- All right, so today is the day, it is happening.
I am gonna buy my dream camera
that I have been drooling over for the last decade,
the ARRI ALEXA, mmm.
The ALEXA is a whole lineup of cameras,
and out of all of 'em,
the one I really, really want is the ALEXA Mini LF.
It's awesome, it's fantastic, it's perfect,
it's $75,500.
Ugh, I want it so bad, but 75,
no, I can't do that.
Now, ARRI actually has a Certified Pre-Owned section
on their website,
and if you're gonna buy a used ARRI,
that's probably the place to get it,
because they inspect it, quality control the heck out of it,
and they give you a one year warrantee.
So, definitely, smartest place to buy a used ARRI.
But look at how good this title is.
I bought the cheapest ARRI ALEXA I can find on the internet.
That is good click bait right there.
So, we're gonna have to take a little risk here.
All right, let's see what's on eBay here.
Oh, now we're talking.
An ARRI ALEXA Classic for 6,500 bucks.
Now, keep in mind that the ARRI ALEXA Classic
is an old camera, it came out in 2010.
So, it's like a nine year old camera already,
and all the new ones out right now are way more advanced,
but this is $6,500.
I found a cheaper one, $6,400,
and it is an old camera with no warrantee.
So, there are big risks involved here,
'cause there's a chance that I'll buy this camera,
and in a month from now, something will break on it,
and the repair costs on that alone
would be more than how much I'm paying for this camera.
So, that's why I keep saying,
buying from ARRI Certified Pre-Owned is a good idea,
but we've already committed to the title of this video.
So, we're just gonna, let's go on Craigslist, let's do that.
Oh, the ARRI ALEXA XT M,
they don't even make this camera anymore,
but they basically separated the body from the sensors.
Oh, this one's $8000.
(gasps) $6000, the sensor has about 5,500 hours on it,
functions perfectly with an excellent ALEXA image.
(upbeat music)
Again, no warrantees, but it does make me feel good
that it is an ARRI ALEXA.
These are known to be bullet proof.
I'm gonna hit this guy up and see what happens.
He's here in Hollywood, so.
(upbeat music)
Yeah, this whole Craigslist things is a little bit shady,
just meeting the guy you've never met before,
bringing a crazy amount of cash.
- [Sam] I hope you don't die.
- Yeah.
All right, so we're on our way to the bank.
We're gonna pull out $6,000 in cash.
Actually, 6,100, because the ALEXA uses SxS cards,
and we don't have any of those.
We ordered some online,
but they're not gonna come 'til next week,
and I kinda wanna record with one right now.
So, we're just gonna swing by and buy one for 50 bucks.
I found another guy on Craigslist.
So, today's just going around Craigslisting it up.
Hopefully, the bank will be chilled
with us pulling out $6,100 in cash.
- [Sam] Do you even have that much cash
in your bank account?
- (laughs) Steve said we have that much in our company.
So, hopefully, we'll see.
Anyways, be right back.
(upbeat music) (chattering)
(laughs) Oh, gosh.
(paper rustling)
This should be a very bad time to get mugged right now,
and I got a lollipop.
Well, I already finished the lollipop.
- [Sam] Dude, you got that like 30 seconds ago.
- So, we got our first memory card,
and actually, we just have to buy off of Harrison,
who, what, you have an ALEXA Classic package?
- Yeah, yeah, I actually picked an ALEXA Classic up
a few months ago.
It was relatively inexpensive, and I couldn't be happier.
It's just a really, really solid camera.
Everyone asks for ALEXA anyways.
- Well, thanks, man.
It's cool to know that I'm not the only one
buying a super old ALEXA.
- Do you have it in your possession or you just ordered it?
- We literally are about to drive over to the spot
and go and pick it up right now.
We got it on Craigslist.
- Okay, so I bought mine on Facebook.
- Oh, you buy yours on Facebook?
- Yeah. - Okay, well,
it was cool meeting you and thanks for the card.
- Absolutely. - We're gonna go buy
this ARRI now.
