ARRI Signature Prime
Modern Lens. Timeless Look.
Credits
Signature Prime Features
Timeless Look
- Warm smooth skin tones
- Open shadows with crisp blacks
- Exceptionally soft bokeh for increased sense of separation
- Soft and delicate flares
- Unparalleled flexibility with magnetic rear filter holder
- 16 matched primes from 12 to 280 mm
Modern Lens
- Fine details beautifully rendered
- No visible focus breathing and no distortion for easy tracking
- Minimal chromatic aberration for a perfect key
Safe investment for rental houses
- Optimal results with all sensors due to near-telecentric design
- New mechanical design concept for easier service
- 24/5 global service
- Multi-award winning lenses
Fitted with new LPL Lens Mount
- Camera-independent, open standard
- Covering all image circles up to large format 46 mm
- Backwards compatible with PL-mount lenses through rock-solid PL-to-LPL Adapter
- LDS-2 and /i support
Quotes
ARRI’s Signature Primes are an example of perfection in lens design. They are immaculate. The ability to add rear elements to give a distinctive look is an added bonus.
Michael Seresin ONZM, BSC (Known for: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and many more)
The image that the LF and the Signatures produces seems, to me, more like what my eyes see than anything else I experienced so far.
Cinematographer Roger Deakins CBE, ASC, BSC (known for: 1917, Blade Runner 2049, Skyfall, Sicario, No Country for Old Men, O Brother Where Art Thou? and many more)
The marriage of the ALEXA LF and the Signatures is an absolute winner! Wow, what a beautiful lens, brilliant skin tones! Super!
Cinematographer Stijn Van der Veken, ASC, SBC, shooting Outlander Season 5 (Known for: Outlander, Death of a Shadow, Murk Light and many more)
I really like the Signature Primes. Super MTF but not too sharp or contrasty. They are extremely fast and have a great flare resistance!
Cinematographer Tom Stern AFC, ASC (known for: Changeling, The Hunger Games, American Sniper, Flags of our Fathers and many more)
I am thrilled by the natural and organic look, the pleasant sharpness without disturbing micro-sharpness, the warm color rendition in combination with very natural skin tones, and the richness of details deep into the blacks. Thanks to the minimal “breathing” of the ARRI Signature Primes - shifts in focus are hardly noticeable even in fixed tableaus and therefore appear extremely subtle. The combination of my ALEXA Mini LF with the ARRI Signature Primes (provided by Cinegrell) was the perfect choice for the shooting of the Swiss "Aller Tage Abend." The compact design of the Mini LF as well as the amazing light weight of the ARRI Signature Primes allow fast and flexible work.
Cinematographer Simon Huber (Known for: Aller Tage Abend (currently shooting), Lasst die Alten sterben, Experiment Schneuwly and commercials for FIFA, Coca-Cola, Virgin, Samsung and many more)
Signature Primes are the closest lenses to how I see things in reality. So much shadow detail with this level of crisp blacks is something I have not seen before. And the best part is how skin tones look. I don’t think I’m going to be shooting on anything else for a while.
DOP Sudeep Chatterjee (Known for: Padmavat, Bajirao Mastani, Chak De India to Guzaarish and many more)
To capture the cinematic vignettes for our feature documentary, we turned to ALEXA Mini with ARRI Signature Primes. These are the first modern lenses that have stolen my heart. They have unique painterly quality in the way they render skin tones and shadows. The added benefit of the magnetic rear net holders made these lenses a no-brainer, allowing us to have consistent net stretches across the entire lens range.
Cinematographer Kyle Krupinski (known for: Parallel Chords, The Solipsist, Under the Grove and many more)
The Signature Primes look great; they are not clinical, not dead, they make very organic images. T1.8 allows for a very shallow depth of field and they have a very nice focus roll off.
Cinematographer Milos Moore (known for: Patrick Melrose, Stan Lee's Lucky Man and many more)
Thanks to the Signature Prime lenses, I had my first encounter with large format. I discovered a new approach in my camera work, a new distance with the people I was filming. We can be closer to the action; a physical step that makes all the difference with the classical format I was used to.
Director Paul Mignon (known for: Patagonia, Pampa, Norte and many more)
I see in it a real option that refines the staging and the image. I discovered the Signature Prime lenses filming "Gauchos" and they totally seduced me. They are modern and yet have character. We shot often at full opening and we could appreciate the magnificent bokeh, the beautiful flair, and the fine optical behavior even in our rather difficult shooting conditions.
Cinematographer Stephan Massis (known for: Un monde à nous, Looking for Cheyenne and many more)
The ALEXA LF camera and Signature Prime lenses are an elegant combination. I love the lenses; they strike a wonderful balance between modernity and character.
Cinematographer Matias Boucard (known for: Pixels, SK1, David Nolande and many more)
With the 25 mm Signature Prime lens, you feel like you are there in the scene with the actors. The lenses are lightweight and are not too sharp, but with a certain softness and very specific.
Cinematographer Dan Laustsen ASC, DFF (known for: The Shape of Water, John Wick: Chapter 2 and 3, Crimson Peak and many more)
The Signature Primes are hyper sharp but they have a smooth roll off so they don’t feel that way.
Cinematographer Logan Schneider (known for: Drunk History, Gentefied, Watson, Ave Maria Bamford and many more)
I love the look of the Signature Primes. They have a gentle feel to their contrast and resolution - sharp and crisp enough to see details in the shot, but not so defined and edgy as to look clinical. I designed shots to look directly into the sun. I really liked the flares: soft edged and blue-yellow in color. Signature Primes are a gorgeous complement to the magnificent ALEXA LF.
