ALEXA 35

For 'The Asunta Case,' I was looking for a compact, well-balanced camera that could be carried on the shoulder and configured in many ways. I needed intimacy and closeness with the actors without drawing attention to our equipment. The new color science and sensor´s dynamic range impressed me, providing a very organic texture and rich highlights. It's almost impossible for the highlights to clip. It was also important to preserve detail in the shadows without generating noise. The entire project was shot at EI1600, with many night scenes using the enhanced sensitivity mode EI2560. It's astonishing in low light situations, producing very clear images. I'm really in love with this camera!

After various tests, we chose to shoot with the ALEXA 35, both for the richness of the image, and the flexibility it gave us while shooting. We were often filming night exteriors in the valley area of Los Angeles, and the camera with its „Enhanced Sensitivity“ mode gave us the ability to shoot 6400 ISO with minimal image noise. On a tight shooting schedule, we could organically embrace the available light sources the city provided and used minimal lighting equipment to bring out our subjects. The images coming from the ALEXA 35 blew me away!

The ALEXA 35 was very suitable for the Thai film "How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies" due to its image quality, which delivers vibrant colors and great depth of field. It significantly enhanced the atmosphere of the film. Additionally, the camera's dynamic range was well-suited for the lighting conditions in Thailand, capturing the beauty of hard light in exterior scenes. The balanced light handling of the ALEXA 35 helps to convey the reality imbued with the inherent beauty of each location.

ARRI has done a fantastic job with the ALEXA 35 and ARRI Textures. I’m super impressed by the cinematic looks and the high dynamic range. For me, it’s the best emulation of shooting on film of any digital cinema camera and it gives cinematographers more control over their artistic intent.

ARRI cameras have such a distinct and beautiful quality to them. Their ability to capture imagery in such a naturally pleasing way is hard to match, so when our friends at Unify agreed to executive produce this piece, it granted us access to one of the best cameras on the market. The ALEXA 35’s ability to work well in low-light situations was an especially important factor seeing that our entire shoot consisted of nighttime scenes.

The ALEXA 35 was the perfect camera for this project as it allowed us to film in 2K on vintage 16mm zoom lenses with all the latitude and beautiful texture of the renowned ALEXA sensor. With this setup we had a lightweight package that gave us tons of flexibility in our fast-paced shoot. Director Theda Hammel loved the film-like quality of the images, the natural skin tones, and the ability to dig deep into the shadows in our color session. Overall, it was technically one of the best experiences I’ve had on a digital shoot.

Working with the ALEXA 35 is consistently an exceptional experience. The remarkable latitude it offers, boasting 17 stops of dynamic range, empowers me to shoot in low-light conditions, relying predominantly on natural light even in indoor settings. I was genuinely impressed by the file rendering and the remarkable absence of noise. The chromatic rendition and precision in color reproduction, both on set monitors and during the grading process, left a lasting impression.

One standout feature that I particularly valued is the camera's ability to capture natural skin tones. When shooting against the light, the camera excels in delivering maximum naturalness and softness. It maintains its excellence, never faltering in either intense or low-light situations. The seamless pairing of the camera with ARRI Signature Prime lenses, especially the 29mm and 40mm, has made them my preferred choices.

What led me to choose the ARRI ALEXA 35 for ‘The Rye Horn’ was not only the practicality and familiarity with the ALEXA cameras but specifically its dynamic range, low light performance and skin tone rendering, features that seem extraordinary to me in this camera.

In “Complicated Order”, we were capturing a variety of diverse skin tones in a range of environments. I was blown away by the color accuracy both on set, watching the monitor, and then again while I was coloring in post. I’d heard quite a bit about the impressive latitude of the ALEXA 35 before the project, but what I didn’t expect was the quality of information and color representation in the higher and lower IREs. The smooth, gradual color gradient at the far ends of the exposure spectrum is truly filmic.

Having the ALEXA 35 as our camera package for "More Than You Can See" was a no brainer. The high dynamic range and increased low light performance were invaluable tools that allowed us to capture the visual aesthetics throughout the film. Director of Photography, Nik Pilecki was able to shoot at new angles that he would have previously steered away from (due to distracting highlights) and shoot for longer coverage over blue hour while maintaining exposure with no color shifts. The ALEXA 35 proved to be a workhouse indoors and outdoors, even through the bitter cold Canadian winter day. The camera's form factor made transitioning between small rooms, car shots, and dolly setups, efficient and seamless.

When I heard that Klink Studios in Nigeria purchased the first ALEXA 35 in Central Africa, I booked it far in advance for “Africanda.” The film has scenes in the present day, as well as flashbacks and an ancient African sequence filmed in caves that are millions of years old. Using the textures in the ALEXA 35 helped me create a palette for each time period. The dynamic range of the camera was astounding, capturing so much detail in the shadow areas while maintaining detail in the flames of torch lights we used in the caves.

Beautiful natural skin tones, ground-breaking dynamic range, rich colors, low-light capabilities, and the new texture options—all of these combined were the perfect visual language for the world we were trying to create. ARRI continues to drive the evolution of this industry and the ALEXA 35 is no different; it’s an incredible brush for a cinematographer to breathe life into the stories we want to tell.

