I Bought 5 Broken Arri Alexa Cinema Cameras... Can I Fix Them? 

The first 1,000 people to use the link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/foxtailwhipz07221

Also consider tweeting potato jet, tbh he’s the one on RU-vid I see the most directly interacting with Arri. He might get a kick out of the project and know someone he could send your way

I think you bought part donor cameras. They all have some unfixable underlying issue. And getting those parts that have been harvested from them is impossible, otherwise they would not have harvested them and ordered spare parts.

I think you've been mugged off, the fact most of these are missing their buttons and exterior parts, ports etc., makes me think that these are all parts donor cameras which have already had the working bits taken from them. It'll be amazing if you can make a working camera out of these 5, but Frankenstein's monster wasn't without his issues...

You have a unique ability to talk without saying anything.

Cool video! I saw that auction on Ebay but said nah. You may not need SXS cards. If you have working BNC outputs you can record to an external recorder. If you have one with the ARRIRAW license you can record the highest quality to an external recorder like Odyssey 7Q.

Awesome you got these! The DC input expects 24 volt, that's why battery warning is active at the first booting camera. If you get a battery plate you can power the cameras also with a single 14,4 Volt battery.

I SAW THIS LISTING AND ALMOST BOUGHT IT 😂😂😂 glad you got them for some content. I considered doing something similar

bro i need the secodn part!!, hope you made it man!, honestly this is the truth behind everything, always grinding for our equipment, i would to love to know what it takes to build an arri , that´s amazing man, i hope you can get this done bro ! good luck !

I know it seems like $100 is a lot for a cable, but those LEMO style ends are really not overly cheap for brand name. China style ones are not terrible under normal use if you need to make one or get the chassis mounts for them

Believe it would benefit @ARRIChannel too, to give a helping hand, as the more of these cameras can be held in service, and tried by, also amateurs, the more interest it will be for the brand. If your fix simply is swapping parts between broken cameras and there is no DRM bullshit preventing you, it is really good news for indie film makers too, and still, they will come back to ARRI for more parts and acessories, meaning ARRI will still benefit from these broken cameras getting a new life.

What a journey! I’m excited to dive into the next videos…this is like a new Netflix series to binge now 😁

The relief I felt when it turned on...

Omg I saw this ebay add last week and now you got them, that's awesome! I had the same dream as you to buy them all and hopefully make 1 working camera but it was a bit out of my $ range . I ended up buying a C100 extra cheap and am very happy.

Looking forward to where this goes. I’ve used these cameras a 1000 times. They are still better then most cameras out there.

Hope you can get one running my dude, your enthusiasm for it is so deserving of this going well. Watching, liking and subscribing and hoping the money you make helps you get there.

i would recomend that you make your own cables for the camara, its more cheaper than buying the cable

I had been watching this listing and was contemplating buying and fixing them hahaha. Glad you got them and made a great video on it!

So cool! I’m not as bold as you, I think I saw that listing though. I’m holding out for a working Alexa at around $4K

Great video! This is a really cool project - the kind of thing most people think about (myself included), but wouldn't bother going through with given all the headaches, etc. Having the ambition to give it a try and capture the entire process is really appreciated. Looking forward to seeing where this all goes.

Woooo this is awesome, I mean wow, as a person who loves rebuild things, like the ooooold sx-980 Pionner amp which I bough few months ago, I'll start to rebuild it to its original and new state, but come on, is one of my passions but is only a 500 dollar amplifier, but a really expensive and marvelous camera, cinema cámera like this, wow I mean, I wonder which movie those cameras taked, who used it before, amazing video, I stay tuned for the next part!, regards from San Luis Potosí, México!

man if You could get DIY PERKS on this, who knows You may create an Arri Alexa XLF by bringing 4 sensors in one body lol

This is sick dude! Excited to see what you do with them

My Amazon echo going crazy while I’m watching this. Lol…Alexa. …Alexa….

Photograph both sides of each pcb you remove ensure the REV numbers are checked and log each board per camera chassis serial as manufactures change functions on different revs of the same camera , and you may find that one board will not be supported in external firmware to it - use a bunch of Brady number/letter labels - dont lose track.... !!!!

Did you manage to get info behind why these units got junked?

Hey brother you inspired me to buy the cheapest arri classic ev on ebay after watching your videos. It's worked great so far. As of today though, I've been getting black vertical lines on the led side panel which makes me think the screen may be on its way out. I was wondering if you may have any working spare side screen panels left? I'll buy one off of you if you do and are willing to sell, you can't find parts for these things anywhere!

amazing video and it’s touching to see your emotions going through all that. keep up bro!