Cinematographer Bill Bennett ASC (known for: Kiss or Kill, In einem wilden Land, Outback and many more)
I intentionally shot mundane subjects I wouldn’t normally cover, and the results got me really excited. The camera and lens captured every tonal nuance with unmatched detail, gradation and color. I love how the out-of-focus areas are rendered, contributing to a rich and vivid overall look.
Cinematographer Wang Yu (known for: Suzhou River, Fengshen Trilogy, The Golden Era and many more)
To me, the system embodies typical ARRI quality, but there is a new level of emotion to the images—a smoothness to the way the camera and lenses work together.
Cinematographer Tom Faehrmann BVK (known for: Das Wunder von Bern, Ulzhan - das vergessene Licht, Campus and many more)
The Signature Primes are great lenses. Also, regarding the way the lenses are produced, I was surprised by their weight. With the new mount, a whole new lens architecture is possible.
Cinematographer Phillip Peschlow (Known for: Jim Button and the Wild13, Lommbock, Pagan Peak and many more)
The Signature Primes look very nice. I think they put a lot of interesting ideas in those lenses. We as cameramen miss film obviously, we miss the organic look of film and having lenses that render faces in a more organic way is really important.
Cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub ASC, BVK (Known for: Independence Day, Black Book, Chronicles of Narnia, Halo and many more)
News & Updates
Huge perspective range, consistent look
Detachable Magnetic Rear Filter Holder
Any material can be used to make a filter, from tinfoil and fishing line to stockings, wrapping paper, and vintage fabrics—each of them affecting bokeh, flaring and diffusion in different ways. Alternatively, glass elements can be used to simulate vintage lenses, with images sharp in the center but deteriorating in the corners. Simply visit your local optician with a filter holder and ask them to fit a close-up lens of whatever strength, coating or tint you want to try. The filter holder is magnetic, allowing fast and easy changes between looks, with no tools needed.
An additional way to explore different looks with the Signature Primes is to use ARRI’s uncoated replacement front element, which can be fitted by the user in just a few minutes to increase flaring, ghosting and reflections.
Discover how retro filmmaking techniques such as nets, and diopters can help you customize the look of your Signature Prime lenses.
Compatibility of Signature Prime lenses
ARRI Signature Prime lenses are equipped with the LPL (Large Positive Locking) lens mount, a key element of ARRI’s large-format camera system. The wider diameter and shorter flange focal depth allow LPL lenses to be small and lightweight, with a fast T-stop and pleasing bokeh—a combination of features that would not be possible with the old PL lens mount.
ARRI shares LPL specifications openly and free-of-charge across the industry, in order to establish the LPL lens mount as the new standard interface between cameras and lenses. ARRI LPL lens mounts are available for ALEXA 65, ALEXA LF, ALEXA Mini LF, ALEXA Classic/XT/SXT, ALEXA Mini and AMIRA cameras. In addition, third parties already offer LPL lens mounts for cameras, director's viewfinders, and lens testing tools, so ARRI Signature Primes and other LPL lenses can be universally used.
ARRI Technology
Lens Mounts
Great images derive from great lenses with their individual touch to the image. For this to happen the lens has to sit precisely where it should be, responsible for that is the lens mount.
Get to know all our lens mounts and find out what makes our new LPL mount unique!
Image Processing
A steady look-out for image quality is key to delivering the best possible image through a given pipeline. In this way new developments and ways to shape the DoP's vision on set can be integrated into our cameras via new software releases. ARIRAW footage recorded before such an update benefits as well as it can be re-processed through an updated pipeline.
ARRI Build Quality
Almost a century of experience, an obsessive attention to detail and an intimate familiarity with the conditions on set have led to generations of ARRI cameras that are robust, reliable and simple to operate - all features that our digital cameras have inherited.
ALEV Sensors
Our very own ALEV III sensor plays its strengths in a film-like look and feel with HDR capability (since 2010). Originally developed for our ALEXA camera family, it had the same height and width as a 35mm film frame. Nowadays the ALEV III comes to live in different cameras and shapes: ALEXA 65 uses the A3X version - a 65mm sensor - whereas ALEXA LF and ALEXA Mini LF use A2X, the slightly smaller variant that covers a little bit more than "full frame".
Viewfinders
Our viewfinder are specifically designed to meet the needs of professional camera operators by offering an extremely fast image display, high image quality, accurate color reproduction and a number of features inherited from our optical viewfinders, including surround view.
Workflow
The concept behind the term "workflow" is the digital film lab. Hence being able to view, edit and "post" footage recorded with our digital cameras. We develop our own Software Development Kit (ARRIRAW SDK) for processing ARRIRAW data to RGB images and talk to 3rd party vendors to ensure support in their tools.
Video Room
Technical Data
| Name | ARRI Signature Prime 12/T1.8* | ARRI Signature Prime 15/T1.8 | ARRI Signature Prime 18/T1.8 | ARRI Signature Prime 21/T1.8 |
Lens Mount | LPL | LPL | LPL | LPL |
Aperture | T1.8 - T22 | T1.8 - T22 | T1.8 - T22 | T1.8 - T22 |
MOD from sensor plane (minimum marked distance) | 0.35 m / 14“ | 0.35 m / 14“ | 0.35 m / 14" | 0.35 m / 14" |
MOD from lens front | 0.07 m / 2.6" | 0.1 m / 4.3" | 0.13 m / 5.1" | 0.13 m / 5.1“ |
* Optical image rotation
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