RED partners with ARRI Rentals on custom RAPTOR XL for Tron: Ares

RED has been teasing some news this week, and Jarred Land dropped a typical bombshell on Instagram with details of a partnership with ARRI Rentals to take advantage of its DNA glass on the upcoming Tron: Ares movie.

As ever with RED, big announcements are short, sweet, often unexpected (this may be the teased news, it may be something else entirely), and don't go via the usual channels.  [Update: it wasn't the teased news. More to come from RED tomorrow, apparently.]

Last night's was no exception, appearing out of the blue on Jarred Land's Instagram account.

Well, we say details of a partnership, that's not entirely accurate. Details are in short supply. Here's the full Insta post in its entirety.

"RED❤️ARRI . Excited and truly humbled to share our newest collaboration between RED and ARRI Rentals for TRON and the mighty mighty Jeff Croneweth, together we made a small army of custom RAPTOR XLs made specifically for ARRI’s Incredible DNA glass. Betcha you never saw this one coming ;)"

No Jarred, we did not.

Tron: Ares (Tron 3 effectively) finally started shooting in Vancouver a couple of weeks ago, following significant delays caused by the writers' and actors strike action.Jeff Croneweth is cinematographer, Joachim Rønning directs, and Jared Leto stars as Ares, an emerging sentient program that crosses over into the human world but is not ready for contact.

The ARRI DNA glass is a bit special. It uses vintage optics from different historical periods, which are rehoused into modern lens casings, with the manufacturing carried out in-house at ARRI Rental. Each lens has its own personality and is often customized for individual filmmakers. The lenses were limited to the ALEXA 65 camera too (and could be used on the ALEXA LF at a stretch), but now that market seems to have been widened a bit.

Will this be the start of something special and, more pertinently, purchasable? Or will this 'small army' of custom RAPTOR XLs be all that the unexpected union of RED and ARRI ever produces? The answer will probably appear on Instagram at some point in the future...