No Lens Squeeze Factor on Monitor

[Rogecam]

Alexa Mini Settings:
ARRIRAW
OpenGate 3.4K
Frameline 1.78

Lens Squeeze Factor was set to 2.0 and at the same time Anamorphic desqueeze was deactivated on all monitor outputs (Viewfinder/Monitor & SDI)
This led to see on all monitors a perfect normal image while the camera was indeed recording a 2.0 factor image that was visible when offloaded into a computer only ( it looked like anamorphic footage )

It took several hours to offload the first card that day, so we had a lot of footage looking "anamorphic" while still seen everything normal on monitors. Even the camera monitor showed a 3424x2202 image being recorded, no "2.0" visible anywhere.
I know the camera was not set properly, but there was no indication of that 2.0 Lens squeeze factor on monitors, which also led to confusion because there was nothing telling us about that mistake, and I think it's important to read the format settings on monitors accurately, at least the main camera monitor.

I strongly suggest to Arri to show an indication of lens squeeze factor on the camera monitor as well as the SDI outputs, and near to the Format Indicator.



Regards
Roge

[Andreas Berkl]

Dear Rogecam,

I can reproduce this om my ALEXA Mini using SUP 6.1.2 revision 83.

Here on my camera it works as expected including a STATUS icon on SDI and EVF telling me I am using 2.0x LENS SQUEEZE FACTOR. As long I do not untick ANAMORPHIC DESQUEEZE!
Then I get the same as you guys, an undesqueezed image but recorded LENS SQUEEZE FACTOR. Fortunately this is only metadata. You can disable the desqueeze in your post production software.

The non-present icon when not using desqueeze, but with LENS SQUEEZE FACTOR != 1.00 still be set is, in a way correct: What you see is undesqueezed. On the other hand it is possible to run into problems as in your case.

I will forward this to our product management. Superior beings may want to decide what to do in the future.

So for the time being: Make sure to set LENS SQUEEZE FACTOR correctly and do NOT rely on what you see.

Thanks for your feedback and best regards,
Andreas Berkl

[Rogecam]

Thanks, Andreas

We will consider this for the future.
As a last suggestion, everything that is going on with the recorded media must be on the monitor screen somehow (the one in the EVF), including format ratios resulting from every configuration.

Regards
Roge