Super 16

anthony derose · March 23, 2009

Hello,

My buddy and I are coming up on our thesis next year and have started pre-pro on our project. We want to shoot Super 16. Our school has the Arri SRII and Zeiss Super Speeds. We have used it twice and though it yields a nice image we want a bit higher quality. I was thinking of two ideas. Since our SRII has a PL mount the thought of renting Ultra Primes or S4's came into the picture. However I don't know how well they will work with the SRII. I've been leaning towards a SRIII and prob. S4's. Though I've read about some 35mm lens's not clearing the viewfinder. If anyone has any experience with working with either of those cameras equipped with 35 lens's advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Alex Wuijts · March 23, 2009

Hello,

My buddy and I are coming up on our thesis next year and have started pre-pro on our project. We want to shoot Super 16. Our school has the Arri SRII and Zeiss Super Speeds. We have used it twice and though it yields a nice image we want a bit higher quality. I was thinking of two ideas. Since our SRII has a PL mount the thought of renting Ultra Primes or S4's came into the picture. However I don't know how well they will work with the SRII. I've been leaning towards a SRIII and prob. S4's. Though I've read about some 35mm lens's not clearing the viewfinder. If anyone has any experience with working with either of those cameras equipped with 35 lens's advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Hey Anthony,

What do you mean with "How well they work"? And what do you mean with "a bit higher quality"? 16mm is - generally - an inferior format compared to 35mm in terms of sharpness because of the larger negative of the latter. The lenses used for 35 have to cover a larger negative area than 16, so you'll get a narrower field of view when using these lenses on a s16mm camera. 35mm lenses will not necessarily give you better quality. You're probably better off renting newer super16 primes. Make a test where you shoot a sharpness test chart (the one with different line pairs) with different types of lenses, including your super speeds. It's useful to perform this test with a slow stock, so visible grain will be less of an issue when judging sharpness.

To perform this test:

1) Make sure your camera is on a steady surface.

2) Position your camera exactly in front, horinzontally and vertically, of the test chart, which you attached to a flat surface. Use a tape measure for this. The srII doesn't have a mark for where the film plane is, so you have to establish the exact position first. There is a very simple and precise way to do this using a wooden stick used to clear the gate and a piece of tape. I'll send you a drawing if you want.

3) Chose the minimal focus distance of the lens or, if you have a large test chart, a distance which fills the whole frame with the test chart.

4) Light the chart so you can get a good exposure with the aperture full open. Light from a sharp angle, so you don't get reflections on the chart. Don't dim the light, because lowering the color temperature means lowering the contrast and your perception of sharpness. Use scrims or nd filters instead.

5) Identify your test: be sure to note the camera type and serial number, date.

6) Shoot the test with the lenses you would like to compare. Make sure you identify all the lenses before you test them, for example: Ultra Prime, serial # xxxxxx.

7) Once developed, cut a frame of the different tests and make it into a slide so you can judge it very critically. This way you'll have an easy way to store the test for future use.

Make sure you use a camera which itself has been tested on registration and flange focal distance.

Good luck.

Edited March 23, 2009 by Alex Wuijts

Nigel Smith · March 30, 2009

The srII doesn't have a mark for where the film plane is, so you have to establish the exact position first.

:huh:

Well mine does. It has a vertical white line either side of a screw head on the 'feed' side of the body.

Regards the OP, a student hired some 35mm lenses to use with our SR2 and did indeed find that most of them wouldn't fit on the camera, because of the viewfinder.

It's worth checking because there are different viewfinder types available. Ours was been adapted for a Sony video tap, and is really a SR2.5 - a Van Demon S16mm conversion.

Edited March 30, 2009 by Nigel Smith

Satsuki Murashige · March 30, 2009

I don't know about Ultra Primes (non LDS), but the S4s are pretty darn big. If the Ultra Primes do fit, then consider renting the Zeiss Ultra 16s. They use the same housings as the Ultras but open up to T1.3 and go as wide as 6mm. They are the nicest Super 16 lenses out there.