Arri recently released their new Mini Mattebox, the MMB-2, which has all the quality that Arri’s products are known for in a lightweight package. The MMB-2 has a single 4×4 filter stage and a 4×5.6 filter stage, and is so lightweight that it easily clips on to just about any lens. It also has a 114mm back, which fits exactly onto the Zeiss Compact Prime.2 lenses. If you have still lenses, like Canon EF glass, Arri also make a series of rings that thread onto your lens so the mattebox fits perfectly. Arri also has a dual 4×5.6 filter stage model that gives more flexibility to anyone with a lot of 4×5.6″ filters. Both models are a great fit for cameras like the Sony F3 and the Canon C300. Watch my video above to learn more.

It’s been another exciting year in our industry, with lots of evolutionary and revolutionary changes. Many of the trends we’ve seen coming for the past several years came to fruition in 2011, leaving some to wonder what comes next. Let’s take a look back and see if it can help inform us a bit on what’s to come in 2012.

So…is film dead now?

Pundits have been predicting the end to film as a production medium for decades, but now it seems that the writing is on the wall. Digital Cinema camera technology has advanced to the point that nearly all production for television has moved to electronic acquisition. Currently the majority of high-end features are still produced on 35mm film, but it appears only a matter of time before this completely transitions as well. Most lower- to medium-budget productions are already being shot digitally, and numerous notable high-end productions are as well. In particular, shooting digitally for 3D productions is significantly more advantageous compared to film. This has also spurred the rollout of digital projection, as this is again far easier to accomplish for 3D presentation. The final nail may be the financial advantage to studios distributing movies digitally rather than with film prints. Fox has already notified theater chains that it plans to eliminate film prints sometime next year. Without the steady income stream of film prints, plus TV and commercial production, the economic model supporting film stock producers and processing labs will eventually no longer function. We may look back on 2011 as the last year film had a significant, dominant position in the industry, before becoming relegated to “niche” productions.

…continue reading A Look Back From Behind The Lens

ARRI’s latest lighting innovation is the L7 series of LED-based Fresnels. The line is made up of three fixtures: the L7-T (3200K tungsten-balanced), the L7-D (5400K daylight-balanced), and the L7-C (color-controllable). The L7-C can be adjusted from 2700K-10000K, with an additional green/magenta control. It also features a “Hue Mode” for theatrical color effects.

These fixtures have a wide range of beam control, produce single, sharp shadows like conventional Fresnel fixtures, are fully dimmable from 0-100% with no color shift, and have an even field of illumination. Most importantly, at just 220w, the L7 LED lights use less than a quarter of the power of a 1000w tungsten Fresnel fixture with equivalent light output. Watch my video above to learn more about these versatile new lights.

There’s a lot to be thankful for this Friday, as there have been several important firmware update announcements across the board. In addition to the ARRI ALEXA update released on Wednesday, BlackMagic Design, Sony, and Sound Devices all have announcements to get your weekend off to a great start.

BlackMagic Design HyperDeck Studio:

The uncompressed HyperDeck Studio recorder will gain compressed recording capability with a free update slated for “the end of this month.” DNxHD recording and playback of MXF files will be added, promising an expedited workflow for those working with Avid Media Composer, as well as a big advantage for those that do not require uncompressed files.

Sony NEX-FS100

Sony will be releasing an major update to the popular AVCHD Super35 NEX-FS100 by early 2012. One of the most requested features is the ability to switch between NTSC and PAL recording, which Sony has added to this free update. In addition, you will be able to:

• Save and load camera profiles to and from a memory card
• Additional 4x and 8x Expanded Focus magnification
• Selectable ISO or Gain sensitivity display
• Selectable focus indication in feet or meters (E-Mount lenses only)
• Selectable shutter indication as exposure time or shutter angle
• Added the following Aspect-Ratio markers: 2.35:1, 1.85:1 and 1.66:1
• Display ON/OFF button enables Zebra and/or Histogram overlay onto video output

The new firmware will also allow you to use the new Sony LA-EA2 Alpha to E-mount adaptor with full support for continuous phase-detect autofocus, auto iris, and lens metadata on most Alpha mount lenses.

…continue reading Keeping Up with the Firmware: Friday Edition

ARRI has released the latest Software Update Packet (SUP), v5.0 for the ALEXA and ALEXA Plus cameras. All new cameras will ship with SUP v5.0 installed, and it is available as a free download from the ARRI website for all current ALEXA owners. SUP 5.0 is a major upgrade for the ALEXA cameras, with several important new features and useful improvements.

New features of SUP v5.0 include (for both ALEXA & ALEXA Plus):

High Frame Rates

Access to the new High Speed License

With SUP v5.0, you can now purchase a license through the ARRI website which allows the camera to shoot from 60fps – 120fps and record to ProRes 422HQ on the new Sony 64G SxS Pro cards.

ProRes 4444 recording up to 60fps

The new Sony 64G SxS Pro cards have much higher sustained data read/write capabilities than the 32G SxS Pro cards. This allows the ALEXA to feed up to 60fps of ProRes 4444 to the cards with no dropped frames or file corruption. In previous firmware releases, ProRes 4444 was limited to 40fps and you needed to capture in ProRes 422 HQ or below to record 60fps.

ARRIRAW and HD-SDI 4:4:4 recording up to 60fps

ARRI has developed a unique dual-link 3G signal path so that ARRI Partner recorders can capture up to 60fps of full uncompressed ARRIRAW or 10-bit HD-SDI 4:4:4 in full resolution progressive signals. Codex has released software to enable their Onboard recorder to capture ARRIRAW and HD-SDI 4:4:4 over this protocol.

…continue reading ARRI Releases New ALEXA Firmware 5.0

ARRI announced today that Avid’s DNxHD recording codec would be supported in all ALEXA cameras. The format is planned to be offered as a paid software license to be released with the free ALEXA Software Update Packet (SUP) 6.0, scheduled for January 2012. Upon initial release, the  license will offer DNxHD 145 (1920×1080, 8-bit) and DNxHD 220x (1920×1080, 10-bit), with the free addition of the recently-announced DNxHD 444 (1920×1080, 10-bit) in the spring.

Apple ProRes has been a purchasable option for SxS card onboard recording for more than a year. Soon the ALEXA will offer either or both recording formats to more comfortably fit into a production’s workflow. DNxHD 220x has a similar file size to that of ProRes 422HQ, so it should take up about the same amount of space on an SxS card (21 minutes on a 32G card).

For more info, read Arri’s full press release.

At IBC this year, ARRI announced several products that were expected, along with a few surprises. The ALEXA and ALEXA Plus cameras welcomed two siblings to their Digital Cinema family, and it turns out pre-production versions of these new models are already out in the field working. The ALEXA Studio has an optical viewfinder with a spinning mirror shutter like a traditional film camera. It also has a taller sensor than the other ALEXAs, with an aspect ratio of 4:3 so that anamorphic lenses can be used with proper field of view. The ALEXA M is a split-head camera, meaning that the sensor section of the camera connects to the rest of the camera (where the signal processor and recording section live) by way of a fiber cable. This allows the ALEXA M to be used in various rigs where size and weight are critical issues, such as helicopter mounts, car interiors and 3D beamsplitter rigs. The ALEXA Studio pre-production units are currently testing on real shoots in Europe, while the first ALEXA M production prototypes are starting to ship to the Cameron-Pace Group, a leader in 3D production.

…continue reading IBC 2011 Updates: ARRI