The ARRI Alexa has had a meteoric rise in the digital cinema camera game. The ARRI name helped get people excited, but the sexy images and ease of use are what caused them to fall in love.
The camera assistants I know who have worked with Alexa basically worship the camera. A major part of that reason is its ability to be heavily customized for each production.
If you aren’t already taking advantage of it, the Alexa’s custom list values and custom user buttons could save you plenty of time on set and you’ll fall in love too.
Custom List Values
The main interface of the ARRI Alexa is through the camera’s side LCD display and accompanying six button layout.
When one of these six homescreen buttons is pressed, a list appears with different values for the different settings. Of these settings, FPS (frames per second), Shutter, and WB (white balance) are all customizable by the user.
The main draw to creating custom list values is speed and efficiency. While it may seem like it saves only a minimal amount of time, those small moments add up over the course of a 12 hour day.
If you know, for instance, that you will be shooting a lot of varispeed shots at a specific frame-rate, adding a custom value to the “FPS” setting will help you change the framerate quickly before you’re even told to do so.
Creating and Adding a Value to a Settings List
Each list has its own default values, but can be supplemented by user-supplied values. This process is easily done during a camera prep or a few moments of downtime on set.
If you’re a visual learner, use the ARRI Alexa Camera Simulator to follow along on your computer.
1. Using one of the six buttons, navigate to the desired setting list
2. Select “ADD” by pressing the button in the upper right corner
3. Use the jogwheel to the bottom right of the screen or the buttons to change the value
4. Press the jogwheel to confirm your selection where it will now appear in the list
Deleting a Value from a Settings List
When you’re working with the ARRI Alexa, it’s likely you’ll rent the camera which means others have manipulated the settings. Some rental houses reset the default values, but often times you’re left to clean up the lists.
1. Using one of the six buttons, navigate to the desired setting list
2. Select “DELETE” by pressing the button in the upper left corner
3. Using the jogwheel, choose the value to delete and press both the bottom left and right buttons simultaneously to confirm.
Note: There are certain default values that cannot be deleted that will appear grayed out.
Custom User Buttons
The other heavily programmable part of the ARRI Alexa is the “User” menu screen. When you press the “User” button, this is the screen that appears:
The functions for buttons 1, 2, and 3 mirror three buttons labeled on the left side of the camera (the operator’s side) while buttons 4 and 5 are accessed only through the “User” menu.
There are tons of functions that can be assigned to these buttons, listed below:
- None
- MON OUT surround
- MON OUT gamma
- MON OUT frame lines
- MON OUT status info
- MON OUT false color
- MON OUT peaking
- Frame lines color
- Return in active
- Toggle SxS
- EVF surround
- EVF gamma
- EVF frame lines
- EVF status info
- EVF zoom
- EVF false color
- EVF peaking
- Grab still frame
- Check last clip
- Circle clip
- Format Card 1
- Format Card 2
Labels: All User Buttons – User Buttons 1, 2, 3 Only – User Buttons 4, 5 Only
How to Change User Buttons
To customize the user buttons accessed from the “User” menu, follow these instructions:
1. Press the User button to the left of the Alexa’s screen.
2. Select “USER BUTTONS/EDIT” in the bottom right of the menu.
By default, the User menu buttons are set to “none”
3. Using the jogwheel to scroll and select, choose each function you wish to assign to each button.
For reference, buttons 1, 2, and 3 are located at the top as well as on the left side of the camera. Buttons 4 and 5 are the two bottom left buttons.
Common User Button Configurations
Once you have your “User” menu customized, you can access it anytime by pressing the “User” button. Let me tell you, having five menu items at such quick access is extremely useful.
When I shot with the ARRI Alexa, our buttons were customized in an odd way because of the primitive software pack (1.0), the amount of monitors we were using, and no SxS card functionality.
But if I were to step on set with an Alexa today, here are some configurations I might consider:
Configuration A.
Configuration B.
Configuration C.
The options are endless, so play around with the settings and don’t be afraid to try different setups until you find one that works best for you.
Take Control of Your Camera
By utilizing the customization options of the ARRI Alexa, you’re able to take further control of an already powerful camera. If programmed correctly, these two simple changes can make you that much more efficient and faster on set which could be the difference between being noticed and being invisible.
Want better control of the Alexa? Download your free copy of the ARRI Alexa Pocket Guide.