ARRI ALEXA 35 Software Update Package SUP 1.0.4

The ARRI ALEXA 35 Software Update Package SUP 1.0.4 is a bug fix SUP. While ARRI is working on some new features that will be released in future ALEXA 35 Software Update Packages (SUPs), this bug fix SUP is the direct result of feedback from the field.

The SUP 1.0.4 squashes some minor annoying bugs that were uncovered during field use and it adds numerous fixes and stability improvements.

While no new features have been added, among the resolved issues are metadata improvements, lens data improvements and issues related to playback.

ALEXA 35 SUP 1.0.4 can be installed on all previously shipped ALEXA 35 cameras, and ARRI recommends updating from any previous ALEXA 35 SUP to SUP 1.0.4. However, they do not recommend updating to a new SUP in the middle of a production. Please read through the Release Notes, which contain detailed update instructions, before you update your camera.

Please note that ALEXA SUP 1.0.4 is not compatible with Hi‑5 SUP 1.3 or earlier and RIA‑1 SUP 1.2.1 or earlier. Both Hi‑5 and RIA‑1 must be updated to SUP 2.0 or higher to work with ALEXA 35. The release of Hi‑5 SUP 2.0 and RIA‑1 SUP 2.0 is planned for shortly after the Release of ALEXA 35 SUP 1.0.4.

It is possible to downdate from ALEXA 35 SUP 1.0.4 to an older SUP. However, MVF-2 viewfinders with serial numbers above 6849 and Compact Drive 2TB units with serial numbers starting with ‘273xxxxx’ are not compatible with ALEXA 35 SUPs older than SUP 1.0.3 Revision 7.

All existing Codex Compact Drive 1TB must be updated to continue to function with ALEXA 35. New drives are shipped with updated firmware. If a drive that needs a firmware update is inserted into the camera an update prompt will be displayed. After the drive has finished updating the camera will remain in update mode so that multiple drives can be updated. To restore normal operation, reboot the camera. All data on the drive will be irreversibly erased. Please back up your data before the update!

Note: Updated Compact Drive 1TB and the new Compact Drive 2TB will be supported by ALEXA 35 and ALEXA Mini LF starting with Mini LF SUP 7.1.1.

If you have not done so already, please make sure you register your camera using ARRI's online customer registration. Your registration ensures that you receive information about future software updates as soon as they are available. If you register your new camera within one month of purchase, you will get a 12-month extended warranty for free. You can find the registration here.

Not possible to set Enhanced Sensitivity (ES) via Hi-5. Currently, it is not possible to select Enhanced Sensitivity exposure indexes via the Hi-5. Those EI values must be selected via the user button, Viewfinder, or Web Remote.

ARRI GPIO box GPB-1 is not fully supported. The user button #8 on the GPB-1 can currently not be used.

USB stick may delay camera bootup. In rare cases, a connected USB stick may substantially delay the camera bootup. Remove the USB stick beforerebooting in that case. Take care that your USB Stick is using the exFAT file system, other file systems are known to cause issues

Boot loop on WCU-4 with certain /i Lenses. Attaching certain Lenses that use the Cooke /i Protocol may send the WCU-4 into a boot loop. Please deactivate the Lens Mount and use LDA Tables in that case.

Some /i lenses show missing or incorrect lens scales. For a few lenses using the Cooke /i protocol lens scales are either missing or not displayed correctly. Use LDA tables for these lenses instead.

EF Mount LBus – motors not recognized. When using the EF Mount LBus and attaching a lens that has no internal motors a CForce motor attached to the Mount is not recognized. Attach the motor to the LBus connector on the camera in that case.

MVF-2 shows only ARRI logo and color bars after reboot of the camera. In rare instances, the MVF-2 flip-out monitor will continue to show the ARRI logo after the camera has finished booting. In this case, the OLED in the eyepiece will show color bars. In some instances, the image may stay black.Reboot the camera to resolve the issue.

Look Intensity is not adjustable for the Default look. The Default look does not support Look Intensity. Any adjustment of the setting will have no visual impact.

Frame lines may be displayed in the surround view when using master magnification. When using surround view in conjunction with master magnification the frame line may be displayed in the surround area for certain magnifications while it should not be visible.

Setting a frame line after a codec switch returns error message. After changing the recording codec from ARRIRAW to Apple ProRes or vice versa, setting a frame line may return an error message. In this case, restart the camera and set the frame line again.

SDI 422 12G Frame Rates 48 and 59.94 may not be supported by external devices. 48p is a format which is not supported by every SDI receiver. E.g. for the Blackmagic SDI to HDMI 12G converter, 48p support was added with the latest update. Check the compatibility of the grabber card/firmware with this format or verify with some other 12G SDI source.

Changing resolutions may put SDI into unsupported formats. When an SDI output has been set to SDI format 422 6G UHD 24p and the resolution is changed to an unsupported format the camera switches to 422 3G HD 48p which may not be compatible with all monitoring devices.

Overlays in 6G disappear. When status info is set to OFF and SDI format is switched from 1.5G to 6G the SDI Overlays disappear. Switch SDI Image to clean and the back to processed to display them again.

Transmitting LogC4 over 8-bit wireless video may show image artifacts. Transmitting LogC4 video over 8-bit wireless connections may show image artifacts in certain image regions. This is a byproduct of video compression and not visible in wired video or original camera footage.

Framelines do not get cleared when loading user setups. In some cases, loading a user setup does not clear a previously set frame line. In this case, do a factory reset before loading a user setup.

