ARRI Alexa cheap enough to own now?

[IronFilm]

4 hours ago, jax_rox said:

But that's exactly my point. If you think you're going to get a workable Alexa package for 'just' $10k you're sorely mistaken. You're probably looking at $500ea for V-Locks that will be viable. $250/filter for proper IRNDs. $5k for an appropriate head. Thousands for dovetails and base plates etc etc. 

I'm in agreement! :-) That was a point I made early on, that all the extra supporting gear adds a lot to the total cost (and adds to the complexity of the shoot too, you'll need an assistant or two). 

3 hours ago, Mattias Burling said:

What is the weight of it?

Depends exactly on how it is rigged up in the end. 

But an Arri Alexa would usually tend to be a bit heavier than a RED ONE I think, only by "a few kilos" though? :-P

3 hours ago, Mattias Burling said:

I bought a used but very nice fluid head for the Red One + Rig and it certainly wasn't $5K. It wasn't even $500. 

Brand new then $5K for a fluid head isn't unusual. But if a person is on a tight budget, then there is no need to spend that much. I didn't. 

3 hours ago, Mattias Burling said:

My guess is that you still can get some back on renting the camera out as well. 

 I wouldn't ever count on making much or even any money on rentals from an old Arri Alexa Classic. 
Especially if you're not already set up as a rental house, as then the overheads for that just won't make it worthwhile the return you'd get. 
 

 

4 hours ago, Mattias Burling said:

At least around here where rental places are almost nonexistent.

That just makes it even worse, as it indicts there is likely very little profitable demand for it whatsoever. 

[Mattias Burling]

48 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

That just makes it even worse, as it indicts there is likely very little profitable demand for it whatsoever. 

Not really. It would be pretty easy to rent it out for someone who knew what they where doing.

[jax_rox]

14 hours ago, Mattias Burling said:

What is the weight of it?

I bought a used but very nice fluid head for the Red One + Rig and it certainly wasn't $5K. It wasn't even $500. 

But still, you will need to spend some cash. Unless you get it all included. My guess is that you still can get some back on renting the camera out as well. At least around here where rental places are almost nonexistent.

It's about 7lbs heavier (body) than the RED One. Keeping in mind you'd need an Arri baseplate and dovetail to get it on a tripod. +battery plate and battery, + lens etc. 

It's a nearly 8kg camera (Alexa) vs RED One's 4.5kg. And the RED One is a heavy camera! If you can get a heavy duty for <$500 then great. Most won't.

As for rental, it's extremely dependant on your market. If it's a struggle to hire an Alexa where you are, it could mean that there's no demand for it. It could mean there's an unfulfilled demand. Without knowledge of your market, I couldn't say. Locally, in my market, you'd struggle to hire out an Alexa Classic, particularly if you rig it up with cheap accessories (SD card SxS adapters, for example....). Everyone wants Minis. You can't hire out Amiras. It's Studios on high-end stuff and Minis for everything else...

10 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Brand new then $5K for a fluid head isn't unusual. But if a person is on a tight budget, then there is no need to spend that much. I didn't. 

For what though...? Your F3? The F3 body is 2.4kg. The Alexa is almost 8kg. You can get away with a much lighter tripod for an F3, even rigged out, than you can with an Alexa. I mean, you can try and put an Alexa on an inappropriate head to save some money, but man I don't think I would... 

[Julian Tatum]

I'm still really interested if anyone had any luck finding out if the SxS to XQD card trick actually worked??

 

[IronFilm]

On 11/8/2017 at 1:14 PM, jax_rox said:

As for rental, it's extremely dependant on your market. If it's a struggle to hire an Alexa where you are, it could mean that there's no demand for it. It could mean there's an unfulfilled demand. Without knowledge of your market, I couldn't say. Locally, in my market, you'd struggle to hire out an Alexa Classic, particularly if you rig it up with cheap accessories (SD card SxS adapters, for example....). Everyone wants Minis. You can't hire out Amiras. It's Studios on high-end stuff and Minis for everything else...

I wasn't necessarily commenting from the perspective of mainly having it as a rental, rather the focus being on as an independent owner op or own content producer. 

 

On 11/8/2017 at 1:14 PM, jax_rox said:

For what though...? Your F3? The F3 body is 2.4kg. The Alexa is almost 8kg. You can get away with a much lighter tripod for an F3, even rigged out, than you can with an Alexa. I mean, you can try and put an Alexa on an inappropriate head to save some money, but man I don't think I would... 

Don't need to spend $5K, there are $1.5K new tripods I'd feel fine about using a secondhand Arri Alexa Classic with. 

 

1 hour ago, Julian Tatum said:

I'm still really interested if anyone had any luck finding out if the SxS to XQD card trick actually worked??

Likewise super curious myself, at the very least the next chance I'm on a shoot with an Arri Alexa Classic (but who knows when that is) I will bring along my SxS/SD adapters to give them a spin and try my luck. 

[Laurier]

Note that the alexa classic usually have a 16x9 smaller sensor, they don thave the full 4:3 sensors for anamorphic.

[IronFilm]

New low price on eBay, I see a few listed for sub US$8K now:

$7.5K Buy it Now:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Arri-Alexa-Classic-EV-w-High-Speed-License/263383384018

$7,7950 opening price:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Arri-Alexa-Classic-EV-w-High-Speed-License-4794-hours/253305588137

This one currently has bidding at five and half thousand USD, but the seller has only very limited amount of feedback, so I'd be a bit suspicious/cautious:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ARRI-ALEXA-PLUS-PL-mount/253302096430

[zerocool22]

Ha crazy times, glad I didnt pay 20000€ last year for one  
I am sticking with the ursa mini pro for a while. Mainly grip(gimbal/glidecam) for me is the problem with the Alexa, as with the ursa mini pro it is not. And the Alexa mini's are still hella expensive. But I found this video online, seems the ump is still best bang for buck. 

