Arri SR3 lens compatibility

[Samuel Preston]

Hi everyone, i just picked up an arri sr3 and was wondering if anyone has the measurements for the lens mount, mirror and baffel system, so that i can find out which lenses will work without internal conflicts? 

 

[Tyler Purcell]

Well, considering 35mm film cameras mirror shutter angle is narrower than 16mm shutter angle, I think you'd not have any problems with lenses from any format really. 

 

[Robin Phillips]

Im not sure if any PL mount, B mount, or Arri S mount lenses will be a problem. LPL lenses I believe are a no go on 35mm film bodies, they might clear on an SR3. I've seen master primes (pl mount) on 416s with no issue, in fact its one of the ways to get the sharpest s16mm given the rarity of the U16s. I think where you need to be more careful are lenses built for digital systems exclusively, as even some high end ones dont care about film cameras and their mirror shutters and will protrude deeper into the mount. Hopefully someone here has the actual specs. 

What lenses are you looking to use?

[Samuel Preston]

1 hour ago, Tyler Purcell said:

Well, considering 35mm film cameras mirror shutter angle is narrower than 16mm shutter angle, I think you'd not have any problems with lenses from any format really. 

 

I’ve already had a lens made for 16mm not fit due to the rear element or surrounding part protruding so far back that it doesn’t even go flush to the pl mount. So, there does seem to be issues 

[Samuel Preston]

11 minutes ago, Robin Phillips said:

 

What lenses are you looking to use?

I’ve got access to a few U16 lenses, but i was thinking of picking up a more modern Zoom lens for versatility, i’ve seen the tokina 11-20 used on sr3 so that must work but i was wondering about something like the dzo 12-25 as it’s got a bit more reach into the longer focal lengths. Have not seen anyone run it so wasn’t sure about clearance. 

[Robin Phillips]

IIRC I've put a tokina 11-16 on an sr3 before without a problem, havent done the 11-20. But it was iffy in terms of sharpness. thats one of the challenges with lower cost lenses. most are not that great at resolving for the s16 gate. though those laowa nanomorph anamorphics will clear the mirror and are, to my surprise, quite sharp. 

its harder to find now, but the zeiss LWZ.1 and LWZ.2 are almost as sharp as the U16s. its my go too zoom lens for s16 when Im shooting U16s since it'll match, same coatings and all.

[Tyler Purcell]

4 hours ago, Samuel Preston said:

I’ve already had a lens made for 16mm not fit due to the rear element or surrounding part protruding so far back that it doesn’t even go flush to the pl mount. So, there does seem to be issues 

Well yea, you "made" a lens lol 

Lenses made for motion picture cameras, won't have these issues. 

[Samuel Preston]

2 hours ago, Tyler Purcell said:

Well yea, you "made" a lens lol 

Lenses made for motion picture cameras, won't have these issues. 

You misunderstood, the lens i used is a 16mm motion picture lens. I didn’t make it, it was made for 16mm. 

[Aapo Lettinen]

by my experience, one often has most problems with Soviet 16mm lenses as they have weird back parts geometry easily hitting stuff inside Western cameras for the Western cameras made assuming that the lenses would have more compact rear mechanics. for example the Lomo 10-100 is just barely possible to fit to the Aaton LTR if you mount it really slowly and carefully, there is just like half a millimeter or quarter millimeter of room even if it is perfectly aligned in the adapter. Other lenses like 16SP and Krasnogorsk lenses often don't fit at all and are practically only compatible with the camera they are made for. Soviet cameras were made for cheap so of course they wanted to use simpler optical and mechanical designs, thus often making the lenses more "camera-specific" and less compact . Most Western lenses usually have more "slender, conical style" back parts whereas the Soviet ones are more commonly "just large bulky cylinder" type.

On most Western lenses it should usually be relatively easy to figure out from photos if a lens might potentially cause issues or not. On higher end lenses and especially on 35mm format ones the most common issue is the lens body not clearing the viewfinder assembly well enough, for example Ultra Primes come very very close to the viewfinder though should still be usable if carefully mounted.

[Tyler Purcell]

On 10/29/2023 at 11:17 PM, Samuel Preston said:

You misunderstood, the lens i used is a 16mm motion picture lens. I didn’t make it, it was made for 16mm. 

Ah got ya, I've never seen a lens protrude to far into the camera that it won't work. Very odd. I'd like to see pictures of what part doesn't fit. I wonder if it's simply the lens mount being a tiny bit smaller inner dimension for some reason. Some cameras like the Arri SR3 have a slightly larger inner dimension than the Aaton cameras or some of the converted SR's from B to PL. 

[Dom Jaeger]

On 10/29/2023 at 10:27 PM, Tyler Purcell said:

Well, considering 35mm film cameras mirror shutter angle is narrower than 16mm shutter angle, I think you'd not have any problems with lenses from any format really. 

This is bad advice, there are definitely cine lenses that are not compatible with an SR3.

The main culprits are certain older Arri Standard mount lenses that were made for the Arriflex 16S, like Cooke Kinetals and some Schneiders. The 16S had more mirror clearance than later cameras, so be careful with any wide angle lens in Arri Standard mount. Any lens in Arri Bayonet mount should be OK on an SR3 with a PL adapter. 

There are also a handful of more modern lenses that were made to be digital only, like the Angenieux DP zooms, which protrude too far back past the PL mount to fit a film camera, but from what I’ve seen most PL lenses nowadays seem to be made with film camera clearance specs in mind. Some lenses may have barrels that are too large which can foul on the SR3 viewfinder.

There is a lens clearance diagram Arri provided for their 35mm spinning mirror cameras which you can use. 16mm cameras like the SR series actually have a little more clearance than the 35mm ones. The diagram is in this thread:

 

[David Sekanina]

Wrong thread, sorry. I reposted it in the above mentioned thread about the Laowa Nanomorphs.

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by David Sekanina