ARRI ALEXA 35: Sensor and Workflow

The ALEXA 35 introduced a 17-stop sensor, REVEAL Color Science, ARRI Textures, 19 recording formats and Live Link metadata.

Archive translation. Specifications, services and availability reflect the original publication date in 2022. Verify current compatibility before production use.

In brief: An online article by Uwe Agnes, editor-in-chief of Film & TV Kamera, examined the ARRI ALEXA 35.

Key specifications and workflow:

  • Image pipeline: The camera introduced greater dynamic range, improved low-light performance and richer colour reproduction. Two central features were REVEAL Color Science, tuned for the new sensor, and ARRI Textures, which offered selectable image textures.
  • Dynamic range and sensitivity: ARRI specified 17 stops of dynamic range and an exposure-index range from EI 160 to 6400. Stray-light suppression was intended to retain the available contrast range for demanding HDR capture.
  • REVEAL Color Science: The processing chain included an improved debayer algorithm, a new colour engine and colour space, LogC4 encoding and LogC4 LUTs. The article described REVEAL as backwards compatible.
  • Creative control: ARRI Textures let filmmakers adjust image character beyond the fixed standard textures used by earlier ALEXA cameras, changing attributes such as grain, contrast and detail response.
  • Operation and accessories: The ALEXA 35 combined processing features from larger ALEXA systems with a body closer to the ALEXA Mini. It supported 19 recording formats, in-camera downsampling and anamorphic de-squeezing. ARRI’s Live Link Metadata plugin could pass lens and real-time streaming metadata to Unreal Engine for mixed-reality and VR production.

Further reading: The full technical discussion was published by Film & TV Kamera. Camera behaviour, recording formats and metadata integration should be tested with the intended lenses, media and downstream pipeline before production.