PRESS RELEASE
SYDNEY, 15 December 2014 – HyperFocal™, one of Sydney’s top boutique camera rental houses, recently made the decision to increase and upgrade its fleet of ARRI ALEXA cameras due to demand from its customers and the changing world of television production.
HyperFocal™ owner and DOP Kevin Scott explained, “We’ve had an ALEXA classic for a while which I used for my own personal shoots and that we also rented to our customers. In truth the ALEXA was such a popular rental that it was rarely available for me to use so we decided to buy a second camera.”
As a rental house with the very latest in lenses including Cooke anamorphics Kevin leant towards the ALEXA XT for this purchase due to the camera’s clever 4:3 sensor.
He added, “As well as the great 4:3 sensor I was very impressed with the ALEXA XT’s reliability and stunning image quality which makes it such a joy to work with in post. The reliability factor makes a huge difference to us and our clients as it means you can take just one camera somewhere remote and never have to worry about a second or backup camera. Not many manufacturers can make this claim. I’ve never had any failures from any of my ALEXAs despite the fact that they are constantly working their socks off.”
In his role as a DOP Kevin has also seen the television industry changing in the way it shoots, something that the ALEXA has helped. He continued, “With the XT I record onboard ARRIRAW when I’m shooting TVCs, something that previously was just too hard. The ability to do this simply combined with the 4:3 sensor has created a whole new set of people that now shoot ARRIRAW for TVCs. The ALEXA is a camera that’s helped change the industry. It’s also the camera of choice for 70% of the shoots we are involved with.”
As an owner and an operator Kevin also has to look at the wider implications of the technology he buys and uses, particularly in post. He explained, “The ALEXA is very easy to work with in post. Its ease of use and straightforward workflow is a real bonus as it makes post cheaper and quicker, something that’s always welcomed. The XT is also less compressed than many other cameras and obviously ARRIRAW has no compression at all so your options are many and varied. There are other cameras with higher resolution but the ALEXA still has superior colour rendition and quality which makes it very hard to beat.”
Such was Kevin’s success with his first ALEXA XT that he traded his ALEXA classic for an additional XT, something he and his clients were particularly pleased about.
He added, “There is such a great demand for anamorphic work these days which ALEXA XT is perfect for. Our XTs are used mainly on TVCs and music clips but our clients often use them on drama where two cameras are needed. Our clients also love the XTs because of the way they are prepared and instantly ready to use, something we put a great deal of emphasis on at HyperFocal™.”
Kevin has taken his ALEXAs far and wide from studio work in Sydney to exotic offshore locations, always with similar results. He concluded, “My last job was a TVC for Sara Lee in an apartment in Bondi. Before that the ALEXAs were in Vanuatu and on Norfolk Island. All worked perfectly. One of the other best things about the ALEXA XT is its low light performance as it actually sees more than I can see due to its high dynamic range. This has proved a huge advantage when we’ve been shooting a setting sun over Sydney harbour and in a Bondi apartment lit with just 8 candles. There’s also the service and support from Stefan and the team at ARRI Australia which is simply excellent. To be honest we could get ARRI equipment slightly cheaper overseas but we want and need the support locally. ARRI Australia are always very quick to respond, very easy to deal with and very knowledgeable. Even when our requests make timeframes tight they always deliver. All in all a great camera and great service to go with it.”
For more on HyperFocal™ go to: www.hyperfocal.com.au