At this year’s NAB, ARRI announced a new ALEXA model, the ALEXA Plus 4:3, which features a 4:3 Super 35 sensor for shooting anamorphic.

The camera can switch between 16:9 and 3:4 sensor mode and has built-in licenses for high speed shooting, DNxHD recording and anamorphic de-squeeze.

Shooting anamorphic requires squeezing the frame by a factor of two. When using native 16:9 sensors, the sides of the image must be cropped, resulting in a greatly reduced use of sensor area and a different angle of view for the lens. In the ALEXA 4:3, the full sensor area can be used when shooting anamorphic, resulting in a much higher quality image. The 4:3 sensor also allows the best possible use of the optical characteristics of existing anamorphic lenses.

The ALEXA Plus 4:3 can be seen as a companion to the ALEXA Studio and the ALEXA M cameras which also have 4:3 sensors and the same in-built licenses. Stephan Ukas-Bradley, ARRI’s product manager of digital productions said, “Our customers shooting inquired about getting a regular ALEXA for shooting anamorphic which has the same capabilities for steadicam applications and handheld applications, and we listened.” The Plus 4:3 shares all the features of the ALEXA Plus as well as the ability to switch back and forth between 4:3 and 16:9 sensors.

The Alexa Plus 4:3 will be priced between the standard ALEXA Plus and the ALEXA Studio and is available now.