 

[IronFilm]

1 hour ago, zerocool22 said:

And the Alexa mini's are still hella expensive.

Found an Alexa Mini going for cheap just for you ;-) 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Arriflex-Alexa-Mini-Camera-Body-for-parts-Arri-K1-0003873/263367461151

Sub $1K :-P 
 

[Cinegain]

Ah, was still looking for sometime nice and decorative to go on the mantelpiece, this might just be it.

[IronFilm]

So when visiting a rental house today (as was looking at lighting gear for tomorrow's shoot), I asked them about their Alexa. 

They don't have an Arri Alexa Classic, but have an Arri Alexa XT (uses SxS too). 

He wasn't however keen to let me try out my SxS cards/adapters from my F3 :-( 

[IronFilm]

Redusers have a few thoughts on this topic over in this thread:

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?164153-Thoughts-on-Alexa-classic

Also worth a read perhaps:
http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=74603  (Alexa Classic Owners)
http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=74521 (Arriflex d-21 useful in 2017?)
http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=75339 (Alexa classic EV power options)

[Sage]

There may be a more cost effective option  

[webrunner5]

8 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Redusers have a few thoughts on this topic over in this thread:

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?164153-Thoughts-on-Alexa-classic
 

Adam Montville had a reply that to me makes sense.

"my feelings on it:
For a 1080p (or 2.8k RAW external recorder) for 10k +recorder, when the Blackmagic 2.5k is only $500-1500 on Ebay. I don't think the Alexa Classic is worth 10x the price, when you can rig up the Blackmagic for way less than the Alexa Classic. (Purely talking Classic Alexa, and not the newer models)

The 2.5k Blackmagic has RAW, ProRes, and pretty good color and dynamic range, that I thought about going back to it, for how cheap they are now. Neither option is great for future proofing, but for Internet work, I doubt anyone could tell the difference."

 

This is my part.

There is some damn killer ass video in this short. Hell of a lot better than a lot of High end stuff if you ask me. And I Like this kind of look! Not every second of it is great but a hell of a lot of it is. And this is from a 800 dollar camera on ebay at lot of the time. And a hell of a lot of us have lenses that fit it. A BMCC is a hell of a camera for the money.

 

[Sage]

It is a fantastic little camera with a great image

(& soon, there may be no separating the two..)

[Tim Sewell]

Image quality is only half the story at most, surely. My understanding is that high end productions use Alexas because they rarely go wrong, but when they do there's an unrivalled international network of companies that can repair or replace them at extremely short notice. Also they are an integral part of an established professional workflow, from support and grip through to edit and grading, that's entirely familiar to industry professionals in every corner of the world.

[mercer]

4 hours ago, Sage said:

It is a fantastic little camera with a great image

(& soon, there may be no separating the two..)

Sage, I really appreciate the work you have put into your Alexa/GH5 LUTS, and they look great, but I don’t think it is really honest to say that there will be no difference between the GH5 and an Alexa... the GH5 is amazing but the 2K image from the Alexa mutilates the Cinema 4K image from the GH5... As it should.

[Sage]

1 hour ago, mercer said:

Sage, I really appreciate the work you have put into your Alexa/GH5 LUTS, and they look great, but I don’t think it is really honest to say that there will be no difference between the GH5 and an Alexa... the GH5 is amazing but the 2K image from the Alexa mutilates the Cinema 4K image from the GH5... As it should.

Thanks Mercer. This is a question that has been in the back of my mind since I released it - why haven't GH5s been sold out, why is the camera world so calm? My conclusion is that in general, awareness of what exactly it is needs more mustard.

With what's coming up next, there will be significantly more effort put into getting comparative side by side shots between the cameras (of all models) in every manner of situation (all exposures, saturated colors, and skin-tones represented). It will make 'no separating them' really come together for everyone.

[IronFilm]

5 hours ago, Tim Sewell said:

Image quality is only half the story at most, surely. My understanding is that high end productions use Alexas because they rarely go wrong, but when they do there's an unrivalled international network of companies that can repair or replace them at extremely short notice. Also they are an integral part of an established professional workflow, from support and grip through to edit and grading, that's entirely familiar to industry professionals in every corner of the world.

To sum it up: "risk minimization".

When you're spending millions on a movie (or tens and tens of thousands on a 30 second ad spot), then you don't want to take unnecessary risks. You go with the tried and proven.

[IronFilm]

13 hours ago, webrunner5 said:

There is some damn killer ass video in this short. Hell of a lot better than a lot of High end stuff if you ask me. And I Like this kind of look! Not every second of it is great but a hell of a lot of it is. And this is from a 800 dollar camera on ebay at lot of the time. And a hell of a lot of us have lenses that fit it. A BMCC is a hell of a camera for the money.

Won't deny the BMCC MFT (don't talk about the BMCC EF... ick!) is *amazing* value for money!

But if you've got a budget and shooting for work, then an Arri Alexa can still make a *lot* of sense with all its many benefits over a BMCC. As even ten thousand dollars, if you're constantly shooting with it, is nothing at all really when spread out over a couple of years of shooting.