Does anybody know what this is? (ARRI laser)

[Noé Cornago]

I saw this thing on my local marketplace, and was wondering if it was worth anything and/or if anybody would be interested on it?

Thanks everybody,

Edited September 30 by Noé Cornago
(NOT A SCANNER BUT A LASER, THANKS DIRK!)

[Dirk DeJonghe]

It looks like an Arrilaser recorder, not a scanner, quite the opposite.

[Noé Cornago]

Thankks for correcting me, Dirk, Is it worth anything?Would this be useful to somebody or is it completely outdated?

[Brandon Paterno]

this is a recorder... fairly valuable to the right institution. servicing has gotta be weird though, cinelab in massachusetts uses them i think but they had to get custom parts made for em

Edited September 30 by Brandon Paterno

[Robin Phillips]

they're quite valuable to the right buyer, if only for rare spare parts. they're a necessary component not just for lasering out for film prints but also for doing analog intermediates where you send your digital footage to film and back to get natural grain

[Tyler Purcell]

They're kinda tricky to buy and run, lots of setup cost and you need a backup for spares if you intend on using it. 

The thing is, Arri has a pretty closed and antique ecosystem. So unless you're already very skilled in maintaining them, you have to rely on somewhat on a current or former Arri tech to get it setup initially which is very expensive. In fact, the cost of the machine these days used, is probably not much more than the cost of initial setup and getting it working in the environment. 

[Ross Yeandle]

Fairly sure Kodak have this one at Pinewood Studios. They did a digital to film transfer for me onto 35mm film, so yes they might be interested in it.

[Fabian Schreyer]

Does anyone know how many of these were built?

[Joerg Polzfusz]

relevant links:
https://filmfarm.de/en/arrilaser

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_recorder

https://archive.org/details/manualsbase-id-132069

https://www.oscars.org/sci-tech/ceremonies/2012
 

Arri says that the Arrilaser got introduced in 1998, Wikipedia says 1999…

Looks like it’s out of production since approximately 2020.

No clue, how many devices have been built and how many of the older devices have been upgraded…

[Karim D. Ghantous]

How much do they want? I mean, if it's cheap... 😉 

[Mark Dunn]

11 hours ago, Karim D. Ghantous said:

How much do they want? I mean, if it's cheap... 😉 

From experience, if it's anything like a Steenbeck that hasn't been looked at for 20 years, and Tyler suggest it is, even free wouldn't be cheap.

For a start, it weighs 300kg, so that's a professional move, or at least a van with a tail-lift.....the meter's running.

Such a shame, these things must have cost well into 6 figures new.

I checked. $375,000.

Edited Saturday at 04:59 PM by Mark Dunn

[Karim D. Ghantous]

14 hours ago, Mark Dunn said:

I checked. $375,000.

Oh, boy.

[Dirk DeJonghe]

What is more, after 10 years of service, some German companies consider your equipment as no longer servicable and will not provide spare parts any more. Ask me how I know.

From a swiss manufacturer: 'if we don't have the part any more, we will make it for you'

[Mark Dunn]

On 10/4/2026 at 4:48 PM, Dirk DeJonghe said:

What is more, after 10 years of service, some German companies consider your equipment as no longer servicable and will not provide spare parts any more. Ask me how I know.

From a swiss manufacturer: 'if we don't have the part any more, we will make it for you'

Spare a thought for me; I service Steenbecks!

[Noé Cornago]

On 10/3/2026 at 6:54 PM, Mark Dunn said:

From experience, if it's anything like a Steenbeck that hasn't been looked at for 20 years, and Tyler suggest it is, even free wouldn't be cheap.

For a start, it weighs 300kg, so that's a professional move, or at least a van with a tail-lift.....the meter's running.

Such a shame, these things must have cost well into 6 figures new.

I checked. $375,000.

They're selling it for 15K , saying it's in "mint condition"... I don't know about that.

[Noé Cornago]

Just now, Noé Cornago said:

They're selling it for 15K , saying it's in "mint condition"... I don't know about that.

If anybody is interested, I could check with them!