ARRI has announced the ALEXA 65, which is essentially a medium format cinema camera with a 65mm sensor and 6K resolution. With a 65mm format, the camera is creeping toward the territory of the IMAX 70mm film format.
The true sensor size measures 54.12 x 25.58mm and it offers a sensor resolution of 6560 x 3102, or 20.3MP. The way IMAX runs 65mm film (horizontally, rather than vertically), it results in a final image that is 69.6 x 48.5mm and produces roughly 18K-equivalent resolution.
Of course, we’ve still got a ways to go before we see a true digital IMAX sensor.
As noted, the ALEXA 65 is basically a medium format cinema camera with that large image plane. In fact, ARRI reworked Hasselblad HC Series medium format lenses to create its new proprietary XPL mount system so that the lens circle would cover the large sensor.
The current lens lineup includes a 50-110mm zoom and eight primes from 24-300mm. ARRI says that the XPL mount will allow for adaptation of other medium format lenses in the future.
In addition to the new Hasselblad lens conversions, ARRI has adapted its own Vintage 765 lenses, which were originally developed for the ARRIFLEX 765 for a more classic film look.
The ALEXA 65 will only record ARRIRAW format and pushes out about 850MB per second to onboard storage for 11 minutes when rolling at 24fps.
ARRI says the camera will deliver over 14 stops of dynamic range and offers sensitivity range of ISO 200-3200 with a base sensitivity of ISO 800.
Currently, the ARRI ALEXA 65 is not available for sale and can only be rented through ARRI Rental.
[ARRI Rental via No Film School]
This would likely be in the $120-150k price range if it were for sale. I’d expect the rentals to start at about $800-$1000/day, not including media and lenses. Depending on who you rent from, you may need to pay for a DIT from the rental house to come along with the camera as well. Wish all my projects had this kind of budget!
I’ve worked with ARRIRAW from the Alexa super-35’s family in the past and it’s nice to work with, but personally prefer the RED workflow in post a lot more. Whenever you talk to a DP, they usually say they prefer shooting with the ARRI cameras though. Maybe this new sensor means better performance in post?
The ARRI base ISO is usually around 800, which is the same as the RED EPIC. The Sony F55 is a base ISO of 1250 (so they claim). The RED DRAGON (a 6k camera as well for $50k-ish) has a base ISO of 2000 and it’s really clean. I’ve pushed RED footage WELL beyond the typical limits in post and still ended up with great results… have not had the similar results with the ARRI footage. Granted they weren’t in “shoot out” scenarios or anything like that – just from post experience.
Good to see some excellent competition in the digital 6K front for RED to deal with. Hope this pushes them to continue to reduce prices on their other cameras and improve quality. Competition at this level is dwindling a bit.
Just imagine how GREAT will look future kitten videos on YouTube!