The Alexa 35 is arguably ARRI’s most coveted camera to date, but it also the produces the most digital-looking footage of any camera the venerable German manufacturer has yet released.
Noise
The noise of Alexa cameras is said to have been modeled on scans of actual film grain, resulting in a more pleasing, organic looking noise than that of most other cameras on the market. But not everyone is fond of noise, regardless of camera brand. Art Adams, currently lens specialist at ARRI, wrote several years back about the Alexa:
“At ISO 800 you get roughly +7/-7 stops above/below 18% gray. At ISO 400 you get +6/-8 with noticeably less noise. I shoot it at ISO 400 because I’m not a big noise fan. And, as Rocco said, VFX houses don’t like ISO 800. They much prefer 400. Many do rate it at 800 with great results, but they often have better noise reduction tools on hand than I do. I’ve shot at ISO 800 at night and it worked very well. I still like 400 better as it’s cleaner, and less noise means better detail resolution in shadows.
Whenever I’ve asked manufacturers how they determine their “native” ISOs I get an answer that basically boils down to how much noise someone in QC is willing to stomach. Sometimes it’s quite a lot. For some curious reason several cameras have “native” ISOs that put the same number of stops above and below middle gray, but surely that’s just an accident.”
David Mullen, ASC, didn’t agree with Adams, believing that halving the ISO resulted in a hyper-pristine image with less highlight protection that no longer resembled film, writing:
“The trouble with low ISO ratings on the Alexa is that the loss of extended overexposure detail when combined with the hyper clean image tends to make everything feel more digital, and one reason people like shooting with the Alexa is how much Log-C at 800 ISO is similar to a Cineon log scan of film, even if it means a little bit of noise (and it’s still less noise than 500 ISO film stock anyway.)”
Meanwhile, the Alexa 35 has the least noise of any ARRI camera thus far…
Saturation
An oft-quoted article by Art Adams attributed much of ARRI cameras’ resemblance to film to how saturation ‘locked into place’ when the waveform monitor hit 30-40%:
“By decoupling color saturation from luma beyond a certain level Arri seems to be deliberately playing against video’s strengths as an additive color system, and I think that’s a key aspect of what sets them apart. Video has its own look, and it’s a pleasing look in its own right, but bright saturated colors tend not to appeal to visually sophisticated viewers (see The Wagner Color Response Report, if you can find a copy). Film’s approach to color has more in common with painting than TV displays, and it’s an aesthetic that greatly appeals to many in our industry… including myself.”
The Alexa 35 and new REVEAL color science no longer desaturate colors the way earlier ARRI cameras did. Bright, saturated colors are often associated with the dreaded ‘video’ look.
Color Accuracy
Many filmmakers will say that they like pleasing color rendition, not accurate color. But the Alexa 35 produces the most accurate color of any Alexa to date. Listen to what Matthew Allard, ACS, had to say:
“We shouldn’t confuse accurate with the film look, because they are not the same thing. A filmic look isn’t really a naturalistic or accurate look and that is why so many people like it. The ALEXA 35 was designed so that the colors and image were more neutral than they were on previous ALEXA cameras. On previous ALEXA cameras, the default look (color science) was designed to be more filmic and not so neutral. This is the look we all know and love and have been accustomed to seeing for so many years. I think this is the reason that when people first see ALEXA 35 material that just has a standard LUT applied they come to the assumption that it doesn’t look like an older ALEXA. I think what ARRI has done with the ALEXA 35 is to give colorists a more neutral starting point to go in any direction you want. If you prefer the older look of the previous ALEXAs you can create a look that emulates that almost identically. The point I am trying to make is that the look is whatever you want it to be. You also have to remember who the target market is for this camera. The majority of footage shot on the ALEXA 35 is going to go through post production and end up in the hands of an experienced colorist.
Now, what I will objectively say is that I personally don’t think that the ALEXA 35 default LUT looks as good as the default LUT for the ALEXA Mini or ALEXA Mini LF, Amira, etc. I tend to make and use my own LUTs with the ALEXA 35. I would actually like to see ARRI make a LUT for the ALEXA 35 that mimics the look of the older ALEXAs.”
Fair to say that Allard prefers the older color science to that of the Alexa 35.
The Daejeon Chronicles 
Leave a Reply