All right, we got the address for the ALEXA.
It is 10 minutes away.
So, let's go get it.
Doesn't this feel kinda shady?
We're just like all right,
we've never met you before,
but we're here and we have the money.
Bring down the package. (laughs)
Are you ready for it?
Oh, yeah.
(placid music)
Yeah.
- [Sam] It feels right? - This is good,
it feels right, it feels very right.
Appreciate it, man.
- Congratulations,
hope you guys make some amazing work with it.
It's an incredible machine.
- We just bought an ARRI ALEXA for six grand!
Oh, hell yeah.
All right, so we got the camera, but one minor hiccup.
Harrison, that guy bought the SxS card off of,
when I him I planned on using this 32 gig card
on the ARRI ALEXA,
he wasn't sure if it was gonna work with this camera or not.
Turns out he was right.
This card is not fast enough for the ARRI ALEXA.
So, I gotta go back and meet up with him real quick.
They're not very common anymore.
So, you have to find them used on eBay.
So, Harrison's been nice enough
to say that we can borrow his cards
until we get ours.
All right, so back to meet our new friend Harrison,
let's go. How funny is it
that we met on Craigslist and got this,
and now we're BFFs in your garage.
I'm in your house right now.
- I know, it's all good, do you want a drink?
(laughter)
- So, this is your setup, huh?
- So, this is my little setup here.
Got the ancient Sony F3, still a good camera, actually,
and we have our ALEXA Classic stripped down for the moment.
- You can probably use these to work out with, huh?
- [Harrison] Absolutely.
- This is the real reason why I'm getting this camera.
- [Harrison] The German work out routine.
- Right, so I think we just about have everything we need.
The sun is dipping very quickly.
So, hopefully, we can get something.
We're firing her up.
Everything seems to be going good.
Ah, it looks so good.
It's unbelievable that this footage
is coming out of a 10 year old camera.
Come on.
All right, Sam, you wanna go stand over there?
You're gonna be my first test subject on this camera.
- [Sam] Oe, I would love to.
- All right.
Ready to see some of this footage?
I'm gonna hit the record button in three, two, one.
(upbeat music)
I am so stoked about this camera.
We've pretty much lost the light here.
So, why don't we take this back to the studio
and start rigging it up a little bit more?
I can't believe it, we have an ARRI ALEXA now.
Wooh!
You ready, Kari?
Ah!
- Oh, my God!
(laughter)
- You wanna hold it?
What do you think?
- Oh, my God.
- Kari's the best because she understands
that we'll never be able to buy a house
because I don't stop doing this (beep).
- He was scrolling through eBay, Craigslist,
and he was like, "I'm gonna buy and ALEXA."
(laughter)
And then the first thing in my head,
just was oh, there goes my dream
of us having a house one day.
- Who needs a house when you've got this?
Now, there's definitely some pro's and con's
to buying an old ARRI ALEXA.
The con is obviously that it's old.
So, technology has come a long way
since they built this original ALEXA,
like the ALEXA Mini, right?
More capable than this gigantic ARRI ALEXA,
but it's way, way smaller.
So, this definitely feels outdated,
and also, it's so heavy
that I don't think this tripod is big enough
for this camera.
I should actually get a bigger tripod
specifically for that ARRI ALEXA.
This tripod needs tightening up.
But the benefit
is you're still getting an ARRI ALEXA sensor.
So, you get that amazing color science,
and the way ARRI actually makes their sensors
is pretty unique.
They don't really focus too much
on getting a crazy amount of resolution,
but they make sure that each pixel
is as good as it possibly can.
They have really large photosites on their sensors,
and they keep saying better pixels make better images,
and not only is the photosite big,
but they try to utilize it as much as possible.
I think they called it the fill area of a sensor.
So, how much of that photosite
is actually sensitive to light.
The sensor itself is higher in resolution
and you can output to an external recorder,
something, I think it's 2.8k raw,
but for the most part,
you're just shooting HD on this thing,
and the HD looks so good
because of how great that sensor is.