I’ve honestly never used a camera system quite like this one; the colors and skin tones feel far superior to any previous system. ARRI Textures are the big revelation for me. With almost everything I’ve ever shot on digital we’ve added some sort of grain in the DI, but it alters the saturation and color contrast, so you never see an accurate representation of your end result. With ARRI Textures you are able to construct your look in-camera and see it reacting to the exposures in real time. To me it feels like digital has actually arrived, finally.

Of all the cameras I have used as a 2nd AC, ALEXA 35 is the one I can work with most efficiently. My transition to stabilization systems is very fast. I can easily disassemble the CCH-5 from the CBP-5 and put it on ARRI and many other gimbals quickly. Likewise, it became very easy to prepare the camera for the shoulder system or tripod. This makes what we do practical. The function keys on the camera are very useful; I assign playback and record functions and use them frequently.

I’ve worked with many cameras, but I feel safest with ALEXA 35. It’s like a companion that I never want to be separated from. Excellent skin tones, high dynamic range, and outstanding low-light performance yield exceptional results. Whether I need a very naturalistic look or a surreal visual, the ALEXA 35 fulfills all my requirements. It has never disappointed me with its color reproduction. The small control panel on the operator’s side is quick and practical. Our journey with ALEXA 35 will continue for a long time.

I was dropped in on short notice to do two episodes of “1923” and had no prior experience with ALEXA 35 but was very pleased by its performance. The increased dynamic range over the original sensor was very welcome and I made full use of it. The form factor is very good. We ran five ALEXA 35’s all the time and used them in a variety of conveyances including crane and Steadicam work but also on an arm on a boat off the coast of Capetown and it worked flawlessly. It’s really an improvement over the classic ALEXA, that I had so much experience with.

Before shooting with the ALEXA 35, I wondered if that quintessential ARRI look would be lost with their new sensor, but it actually shines more than ever. Being able to dial in new unique looks with the textures, see even more accurate colors vividly, and peek more into the shadows and highlights, means that lovely ARRI look has evolved into more of a versatile beast, paving a path into a new era of filmmaking. I’m in love yet again!

I was quite simply BLOWN AWAY by the images this camera helped produce. To say this is a game changer sounds cliché, but it is true! The sensor is outstanding, giving one the toolset to produce such subtle imagery day and night. I’d say that we could also fly through the scenes in the grade far faster than ever before, partly from the marvellous way the sensor reproduces the tones of any given scene so elegantly. There was far less need to window all the highlights or bring detail back into the shadows as it was all there to start with.

We had a really great setup with ALEXA 35 and anamorphic lenses that worked well both in the arm car and handheld without any major conversions. But the camera itself is really amazing. The colorist was also very excited about the huge dynamic range of the new ALEXA 35 sensor

The image out of the ALEXA 35 is incredible. The extra stops in the highlights and new color science struck me as the most stand out parts of the new sensor. There is so much depth in the image—I couldn’t believe how much it could be pushed and pulled in the grade. The ALEXA 35 changes the future of Super 35 productions. It is the new standard.

The sensor of the ALEXA 35 is something else, both strong and gentle in the perception of color and texture.

As a director, I feel there is now almost no setup I could imagine where I would have to compromise my approach to shooting a scene.

To me, a camera isn’t just a mechanical machine, it has a way of thinking. The ALEXA 35 made us feel safe with its amazingly helpful features. The data integrity and the 17 stops of dynamic range gave us fantastic results. With the help of some specific HDR shooting techniques and 3D lighting setups, I was able to retain detail in all the highlights and all the shadows.

When I saw how the camera was reacting to low light conditions, I shot only with firelight at 3200 EI. Another setup with UV lights had absolutely no reading on the light meter. In both situations the skin tones and textures came out very well.

With increased light sensitivity and more detail in the highlights, I can be even more bold with my lighting and exposure choices.

The way the new sensor sees color is astonishing to me, even after using ARRI cameras for the last few years...In scorching African sunshine, the highlight roll-off is really nice and you still see detail in the shadows.

The ALEXA 35 was spectacular; it outperformed all my expectations. I could not get the camera to clip - the dynamic range is so wide and impressive. This is a completely new generation.

The new sensor produced images that were extremely malleable, with staggering latitude. It retained all the color and information even in the most brilliant of highlights and deepest of shadows.

We couldn’t use any lights; we just used the streetlights and the light from buildings. It was definitely noticeable that the Enhanced Sensitivity Mode has minimal noise, so I think it’s a real improvement.

We used one of the ARRI Textures that are available in the ALEXA 35. It added some grain, and a lot of us cinematographers do have a love for grain. There was a certain feel to it, a different structure to just pushing the ASA.

The close-ups on the kids' faces were like nothing else I've seen. Even the dark sides of their faces held so much beautiful skin tone and texture.

I was so impressed by the latitude of the sensor, and I loved how it depicts colors as vividly as a stained-glass window. It is a game changer.

ALEXA 35 sets the highest standards in resolution, dynamic range, and color. It's a totally new type of camera.