It’s time to open up the digital audio workstation and look at the basics of common tools used in post production audio from Equalizers, Compressors, Noise Reduction, and Delay effects.

ARRI's New ALEXA HD is a 'Budget' Version of the Industry-Leading Digital Cinema Camera

Want that sweet ALEXA look but can’t quite afford the full price to buy one? Or need the rental to be just a little cheaper? What if you don’t need that fancy schmancy RAW option? Then the new ARRI ALEXA HD might be in your immediate future. ARRI has taken everything that’s good about the camera series — like the 14-stop 800 ISO sensor, 10-bit Log-C ProRes, SxS cards, and the intuitive menu system — and is passing the cost savings on to the customer. Here is AbelCine’s Mitch Gross explaining exactly what this camera has to offer for users who want their ARRI just a little cheaper: 

So what about price? This isn’t going to be Canon DSLR affordable (obviously), but it is a good $10,000 to $20,000 cheaper than a comparable setup from one of the lower-end ALEXA models that has the ability to shoot RAW. It was looking like this might be a steal for the hardware at around $30,000 for body, but it must be purchased with a few key components that bring the price up a bit. Thanks to Katie Shipsides from AbelCine for the clarification on Twitter (AbelCine is selling the camera exclusively for ARRI):

Alexa HD Body Only is $30,300 but MUST be purchased w/ ProRes Codec, ALEXA SxS Module, ARRI QT File Format = $44,008

AbelCine has a starter package available for $65,000, but you might be able to find a used ALEXA with RAW for somewhere around that price. The base price, however, is probably the cheapest you’re going to find an ALEXA that could theoretically shoot with some cards and a battery, but this will likely appeal to shows already using ALEXA, who want a few additional cameras but don’t need the extra capabilities, like the 4:3 sensor or RAW of higher-end models. We’ll see if it will do anything to bring back users who might be moving to the F55, but I think if ARRI had figured out a way to get a full starter package under $30,000 they’d really be putting serious pressure on Sony and Canon.

Links:ARRI ALEXA HD Body 

Hot on the heels of the February announcement of the award-winning Ninja Blade, Atomos have announced two new products that cover the budgetary gamut of external recording needs. Click through to watch Joe Marine’s interview with Atomos Business Development Manager Will Thompson at NAB to discuss functionality, pricing and availability:

Shogun:

4K recording to ProRes, Cinema DNG RAW, Avid DNx up to 30p or 60i

HD recording up to 120fps

Fully calibrated 1920 x 1200 touchscreen monitor

Records to 2.5″ Harddrives and SSDs

Waveform monitoring, vectorscope, focus peaking

Cut and tag editing for the metadata of the clips

HDMI and SDI

$1,995

Shipping August / September

Ninja Star:

No monitor, ProRes recorder

$295

C fast cards

HDMI out

Targeted for DJI helicopters, B-cameras etc

Shipping mid-May

Share your thoughts on the new Atomos recorders in the comments below and stay up to date with this week’s announcements at our NAB master post.

To find out more, be sure to check out the Atomos website.