And to me, that's what I primarily care about
is just getting an image that looks really good
opposed to getting a camera
that can shoot a crazy amount of pixels,
but ARRI did tell me
is that our eyes are much more sensitive
to contrast and colors,
and actually, I thought it was interesting to hear
that ARRI records more colors than our human eyes can see,
and our eyes can see a lot of colors and shades.
So, that's really impressive.
It is, no joke, heavy, though.
Every time I've shot on the ALEXA Mini,
now I'm like wow, that was a piece of cake.
I took the ALEXA Mini's size for granted,
but it is, this thing is heavy.
- Yeah, 'cause at first you're like, I could,
it's heavy, but you can still handle it,
and then after a couple of minutes,
you're like, oh, my God, I need to take a break.
(laughter)
- I think we're gonna get kicked out here.
- You can't be doing this type of cinematography videoing.
That has to go away.
- [Gene] Sounds good, thank you.
- You're welcome, all right.
- All right, that's another downside
of having a camera this big.
As soon as security sees this,
they go, "You can't be doing this here."
Now, let me just close this off with this shot here.
The ARRI ALEXA has always had great dynamic range,
not just dynamic range,
but what I consider to be very useful dynamic range.
So, Sam is outside getting into this car,
and I will not be changing the exposure
on the camera at all.
Now, if you ever tried to film someone on a sunny day
inside of a car,
you'd know that you're either gonna get a silhouette
or a blown out window, but look at that.
We started out outside and it ended up here
with no changes to the exposure.
How awesome is that?
Oh, I think I've got a little mustache coming out.
I know how much (beep) you guys give me
when I have a little half stache.
So, I need to shave this.
I'm actually traveling right now,
and I totally forgot my shaver.
I always use that, what do you call it?
The Norelco Philips thing I think
it's what it's called, right?
Where you just take it, it's electronics, you just bzzzz,
and it's very easy.
I've never used a razor before.
This is gonna be my first time.
This looks like whipped cream.
I just wanna go kggg.
- Are you doing it right now?
- Oh, oh, yeah.
You guys are witnessing my very first shave with a razor.
Wooh, the consistency of this is actually thicker
than I thought it was gonna be.
Agh!
Am I doing this right?
Do I just do this?
So, how hard am I supposed to push down, though, I'm scared?
This is a blade, I could cut my face.
How come there's always people putting band aids
on their faces after shaving?
Is this dangerous?
- Well, that's when they get nicked.
- Look at that, this is what I would look like
if I was an Asian Santa.
Ho, ho, ho, mother (beep).
Let's go the chin, I'm scared.
This area is sensitive, okay?
This is my money maker.
I can't just cut this up, okay?
I'm the Brad Pitt of YouTube.
(laughter)
Why are you laughing?
(laughter)
This feels so unsafe,
taking this sharp blade right up against your neck.
People do this?
- It's like a 13 year old boy trying to rig it up, right?
I could tell that you've never done this before
because you're so awkward and hesitant.
- What, so in Home Alone, you know how he goes, psh, agh!
Is that aftershave?
- That was the aftershave, yeah.
- Am I supposed to have aftershave?
I didn't buy any.
- I'll put some alow vera on your face.
- Why aloe vera?
What is this, a third degree burn or something?
See, the electric one's easy.
You just turn on, brr, and you go brrrr, and you just.
- Did you even rinse this at all?
- Let me just read some comments,
see what you guys are saying on the internet.
Troy says, "Gene almost pooped in that Porsche
"like his dog did in his truck."
That electric Porsche that I got to test drive,
that was nuts.
Should I just kinda hit it?
Oh, my gosh, are you serious?
The second you push down on the pedal,
you just vroom.
"Me feeling nervous,
"is he gonna drop that laptop into the lake?
(laughs) That was scary,
but this is the scariest thing I've done in a while.
All right, there we go.
Oh, man, that was a mission.
People do this every day?
How do I look, do I look like Brad Pitt again?
(upbeat music)