Arri 235 for exterior synch sound shoot? Insanity?

Eric Lin · July 17, 2006

Hi. I'm about to go out on a shoot that requires a significant of handheld, 35mm, all exterior, next to a river for part of it, so a quiet camera is not a huge issue. The added logistics of the shoot are that we may need to do some hiking to get some places so a lightweight camera makes sense. We wanted the Moviecam SL but it may be too costly. Only a couple of small houses have it in NYC and they aren't letting it out the door for cheap even though we are a student shoot.

Now, in talking to a tech guy, he was trying to convince me that the Arri 235 could be used for synch sound shooting outdoors. Is he on crack? Has anyone done this and had usable dialogue?

The reason the Arri 235 is an option is that CSC in New York (God Bless them) might be able to get us a deal on the Arri 235.

I trolled around the forums online and have heard people say both: yes, it's quiet enough, other's saying no, no, no, too loud. Haven't been able to find any sound (db) info on how loud it is. Does anyone know?

The 235 makes great sense in terms of our production logistics: handheld, remote locations, etc.

Please send me your experiences or thoughts.

Much appreciated.

Nathan Milford · July 17, 2006

Yeah, the camera sounds like a blender.

Swing by Abel, we have one in rental, you can listen for yourself.

- Nathan

Bob Hayes · July 17, 2006

If your client doesn?t mind looping the all the footage it is not a problem. If the river is load enough to cover the camera he will have to loop. If the sound man is good enough and the river quiet enough the camera will probably be too noisy so you ill have to loop and it will be a camera created problem. You don?t have to get very far from the river for the camera noise to be heard.

Chris Keth · July 17, 2006

Now, in talking to a tech guy, he was trying to convince me that the Arri 235 could be used for synch sound shooting outdoors. Is he on crack? Has anyone done this and had usable dialogue?

He's pretty much on crack. The 235's a pretty loud little guy.

Have you considered mixing super 16 into your footage? An SR3 or a 416 if you can get one would be a great hiking buddy and are both fine for handheld. Especially if this is exterior shooting, you could easily shoot a slower stock and it should intercut quite well. In addition, the weight of the raw stock would be greatly reduced.

Eric Lin · July 18, 2006

Thanks for the insight from everybody.

That's kind of what I suspected with the 235 but couldn't find any hard info on what db the camera noise ran at and haven't had a chance to get my hands of one to hear for myself.

Super 16 is the next option we are considering because of compactness and cost.

Thanks again.

Chris Keth · July 18, 2006

Thanks for the insight from everybody.

That's kind of what I suspected with the 235 but couldn't find any hard info on what db the camera noise ran at and haven't had a chance to get my hands of one to hear for myself.

Super 16 is the next option we are considering because of compactness and cost.

Thanks again.

I have several bits of literature about the 235 straight from arri and none of them give a dB rating because when you ehar the camera, it's obviously not meant for sync shooting and they didn't bother measuring it.