Awesome video man, love the content!

i wish you the best, and hope you fix them

Dude I got excited watching the video, such a well documented journey :D :D Amazing! LOL that happy face when you had the box!!!!

This video blew up!! I hope this kicks your channel up a little bit. Looking forward to this project :)

I hope you can make one of them work. Good luck!

First video I've watched in your channel. Love the concept and can't wait for the resolution but please leave out the whole "oh I don't know what is going to happen" or "I am so exited for this moment I am anticipating". Like, we know. I understand creating tension but 10 minutes of the video is just buying the cameras from ebay. 🤷‍♂️ Or at least make it a fast cut like "BAM BAM BAM look what I got!". Just that. Hope you can make it work. Making just one of them work will be worth it, and I can't even imagine how much having that level of gear will allow you to develop as a filmaker. Good luck! 😁👍

So many questions… How did they even get into such a sorry state in the first place? No caps to protect the sensor? 🤦🏻‍♂️

Rest in Peace anyone who played this on speakers with an amazon Alexis near haha. Best of luck with the build, love this content!

Excellent, looking forward to second part.

The anticipation is killing me!

this is a great video dude, I have thought about getting a used classic. cant wait for pt 2

You know that you can put an SxS card in a laptop that has a PCMCIA slot? It's kind of the same thing. Older MacBooks have it (and still the reason why I still have an older MAcBook laying around). Some Windows laptops still have that, too.

FYI u need 24 volts to actually power the camera. Excited to see how u get it together

At least you will have some nice display items on your shelf.

aston from the future here: hey you did good

Wow good on you man, this is awesome. subscribed ✨

Look forward to seeing more of these!

Great Video! I love Cinema Cameras and I love electronic fix videos thanks RU-vid algorithm. :D Maybe you can bring an expert in from the industry if you don't know what to do. Cinema Cameras are very complex machines!

Great and fascinating project, I'm so curious to see the final result.

POST PART 2!!!!

Well that's a unicorn deal that no one will ever be able to find

Hm, we should've talked beforehand, i could've told you that the Alexa takes only SXS pro cards, no SXS-1 and not the newer X. Also, these area basically an expresscard, so you can read/write them in a laptop with expresscard connector, you don't need a separate reader for them.

so only the blue sxs cards will work with the alexa good luck also as for recording you can record off sdi it will be more useful at this point.

The Plus camera is just the head unit for an Alexa M. Sensor block is somewhere… good luck finding just that. The OG Alexa is still a good camera, the M is just kinda dumb in modern day. I took my old Mini apart one time years ago, nothing crazy…

20:10 "M" stands for Marie Antoinette because they removed her head, just like what you can do with the Alexa M

As a private filmmaker you want to travel as lightly as possible and the camera has to be handy! Have fun repairing!

here from facebook 😎

Hell yes brother stoked for this project! Def subbing to stay updated. Hope you get one of these bad boys up and running. That would be so awesome!

After opening all of these up did you find a way to lose any heavy body components to lessen their weight a bit?

theres a way to do the same with sony camera's as the ALEXA M, the venice can also have its sensor seperated with a max 12m cable, this is also how avatar is being filmed rn, look it up

Fantastic video. Commenting to push the algorithm

I think the E and W stand for "error" and "warning" respectively

Good job! I was about to buy this deal when it was posted as well and decided to pass.

the penmanship is so cute its like its written by a 5 yr old

imagine ARRI Certified Pre-Owned email you and ask for all 5 alexa classic for one fully working alexa mini package!!!

I think ,mainboard memory chip had one or more corrupted partitions.... Any how I am eagerly waiting 🧐

Part 2 please

Lol had to literally change the name of my Amazon Alexa speaker for all the times he said "Alexa".

