ALEXA: ON THE FRONTIER - ARRI Lighting Rental

ALEXA PLUS 4:3 FOR
ANAMORPHIC
ANAMORPHIC
True CinemaScope® with the
ALEXA family of cameras
Shooting with anamorphic lenses for 2.39:1 widescreen
distribution, a process often referred to as CinemaScope (trademark
20th Century Fox), results in unique images that have long been
appreciated by cinematographers, directors and the viewing public
alike. The fundamentals of the process apply to digital acquisition
in exactly the same way as they always have done to film, so long
as one has a sensor that is about the same size and shape as a
film frame, and a viewfinder that can de-squeeze the compressed
image. The ALEXA system ticks both of these boxes.
At NAB 2012 ARRI is announcing the ALEXA Plus 4:3, a new
ALEXA model that has similar functionality to the ALEXA Plus but
features a 4:3 Super 35 sensor, the ability to switch from 16:9
sensor mode to 4:3 sensor mode, and built-in licenses for high speed
shooting, DNxHD recording and anamorphic de-squeeze.
The ALEXA Plus 4:3 joins the ALEXA Studio and ALEXA M, which
already have 4:3 sensors, rounding out a line-up that now represents
the perfect solution for anamorphic productions. The Studio might
typically function as an A-camera, the Plus 4:3 as a B-camera and
the M as a compact, versatile C-camera.
8 ARRINEWS
Anamorphic lenses squeeze the image by a factor of two, thus
projecting a 1.195:1 aspect ratio image onto the sensor. When
using sensors that are natively 16:9 or even wider, it is necessary
to crop the sides, resulting in a much smaller used sensor area
and a different angle of view for the lens.
With the ALEXA 4:3 cameras, the full area of the sensor is used
and a much higher image quality retained. In addition, the unique
optical characteristics of anamorphic lenses – the magic at the
heart of anamorphic cinematography – are rendered faithfully and
fully in the digital image.
4:3
Sensor