User button function SDI/VF De-squeeze not available. There are currently no user buttons with any de-squeeze options. Those will be added in a later update.

Monitoring – Looks that have more than 32 characters get cleared on reboot Looks that have filenames of more than 32 characters including extension (.alf4) get reset to ‘Default’ on reboot. Rename the look file to be within that limit.

Framelines with scaling and lens squeeze may be displayed wrong. While project settings are set to an anamorphic factor and a frame line with scaling is activated the scaling is not applied and shading is therefore not possible. As a workaround create a frame line file containing frame line A and B, where A covers 100% sensor width with the intended aspect ratio and B which contains the desired scaling. In the camera deactivate frame line A. Applied shading on frame line B will be displayed correctly. An example can be found at https://arri.link/flt-ana-sample

External LUTs desaturate camera overlays. A LUT applied to an external monitoring device may desaturate the camera overlays in a way that makes STBY and REC indications hard to distinguish. Reducing the SDI overlay brightness mitigates this issue. The setting is found in: MENU > MONITORING > SDI > SDI 1 PROCESSING > OVERLAYS > OVERLAY BRIGHTNESS

MVF-2 OLED may show a magenta tintIn rare circumstances the MVF-2 OLED can show a magenta tint that is not observable on SDI. The recorded images are not affected.

Small playback image. When using Magnification and Surround view the playback image may show less than monitored during recording andstandby.

When in playback and activating VF ZOOM the zoom position cannot be adjusted. Assign a user button with the function ‘Zoom Position’ to modify the position.

If REC button is used to exit playback, recording is not possible anymoreWhen a Hi-5 is connected to the camera and playback mode is exited by starting a recording (regardless of the device used to start recording), the camera can enter a state where recording is not possible. Reboot the camera in this case. The error does not occur if playback is exited by either long pressing the Playback button on the MVF-2 or by pressing ‘back’ on the Hi-5.

Look Intensity of Looks saved in the ARRI Reference Tool are shown as 100% in camera. When exporting a look with a modified intensity from the ARRI Reference Tool the camera shows Look Intensity as 100%, regardless of the setting used in the ARRI Reference Tool. The Look will however be visually at the intensity set in ART. Workaround: Always export looks at 100% Look Intensity in ART and modify the intensity in camera.

Metadata: LDS Focus Limit is always metric. If the focus unit is set to imperial, lensLimitsFocusImperial is filled with the metric value without conversion. In this case lens Limits Focus Metric is unavailable.

Jam Sync Timecode offset of 1 frame when using ES. When using Enhanced Sensitivity Mode, the Jam Sync timecode is offset by (minus) one frame when synced. Either avoid syncing when using Enhanced Sensitivity or re-sync when entering and exiting Enhanced Sensitivity mode and mark the clips where the offset occurs.

The ALE file does not identify fractional CC values in clips. In the ALE file fractional values of the white balance are not recorded. They are correct in the clip metadata and in the ARRI Reference Tool

Roll and Tilt Metadata has delays. The roll and tilt metadata written to camera clips is currently not frame accurate and has delays. This will be fixed in a future SUP. For the moment use a UMC-4 for frame accurate roll and tilt data.

Circle Clip is always applied. Currently, the metadata ‘Circle Clip’ is applied to every clip.

Side Display shows ‘Installing Version 0.0.0′. Until the Update process has read back the version that is being installed on the camera the side display will display’Installing Version 0.0.0’. With slow USB sticks it may take up to 20 seconds until the correct version is displayed.

User Pixel Mask inactive after update. After performing a software update a previously active User Pixel Mask is no longer active. Reinstall the mask after updating.

Side Display backlight stays on after display has been deactivated. When sending the side display to sleep by pushing the jog wheel for a long time or by setting the display mode to sleep’, the backlight stays on for some time.

"Go to" Component Update links to empty page. If a component like lens mount or MVF-2 is not up to date the camera offers a popup that includes a link to the relevant menu item. This link is not functional. To update the components go to MENU > SYSTEM > UPDATE.

User button function "Check Last Clip" does not work after reboot The user button ‘Check Last Clip’ is not functional after a camera reboot or removing and reinserting the drive.

WiFi – No successful reconnection to access point after reboot in client mode. In rare cases the WiFi driver can get stuck after a reboot or resolution change when the camera is in client mode. In this case the camera does not reconnect to the previous access point and the list of discovered networks is empty. In this case, please reboot the camera to regain WiFi functionality.

BNC connectors breaking. Some BNC connectors on the ALEXA 35 can break off when then the cable is pulled out at too much of an angle. Please make sure to pull out cables straight to avoid this. Please note: Only cameras with serial numbers between 62000 and 62400 are affected by this issue. Broken connectors can be replaced by the customer/rental/dealer or by ARRI service. To be prepared, replacement connectors can be ordered from ARRI service free of charge. This video shows how to replace connectors: https://arri.academy/SE-replacing-bnc-connectors-alexa35

Matthew Allard is a multi-award-winning, ACS accredited freelance Director of Photography with over 30 years' of experience working in more than 50 countries around the world.He is the Editor of Newsshooter.com and has been writing on the site since 2010.Matthew has won 48 ACS Awards, including five prestigious Golden Tripods. In 2016 he won the Award for Best Cinematography at the 21st Asian Television Awards.Matthew is available to hire as a DP in Japan or for work anywhere else in the world.