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Red vs Alexa scenes

12 Comments Published by Matthew Jeppsen August 16th, 2010 in Cameras, News, Research

Here’s a simple side-by-side comparison of the same test scenes that show how Red and Alexa handle it both pre and post grade. It is not explicitly stated, but I would assume that the Red One was equipped with a MX sensor upgrade. Caveat emptor. Watch below.

Arri Alexa vs Red One from D-Vision on Vimeo.

Unrelated to this test, Bill Bennett has also posted some framegrabs from a recent Alexa shoot that show good highlight handling in a technically challenging situation (sun reflections from silver car). See here.

12 Responses to “Red vs Alexa scenes”  

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  1. 1 Scott Simmons Aug 16th, 2010 at 11:51 am

    Hmmm …. I think what that says to me is that a good colorist could make a watchable image out of either!

  2. 2 Norman Hollyn Aug 16th, 2010 at 12:10 pm

    Good point Scott.

    It also says that, compressed down to a Vimeo stream, both of them look great. For web video work, it’s about price point then.

  3. 3 Robert Ruffo Aug 16th, 2010 at 5:39 pm

    I have shot Red extensively, and have been able to get great skin tones, as nice as the Alexa shots here. The colorist here seems to be deliberately screwing up the Red footage.

    With Red you get: 4K, easy RAW workflow with CS5 and other tools (and RAW in Red is RAW, as much or even more than DSLR stills is truly RAW,) and a much lower price.

    With Alexa you get SLIGHTLY (it seems, hard to say until I test shoot myself) better highlight roll-off – I’m talking you’d be hard pressed to tell a difference in most situations – and a Prores module that forces you to bake in a look, 2K and a much higher price.

    Honestly I don’t get it.

  4. 4 Peter Aug 16th, 2010 at 7:02 pm

    Robert you AINT alone buddy – I mean take a look at the ‘high end’ cams sony are rolling out – capped at HD resolutions for 2-3 times the price as an Alexa???

    Sure they are built for different workflow situations etc etc but at the end of the day it still leaves you scratching your head.

    I would personally wait until the ACTUAL Epics are rolling of the shelf WITH the magic feature #21 which is some kind of HDR voodoo. I have a feeling Red is going to destroy Alexa and anything else that gets in its way.

  5. 5 Robert Ruffo Aug 17th, 2010 at 12:22 am

    Hey Peter,

    Thanks for letting me know I’m not alone/crazy.

    Before MX, F35 D21 and some others bested Red in terms of dynamic range and color fidelity (albeit not resolution) and so they made some sense, enough that I sometimes rented them, but now, a Red one with an MX upgrade – let’s say about 25K for a working package (of course not counting tripod lights etc, but you need those for any camera) seems simply superior, at lower price, period. I’m not even talking about Epic, just a Red MX. What better camera is there?

    People say things like “the right tool for the right job” but yet no one seems to be able to tell me in which situation Alexa would be the right tool when Red MX is not. It’s not lighter, it’s not smaller, it’s less sensitive to light…

    As for workflow – you can drop r3Ds right into a Premiere Pro timeline, and with a $4500 Red Rocket you can transcode in real time. What better workflow would anyone want?

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  12. 12 Ken Nov 12th, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    We used the Alexa on a film last weekend and the ability to playback scenes was very nice, but the Alexa would freeze at times and needed to restart and retake the scene. The camera is nice, but it does have its problems.