A huge price drop on the ARRI ALEXA SXT was spotted by The NewsShooter. Instead of $74,500, this beast now costs $44,500, which means a discount of $30,000. Should/would you buy it?
ALEXA 65 with one ALEV III
The ALEXA SXT was announced at NAB 2016 and was introduced as the latest evolution of the ALEXA camera line, with several new features and the horsepower and state-of-the-art electronics of the ALEXA 65 camera. The SXT was defined as the Swiss Army knife of recording options, allowing you many ProRes and raw formats, and a wide variety of frame sizes to support anamorphic and aspherical acquisition. These formats are to be recorded to a new (as of 2016) Codex SXR capture drive, which gave the highest frame rate options. Other recording options include CFast 2.0, SxS, or the ALEXA XT’s Codex capture drive with an adapter. These are the recording formats of the ARRI ALEXA SXT:
- 16:9 ProRes 4K UHD (3840 x 2160)
- Open Gate ProRes 4K Cine (4096 x 2636)
- 6:5 ProRes 2K Anamorphic (2048 x 858)
- 6:5 ProRes 4K Cine Anamorphic (4096 x 1716)
- 4:3 ProRes 2.8K (2880 x 2160)
- Open Gate ProRes 3.4K (3424 x 2202)
- 16:9 ARRIRAW 3.2K (3168 x 1782)
HDR, 4K, and 120FPS
As stated by the press release published in 2016: “The ARRI ALEXA SXT meets the resolution needs of 4K and UHD distribution with easy workflows, and it is also uniquely well-equipped to create content that will take the fullest advantage of emerging HDR (High Dynamic Range) display technologies. In addition, the ability to record at up to 120 fps in full image quality means that HFR (High Frame Rate) approaches to enhancing viewer experience can also be accommodated. The continually increasing popularity of anamorphic shooting is best served by ALEXA’s unique tall sensor and the new anamorphic recording formats offered in the SXT”.
Well utilized by acclaimed DPs
The ARRI ALEXA SXT was well expected and used by renowned cinematographers. For instance, explore the major films below which were shot on the SXT:
Furthermore, the SXT was located at a good place in the middle of our camera charts, from independent film festivals, through Oscars, to IMAX productions. On the other hand, the ALEXA SXT has never been defined as the most used ALEXA, as models like the Mini pretty much cannibalized it, since they were preferred, mainly due to their compact form factor. Explore the SXT in the camera charts below:
Price was dropped by $30,000
As spotted by The NewsShooter, it appears that the ARRI ALEXA SXT is now being offered a $30,000 discount on the B&H website (see Product List at the end of the article). The original price was $74,500, and now the price listed is $44,500 USD. Most probably, the reason for this price drop is the newly announced ALEXA 35, which is priced very similarly to the previous price of the SXT. Indeed, with this price tag of $75,000, there’s no real reason to buy the SXT when you can buy the much more improved and advanced ALEXA 35. Hence, cutting the SXT price was required. BTW, in the CPO (ARRI Certified Pre-Owned) program, you can find SXTs for about 20,000 Euros. Although these are not new cameras (above 1,000 operating hours), they include a lot of things, like EVF, cables, media, handles ad more.
Should you buy it?
With a price tag of $44,500, you can be the proud owner of an ALEXA SXT which is a very capable camera that can produce stunning images and can serve you very well in the next years, even when shooting for high-budget projects. However, within the ALEXA family, you might find other options which would be smarter for you to go with. As for other manufacturers, you have the RED V-Raptor XL 8K VV for $5,000 less, and the VENICE 2 for at least $10,000 more. We’d encourage you to look at the CPO, as it appears that the SXT models don’t have so many operating hours on them. So do the math… and it’s very complicated math indeed.
Product List
Here’re the products mentioned in the article, and the links to purchase them from authorized dealers.
- ARRI ALEXA SXT Plus Camera Body (LDS PL)
- BUY the Y.M.CINEMA 65 – A Gift for Filmmakers
