ARRI ALEXA 35 Textures Released – Two New Textures for the Super 16 Film Look

Camera News

by Jakub HanJanuary 25^th, 2024

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ARRI launches two new custom textures for the ARRI ALEXA 35 camera. Both G833 “super nostalgic” and G933 “extreme nostalgic” introduce even more grain into the image to resemble the vintage look of Super 16 film. The texture files are now available for download.

Back in 2022, when ARRI launched the ALEXA 35 camera with the new Super 35 image sensor (make sure to check our lab test in case you missed it), the company also introduced so-called ‘textures’ – files that irreversibly alter the camera’s image to get the desired looks straight in-camera. After releasing a few custom textures and collecting feedback from their customers, the German camera manufacturer now launches two new textures that push the image a bit further into the grainy Super 16 nostalgic look.

What are ARRI textures?

First, let me explain very briefly what ARRI textures are. ARRI says the texture files are like “selecting a film stock’s character.” They are files that can be uploaded into the ALEXA 35 much like regular LUTs. The difference to LUT files is that when activated, textures are applied to the image before the EI sensitivity setting, which controls the camera’s sensitivity, and before the ARRI REVEAL color science.

Both determine the basic behavior of grain and contrast in the image. Therefore, applying a certain texture means it will be irreversibly baked into both ARRIRAW and ProRes video files.

The default texture loaded in the ARRI ALEXA 35 is called “K445 Default” which creates the ARRI ALEXA look known from previous ARRI cameras. By choosing a texture other than K445, it is possible to change the grain and contrast behavior of the image to, for instance, increase grain and contrast for a more organic look, or optimize for shooting in low light, and so on.

More information about ARRI textures including a texture-comparison tool can be found on the ARRI textures webpage.

New textures – super nostalgic and extreme nostalgic

ARRI launched these two new textures in response to increased demand and a strong customer nostalgia for more grain. The new texture files are called:

• G833 Custom Super Nostalgic
• G933 Custom Extreme Nostalgic

Both can be downloaded free of charge from the ARRI textures webpage and installed into the ALEXA 35 camera for a look that evokes the feel of Super 16 film grain. They are labeled as Custom because you can download them from the website and install them in the camera just like a LUT file, instead of being available as a default.

As I mentioned above, applying texture files will irreversibly change the image coming out of the camera – even the ARRIRAW files. These new looks introduce extreme grain so make sure you really want that for your image before you shoot.

ALEXA 35 Interview

In case you missed our original deep-dive interview on the ARRI ALEXA 35, watch our interview with Sean Dooley here, going through everything important, including the ARRI Textures:

Do you work with the ARRI ALEXA 35 camera? Have you already shot with a custom texture file? What do you think about the new super and extreme nostalgic textures? Let us know in the comments section underneath the article.