Purchasing an Arriflex 16ST

Aaron Tan · October 10, 2004

Hey All,

I've had the luck to find an Arriflex 16ST for sale at a local photographic market. I've been shopping around for a 16mm camera for a while now and this seems to be a good package. I'm really interested but I'd like to hear from those who've had experience with this camera.

Is there anything I should check the camera out for? Any special characteristics that I should be aware of?

The kit comes like this:

- 16ST Body, 3 Lenses in OK condition (two primes, one Som-Berthiot Zoom), 400ft mag, variable speed motor, shoulder brace, animation motor, mattebox, 12v battery and cable, hard carry case and various little bits and pieces. I've negotiated the price to $1600 (Australian Dollars). Is that a good deal?

Thanks. Any help would be greatly appreciated before I decide to shell out the big bucks. :blink:

Dan Salzmann · October 10, 2004

Forget any sync sound work or eventual super16 conversion of this camera.

Sam Wells · October 10, 2004

The 400' mags & torque motors can be the Achilles heel of the otherwise built-like-a-tank Arri S.

I'd think of adding servicing them to your budget.

Get a 400' load on core of outdated stock you don't care about, run it through the camera with the mag door open. Ramp the speed etc. See if you can run the entire load with no take up issues.

-Sam

Aaron Tan · October 11, 2004

The 400' mags & torque motors can be the Achilles heel of the otherwise built-like-a-tank Arri S.

This package doesn't come with a torque motor as I've seen them. It's got what looks like a torque motor built into the mag at the bottom. I'm not sure but is that the motor?

Sam Wells · October 11, 2004

It's not built in to the mag, it attaches to the mag

-Sam

John Sprung · October 13, 2004

I've negotiated the price to $1600 (Australian Dollars). Is that a good deal?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nah, don't buy it. But do send me the name, address, and phone number of the seller. ;-)

-- J.S.

Josh Hill · October 13, 2004

I wouldn't buy it. You can almost get a good sync camera (like a CP16) for that price off of eBay. I bought my CP16 off eBay for 1400 American (about 300 dollars more than you're looking to pay for that). My camera came with tripod, head, three mags, 10-150mm lens, two batteries, and various other little bits and pieces.

I think you would be throwing away a lot of money for a non sync camera.

Aaron Tan · October 15, 2004

GOT IT! :P

I had the camera checked out by a tech at a local rental place before I bought it. He's worked with Arris for over 30 years and said that it was in amazing condition and cleaner than the ones they rented out. It was used prior as an animation camera so not much film was run through it.

There was a minor problem with the belt of the daylight spool take up bit but he said it wouldn't be a big thing. So on that I managed to get the price down to $1500 and the guy even threw in a splicer... On getting home I was surprised to find four glass filters and a little packet of gate masks.

QUESTION: The glass filters which came in: orange, red, light green, and yellow. I assume their for use with b&w?

As for buying on Ebay it's difficult for me because I'm not in the US. Shipping charges/custom fees/local taxes... would blow me out of my budget. And I'd prefer to see the camera in person, handle it and all that...

Lugging the whole kit home on the train was fun though... :blink: