The Arri ALEXA XT has starting shipping across the US, and we recently put our hands on one to see what it could do. The ALEXA XT features the XR, or extended recording, module that allows you to record in ARRIRAW, along with ProRes or DNxHD.

The new Arri ALEXA HD camera is designed for economical and efficient HD video workflow. It shares the same sensor, color processing, controls, and menus, as well as accessories and software license options as the rest of the ALEXA line.

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II undoubtedly kicked off the large-sensor-in-a-small-body movement, so it's no surprise that Canon would carry this momentum forward with the EOS-1D C. While the Mark II started as a still camera that conveniently shot video, it's apparent that the 1D C was built with filmmakers in mind. As the first HDSLR with 4K and LOG recording capabilities, the 1D C introduces new possibilities for productions of any size.

ARRI has greatly expanded its range of Professional Camera Accessories (PCA) and now makes kits designed to fit other manufacturers' cameras. Their newest PCA kit is designed specifically for the Sony PMW-F5 & PMW-F55 cameras. All ARRI products are notable for both the quality of their construction and the elegance of their design, both of which take into consideration the way working camera people really use their tools.

Sony's new PMW-F5 and PMW-F55 cameras build upon the popular PMW-F3, and feature a Super-35mm size sensor with 2K and 4K recording options. Both the F5 and F55 are suitable for many different styles of production and can be customized with lenses and accessories to make them even more versatile solutions. Some of the existing accessories for the F3 are interchangeable with the F5 and F55, but the new form factor means some support accessories will be unique. In this article, we present the many different lenses and accessories that can be used with the cameras.

Today, Arri announced their new ALEXA XT (Xtended Technology) cameras, featuring in-camera recording of ARRIRAW up to 120fps. The SxS card module on the side of the ALEXA cameras is being replaced by an XR (Xtended Recording) recording module, which accepts new high performance Codex XR Capture Drive media.

At our recent AbelCine EXPO: Innovations in Lighting, cinematographer David Mullen, ASC spoke about the more unusual lighting challenges from some of the feature films and television series he has photographed. In the excerpt above, David explains how he dealt with the stylized photographing of an exterior daytime landscape that was actually a huge indoor set while shooting The Smell of Success.

A few weeks ago Arri dropped off their new MFF-2 follow focus for us to play with. I spent some time looking at the features and differences between the MFF-2 and the popular MFF-1 follow focus.

When Arri released the SUP 4.0 firmware for the ALEXA, they also added the ability to create color 'Looks' to load into the camera. These Look files are similar to scene files found in other cameras, but they aren't burned into the Log C recording of the camera. Instead, they can be used in post by converting them to LUTs using Arri's LUT Generator. These looks then travel as metadata with the clips recorded (through the XML file). Look files can be created by saving a still from the camera and loading it into the Arri Look Creator, which can then modify the still and output a look.