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[Ben J]

I recently did my first shoot with an Alexa in Sri Lanka on a documentary, lots of handheld and run and gun style filming without a camera assistant and pulling focus through the lens on a set of Zeiss CP2 primes and lightweight FF. Generally I really enjoyed the experience and the Alexa worked really well in this mode.

The one area of slight concern i had was the comfort and sharpness of the Alexa viewfinder. The image is fantastic and large agreed, but I have to say that I found the image very soft and lacking in edge detail which made pulling through the lens, especially on wide angle lenses pretty tricky. . Im sure Arri have tried to make the Alexa viewfinder image as pleasing as possible to those accustomed to an optical viewfinder to aid their transistion to electronic viewing but many of us are very accustomed to working with electronic viewfinders in both "P" and "interlaced" modes and I just wondered if there were any plans to add a "Peaking" style adjustment to the viewfinder or some kind of live focus assist?

( i should add the "smooth" feature on the Alexa is a great help in reducing progressive scan shutter effects so really well done on that its a great feature)

Also i think the false colour and zoom buttons on the viewfinder should have the option to push once = on, push again =off, as well as the current, keep pushed, to operate setting. i found myself running out of hands as i attempted to check focus and exposure in handheld mode

I guess its all just firmware updates and its early days still but they are ones I would love to see as this could be a great documentary camera and environment seldom blessed with assistants and video playback with others checking along with the operator.

Overall though, what a camera....

[Gerhard Riesenhuber]

Hello Ben,

If you push the exposure- button with one finger and than the zoom- button with another one,
then the false- color- mode stays until you push the exposure- button once again. Same is
with the zoom mode.

Best
Gerhard

[Ben J]

Ahh. Many thanks for that Gerhard. Should have read the manual more thoroughly!
regards BEN

[Mitch Gross]

You can program the User Buttons to (among other things) give zoom and false color.  If I'm handheld or running & gunning, the standard buttons are very difficult to reach comfortably.

[Gerhard Riesenhuber]

You're welcome Mitch's tip is also a good one.

Best
Gerhard

[lkarman]

I now own an Alexa and am using one from a rental house here in Los Angeles. I am experiencing some difficulty with the sharpness of the viewfinder image: I adjust the diopter till the center dot is very sharp but the camera image looks soft. This is more apparent on wide lenses. Nothing seems sharp. I asked the rental house about this and they said others had the same problem, Arri knows about it and is working on the problem. Is this true?
I recently spent 5 months operating an F35 and never experienced anything like this.

[Michael Borenstein]

Hello,

Is it possible that the image is soft because the diopter changes during operation (when pressure is applied to it)? What happens when you zoom in with the evf zoom to check focus?  I only ask this because the image and the center dot are on the same focal plane in the EVF, so one shouldn't be in focus and the other out of focus.

Another option is that you can bring the EVF in to your local service point and we can check it out for you and make sure it's within factory specs.  

We will soon have a diopter upgrade kit for purchase that does make the diopter a bit tighter.
Not sure if this is the issue you experience.

Mike

[lkarman]

Thanks Michael. I do realize they are on the same plane. And it's not the problem with the moving diopter, although it does exist. I've temporarily solved that with a Bongo tie (rubber band) wrapped around behind it.
Have not played much with the viewfinder zoom function.

[Ben J]

Hi Michael
i think the main issue that some of us are struggling with is the lack of a "peaking" or "EVF Detail" adjustment for the viewfinder that we are accustomed to having on other cameras.

 I recently operated on a F35 for 5 weeks doing lots of night shoots and we often had our viewfinder peaking and detail sat way up to enable us to offer accurate reporting of quality of focus for the focus pullers and director.In fact we often manipulated the contrast and brightness controls on the EVF too so that we could see into the dark of the scene at all!

I think the issue is that the image in the Alexa viewfinder is inherently quite soft in appearance and lacks edge detail, so when pulling focus through the viewfinder it is very difficult to gauge focus accurately, particularly on wide angle primes.

I think this situation could be resolved relatively easily through a firmware upgrade  to allow some kind of user adjustment of the viewfinder detail maybe assignable to a user button? This would not of course affect the "collapsing" diopter setting when pressure is applied which is a separate issue that I understand is being addressed currently. I too have had to resort to the cable tie round the viewfinder option to maintain a 9 setting which looks a little ugly on such a fine looking camera.!

As i mentioned in my earlier post I dont want these issues to detract to much from the qualities of the camera of which there are very many. I am aware though that amongst other operators/DP's I have spoken to the veiwfinder is the single biggest issue people seem to be having with an otherwise excellent camera.

BEN J

[Michael Borenstein]

Ben,

Thank you for your feedback.  I will forward this on to the product management for further review. 

Regards,
Mike

[nick paton acs]

I'd like to chime in here also with my 2 cents on the viewfinder...yes my diopter needs a lock, I'd love peaking and a light trap so I don't need to be paranoid about a burnt out viewfinder would be terrific. Maybe a light trap viewfinder akin to the one off the D21 would be great!

[lkarman]

Could there be a way of increasing the "detail" in a future setting for the viewfinder?

[Guenter N.]

The EVF already has a zoom function that gives you pixel to pixel resolution.
You won't get more "detail" than what is there.
One thing that would be nice, to be able to dial in and store a specific area of the sensor you want to look at.
EVF peaking is planned for a future firmware upgrade and will become available soon.

[Michael Borenstein]

Nick,

You can buy or use most of the eyecups with the shutter/light trap that go on our analog cameras.  Let me know if you need a quote for one of those. 

Regards,
Mike

[lkarman]

I agree about being able to move the magnified area around the frame. We were just saying that today on set. Perhaps once magnification is locked in the area could be moved around by turning the dial on the side of the viewfinder?