I guess you could solve some of those error, if that's not the case then respond to this comment and i will dm you. I'm not an expert on this cameras (or any camera xD) but i love to repair things and i learned a lot from doing it. There's not so much info about this cameras out there but from what i found and read about it: 1) I assume that "E" stands for "ERROR", its an actual problem that the camera has. "W" stands for "WARNING", its a potential problem for the camera but its not a problem (some of them are normal). 2) High sensor temperature: I don't know in what moment the camera shows this error, so there could be several reasons. If the camera shows this error as soon as you start the camera (assuming that you let the camera cool down for a while) then it may be an error from the sensor itself (bad connection or malfunction). If you use it a little bit and then it shows this error, it may be the "cooling system" that is not working properly (could be as easy as replacing the thermal paste from the heatsink, i don't know what kind of cooling system the camera has because there's no photos or info on the internet) 3) Main bat. Low Power: It could be just the charge of the battery or the connection/the cable that you used (i need to watch it in detail in order to know). 4) LDS failure. Reboot: LDS stands for Lens Data System, i'm not explaining for what it is because its complicated and i assume that you already know but some lenses have LDS port on them and some cameras have them on a "module", so maybe there's a problem with that. 5) Low sensor temperature: same as the high sensor temperature but this one is a warning and i think its usual when turning on the camera until the sensors reach the "normal temperature". 6) APIC Update Failed. Please reinstall: It could be part of the installation process, just need to restart the camera and update again, or it could be a failed installation because of the other errors. 7) Sensor boot error: Sensor has not booted and you need to restart the camera. If continues showing up it could be because of the bad/incomplete firmware install from before. Ps: There's also sd cards to sxs converters that may also work for the memory.

Gave you a sub and a thumbs up. Hope your channel takes off. Best of luck mate.

When you power it on the camera should output the picture through Sdi. And my god, please don’t get sensor exposed.

Awesome man you got it!

Sad you couldn’t get that plus working

The question I would beg to know is how the cameras got in such bad shape. I mean most photographers pride themselves in taking great care of their tools. Ha. The first thought seeing them was thinking that possibly Alex Baldwin had them on the set of RUST and he threw them around when he realized he "accidentally" shot someone.

Your videos - top! Greetings from Ukraine!

super exciting

Great video !!!

I saw this ad too lol!

I don’t think the sxs card is going to work. It’s too slow for the arri. You need those blue, or pro black sxs in order to record.

Write directly to polish RU-vidr Daniel Rakowiecki. In the past he tried to fix RED camera :) he fixed tons of electronic devices 😊 Maybe he could help you!

It's malfunction like malcolm, not mail. And the past tense of cost is cost, not costed.

Let’s see what happens.

Lol I watched and like so hopefully that helps with the cost a little

Danke!

I also own an Arri Alexa EV and I love it. Do you think is possible to replace the case in a 3d plastic printed one for to make a more light weight camera?

The son of Doctor strange,, must be ,, keep looking,, lol

Subbed!!

Did the seller on eBay message you or ARRI themselves?

12:15 where can I find this song?

You triggered my Alexa so many times

more romantic than the notebook

Oh it's so interesting video 😌

Come on @ARRIChannel , let's help this kid out!

Stop saying Alexa, you're driving my echo dot crazy

So, what I'm not seeing with any of these cameras is...lenses! Like...the actual $30,000 -50,000 lenses! Isn't this going to stall your project? I'm a bit concerned that these were all in a similar state, with similar missing parts which indicates to me, a similar problem. I work in IT and I know that "lots of 10 and 20" laptops are always up on eBay and I wouldnt touch them with a 10 foot pole because they're usually all grouped together for the exact same reason. A bad display problem or an old rev on a systemboard that fails all the time or maybe they're old govt contract laptops and all the ram and hdds have been removed. It becomes very costly to refurb them. And since you have no lenses...

Well I at least made a comment and watched it! SS free month? :P

how does someone even BREAK 5 alexas? lol. I can't even imagine

I'd have been a little bit worried about buying from somebody who had "5 of these" If you've got 5 of anything, that's not likely to be random stuff you picked up in a yard-sale - they've been collecting. If the collector then sells off "5 in a random state of completeness" - you can be pretty sure they've stripped out anything of value. The "oh it's weird that that's missing" is going to be list of consumable parts required to make a functioning camera.

Awesome project, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the results! The main question to me tho is why the heck they didn't bother to protect the sensors on these... 🤦‍♀

Interesting. Definitely would like to see a follow up after working on it some more.

Please don’t do a 3D printed top handle - Arri classics are heavy and imo not worth the risk at all of a plastic top handle

An AC power adapter to have constant power to camera for trouble shooting would be a big plus. Might be another $100 investment. The SxS-1 card your using is not supported by Arri, look into SXS pro card. That will be another expense as well. Love the project! Hope you can get one of these up and running. In my experiecne Andrew Shipsides is a great resource on these cameras, if he doesn't know he will direct you to someone that will know.