SUP 4.0 for the Alexa Mini

During this Easter week, ARRI has taken the opportunity to update its Alexa Mini cameras with the SUP (Software Update Package) 4.0.

These are the new features:

• Super 16 HD recording mode, which cropes the sensor to an area of S16 and scales it to HD.

• 4:3 recording modes, which allow the use of the larger sensor area, as well as 2x anamorphic de-squeeze.

• Elimination of the restriction of exposure times longer than 1/24 seconds.

• Internal MXF and ARRIRAW recording in 2.8K 16:9 (on CFast 2.0 cards).

• Internal recording in Open Gate mode in MXF and ARRIRAW (on CFast 2.0 cards).

• Improvements in the Lens Data Archive and ECS.

• Metadata embedded in the SDI signal.

• Support for CCP-1 control panel.

• Possibility of activating Wi-Fi through a user button.

• Zoom position selection via the buttons surrounding the LCD panel on the MVF-1 viewfinder.

BEWARE if you use the WCU-4!

SUP 4.0.15 contains an important bug for users controlling lenses via the WCU-4 (Wireless Compact Unit). When using a lens file that has both metric and imperial scales, changing the focus unit to imperial on the display information does not change the display, but continues to show the metric scale.

ARRI says that an update to fix this bug is already being tested and will be released later this week. In the meantime, they propose this interim solution: