Early history

Arri was founded in Munich, Germany on 12 September 1917 by August Arnold and Robert Richter as Arnold & Richter Cine Technik. The acronym Arri was derived from the initial two letters of the founders' surnames, Arnold and Richter.^[10][11]

In 1924, Arnold and Richter developed their first film camera, the small and portable Kinarri 35.^[12] In 1937, Arri introduced the world's first reflex mirror shutter in the Arriflex 35 camera, an invention of longtime engineer Erich Kästner. This technology employs a rotating mirror that allows a continuous motor to operate the camera while providing parallax-free reflex viewing to the operator,^[13] and the ability to focus the image by eye through the viewfinder, much like an SLR camera for photography. The reflex design was subsequently used in almost every professional motion picture film camera and is still used in the Arri Alexa Studio digital camera. The first Hollywood film to employ an Arriflex was the 1947 Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall film Dark Passage in 1947. Over the years, more than 17,000 Arriflex 35s were built.^[14] The design was recognized with two Scientific and Technical Academy Awards in 1966 and 1982.

Indian cinematographer Ramachandra Babu with Arriflex 535B camera

Arriflex camera being used by Abolfazl Attar

1950–1989

Lens used on Apollo missions

In 1952, Arri introduced the Arriflex 16ST, the first professional 16mm camera with a reflex viewing system.^{[15][11][16][17]} In 1965, a self-blimped 16mm camera was released: the Arriflex 16BL.^[18] The Arriflex 35BL followed in 1972 as a lightweight, quiet alternative to the rather heavy and cumbersome blimped cameras of the time.^[19] Also in 1972, Arri pioneered the development of daylight luminaires with the Arrisonne 2000 W. The Arriflex 16SR, launched in 1975, featured a redesigned viewfinder with a through-the-lens light meter.^[20] The Arriflex 765, a 65mm camera, was released in 1989, partly in response to the growing industry demand for 70mm release prints.^[21]

1990–2009

The Arriflex 535 camera was released in 1990, followed by the Arriflex 535B and the Arriflex 16SR 3 in 1992. The Arriflex 435 was released in 1994.^[22][23]

Arri partnered with Carl Zeiss AG in order to develop and manufacture advanced lenses for the motion picture industry. In 1998, Arri released the Ultra Prime lenses.^[24]

Development of the Arrilaser, a postproduction film recorder, began in 1997 and it was released for beta testing in 1998.^[25][26]

In 2000, Arri purchased the company Moviecam and developed Arricam, a 35mm camera platform. In 2003, Arri developed its first digital camera, the Arriflex D-20,^[27] which later evolved into the D-21. The camera used a 35mm CMOS sensor (instead of CCD) and allowed cinematographers to utilize standard 35mm lenses. This technology was further developed and improved for the Arri Alexa camera.

Arri revealed its Arriscan prototype during IBC 2003. The 16mm/35mm film scanner worked alongside the Arrilaser to support the increasingly popular digital intermediate route through postproduction.^[28] Later, the Arriscan became a widely used tool for film restoration work and was recognized with a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award in 2009.^[29]

Arri released the Master Prime lenses in 2005, designed for a super-fast aperture of T1.3 without breathing and distortion.^[30][31] In 2007, the Master Prime 14mm and 150mm lenses were released.^[32]

The Arrilaser 2 was released in 2009, with new client-server architecture and speeds twice as fast as the original model.^[33] In 2011, the Arrilaser was recognized with an Academy Award of Merit.^[25]

2010–present

In 2010, the Arri Alexa camera was released. The camera had the ability to compress 1080p footage to ProRes QuickTime formats and allowed direct-to-edit workflows.^[34] Later models added to the range included the Alexa Plus, Alexa Studio and Alexa M, which was designed to get the camera closer to the action.^[35] The Alexa Plus 4:3, like the Alexa Studio, allowed the full area of the sensor to be used with anamorphic lenses.^[36]

The 16mm Arriflex 416 camera and Ultra Prime 16 lenses were used in the filming of the 2010 film Black Swan.^[37]

Arri announced a strategic partnership with Zeiss and Fujinon in 2010 to create new lenses that incorporated enhanced electronic lens data transfer in order to simplify visual effects workflows in postproduction.^[38][39] The Arri/Fujinon Alura Zooms were released that same year, while the Arri/Zeiss Master Anamorphic lens series was released in 2012.^[40][41]

In 2013, Arri created Arri Medical, a business unit that utilizes its camera technology for medical purposes.^[42] Apart from a medical imaging documentation service,^[43] it has developed a fully digital 3D surgical microscope called the Arriscope.^[43]

The Arri Alexa 65, released in 2014, was used in the filming of The Revenant as well as Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and Star Wars: Rogue One.^[44] The Arri Amira camera was also released in 2014.^[22] In 2015, four of the five nominees for the cinematography category of the Academy Awards were filmed using the Arri Alexa.^[45]

Arri's subsidiary postproduction and creative services company, Arri Film & TV, was renamed Arri Media in 2015 as part of a company restructuring.^[46] At NAB 2015, the SkyPanel LED fixtures were introduced by Arri. The SC60 and the SC30 have a full color tunable LED option.^[47]

In April 2016, Arri acquired the Artemis camera stabilizer systems developed by Curt O. Schaller from Sachtler / Vitec Videocom.^[48][49] As a result, Arri became the exclusive seller of Artemis Trinity stabilizers.^[50] At NAB 2016, Arri unveiled its version of the Trinity system.^[51]