory Irwin]

Thanks for all the answers. I was just curious, I don't know why one would choose to shoot on the Alexa 65 when they can afford anamorphic 35mm instead ^^ Roma & Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald look pretty stunning though.

We shot GODZILLA: KING OF MONSTERS anamorphic, open gate and 4.5k with the A65. We did it primarily to have extra space outside of the format for VFX to have additional information and space for their contributions.

 

As for the LF, Arri has told me that they are surprised and disappointed with the lack of response towards the LF.

 

G

[Miguel Angel]

We shot GODZILLA: KING OF MONSTERS anamorphic, open gate and 4.5k with the A65. We did it primarily to have extra space outside of the format for VFX to have additional information and space for their contributions.

 

As for the LF, Arri has told me that they are surprised and disappointed with the lack of response towards the LF.

 

G

 

Well, I have had the chance to use the LF and I didn't like it.

 

Going back to the bulkiness and the weight of an Alexa XT when shooting hand-held is something I don't want to go back to after shooting for a couple of years with the Alexa Mini plus I don't see any benefits of using a full frame camera at the moment.

 

Also.. it doesn't have internal NDs, you see the middle of the sensor in the image, there is not a lot of lenses available and the modern ones that are available are quite expensive, you REALLY need a data wrangler on set to take care of the data, more HDDs (the cards available were 1TB until August!), anamorphic on the LF was pretty difficult to use until SUP3, and the list goes on and on.. like.. you can use a Sony Venice for less money of what an Alexa LF costs per day, you have 6K if Ks are what you're looking for, loads of lenses as you can have a S35 mode with a button, internal NDs, very compact and the image looks good.. or you can use a XT or a Mini :lol:

 

Maybe that's the reason why they are releasing the Super 35 mode on the LF soon!

 

Now, if you give me the option of an Alexa 65 vs an Alexa Mini, I would get the Alexa 65 any day! Shooting with a 25mm on the Alexa 65 and having SUCH a beautiful tridimensionality on medium shots.. that's wonderful!

 

Have a lovely day!

[Robin R Probyn]

I don't think ARRI thought the Alexa 65 would be so popular, otherwise they would have put it into production for sale. I think they are hoping that the Alexa LF takes most of that demand.

 

Larger format film has more resolution and less grain than smaller formats, but with digital, there isn't as visible a change (because there is no grain) between the Alexa 65 and the regular Alexa, especially if you shoot 3.4K Open Gate on the Alexa and 6.5K on the Alexa 65 and finish everything to 4K (and there is even less of a difference if you finish everything to 2K / HD). The Alexa 65 image tends to be cleaner in low-light though.

 

I just saw "The Girl in the Spider's Web", which looked nice, but I was surprised to see that most of it was shot on the Alexa 65, which just shows you that we are so used to clean, sharp images today that it gets harder to impress us unless you see it on a huge IMAX screen or something. I only looked up the specs on the movie because it was made by Sony, and a Sony camera is featured in the plot, but it turns out it wasn't shot on a Sony camera.

 

 

Yikes I bet the Sony Venice making department wasn't happy.. must be a dir or DP with alot of clout.?. I played about with the Venice today at Interbee.. such a lovely camera is all ways.. and positively tiny.. like a slightly over weight f55..

[Manu Delpech]

Regarding what David said about there not being a big difference between the Alexa & A65, I thought so at first but between War For The Planet Of The Apes, Live By Night, Okja, Roma, Fallen Kingdom, Dumbo (from the trailers) and especially Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald (gorgeously shot), I find there's more density to the Alexa 65 image and more texture. Dunno how to explain it, it feels more pleasant to my eye as well. There's some great looking stuff on the Alexa here and there but not as striking imo. It's not a quantifiable thing and I've seen a few DPs say a similar thing.

 

What I find interesting is seeing Bong Joon-Ho using it again on his new film when him and Khondji wanted to shoot Okja on 35mm film but couldn't. Janusz Kaminski is also surprisingly shooting Call Of The Wild on it, that should be super intriguing !

 

I remain a 35mm film snob but yeah, I dont know what it is about the Alexa 65. And I think it's even more potent on a giant IMAX screen, it sings in a very different way (Fallen Kingdom or The Crimes Of Grindelwald especially for example or seeing various trailers here and there)

[David Mullen ASC]

I'm sure there's a quality difference, the specs tell you that... it's just not as pronounced as the one between 35mm and 65mm film.

 

Most people can't pick out which parts of "The Revenant" were shot on the Alexa 65 versus the regular Alexa. It's the same sensor after all, same color science, it's just that the sensor is cut bigger (or stitched to be bigger), so you'd expect the same image characteristics other than improved resolution and less visible noise, which may in turn give you a bit more usable dynamic range and a subtle increase in color information.

 

You compare the Marvel films shot on the Alexa 65 like "Doctor Strange" to the ones shot on the regular Alexa like "Black Panther" and it's not like the quality difference hits you over the head.

[Manu Delpech]

Makes sense, although the Marvel films aside from BP look so poor visually, no amount of extra resolution and quality will make that much of a difference there. I think Darius Khondji and others have spoken of the images being more three dimensional, I don't know about that, it's hard to tell, it just feels different.

[David Mullen ASC]

Sure, higher resolution and typically less depth of field, seen on a big screen will look more three-dimensional like IMAX photography does. On a smaller screen, you're mainly responding to the shallower focus if you feel it looks more three-dimensional but the cleaner signal helps a bit with that too. As I said, it's the same, nearly decade-old, sensor as the regular Alexa, just bigger.

[Mark Kenfield]

It's viewing angle that makes the big difference. Pop 6k Alexa 65 material alongside regular 2k Alexa material in a conventional theatre, and it's tough the tell the difference (since conventional Alexa is already so sharp and noiseless - the usual hallmarks of large-format photography).

Run them side-by-side on an IMAX screen though, and the larger format SHINES, whereas the S35mm version does start to break apart visually.

You can see this even more clearly with film. Dunkirk in IMAX blended 15-perf 65mm and 5-perf 65mm. And as nice as 5-perf 65mm is, it often looked mushy and grainy compared to the exceptionally low-grain and clarity of the enormous 15-perf parts of the print.