Lens for Arriflex S16mm

Kristian Nomedal · February 1, 2012

Hello! Where can I get the cheapest lens for my Arriflex S16mm camera?? I'm little short on cash these days! EBay is very expensive there are few lenses under $200!

Best Regards from Norway!

Adrian Sierkowski · February 1, 2012

Cheap and Lens don't normally fall in the same sentence as, with a film camera, it's the stock and lens which will determine quality-- so there is always a drive to make the best possible lenses, well, possible.

Without knowing what Arri camera you have, I'm going to assume you have a PL mount. As such you can get some Lomo Lenses, rehoused in PL mount which should fit into the lens mount. Whether they clear, say, the viewfinder, is another story (I have a 50mm Lomo lens which won't fit onto my SR3 due to the viewfinder getting in the way). These will normally be your cheapest lenses, for a few hundred bucks. And, as they are designed for 35mm cameras will cover S16mm just fine. The problem you'll have, of course, is finding wide lenses. The widest Lomo i've seen is an 18mm, which is just about "normal," viewing angle on S16mm.

For high quality stuffs, you're looking at lenses in the thousand plus dollar range, and at that point it often makes much more sense to rent them as needed as opposed to buying them.

If you list what camera and what lens mount you have, though we may be able to help you better with specific lenses.

Will Montgomery · February 1, 2012

If you mean a 16S it would almost certainly (almost certainly? what a strange phrase) not be a PL mount. If you mean some other Super 16mm Arri camera it probably would be PL.

Probably 2 Arri Standard and one Arri Bayonet mount on a 16s.

Tim has a great page dedicated to it here:

http://www.arri16s.com/Home.htm

As far as finding lenses at a good price, try calling film rental houses around Norway and see if any have Arri 16S's laying on a shelf. Many have them in glass cases like a museum. They probably will have a few lenses that they could let go. That would be your best bet on finding a good deal. Same would work for PL lenses but they'd be much less inclined to let them go.

Kristian Nomedal · February 12, 2012

Okay! thanks for a lot of answers! Could you please post some links of the lenses you can recommend for a cheap amount?

If you mean a 16S it would almost certainly (almost certainly? what a strange phrase) not be a PL mount. If you mean some other Super 16mm Arri camera it probably would be PL.

Probably 2 Arri Standard and one Arri Bayonet mount on a 16s.

Tim has a great page dedicated to it here:

http://www.arri16s.com/Home.htm

As far as finding lenses at a good price, try calling film rental houses around Norway and see if any have Arri 16S's laying on a shelf. Many have them in glass cases like a museum. They probably will have a few lenses that they could let go. That would be your best bet on finding a good deal. Same would work for PL lenses but they'd be much less inclined to let them go.

Will Montgomery · February 13, 2012

Exactly which camera do you have?

An Arri 16s like this?

or another Super 16mm Arri camera?

Kristian Nomedal · February 13, 2012

Hello I have an 16S

Exactly which camera do you have?

An Arri 16s like this?

or another Super 16mm Arri camera?

Tim Carroll · February 13, 2012

Hello I have an 16S

You'll need ARRI Standard Mount lenses for that camera. Those include the Schneider primes like 10mm (don't recommend the 10mm), 16mm, 25mm, 50mm, 75mm, and the Cooke Kinetal primes like 9mm, 12.5mm, 17.5mm, 25mm, 37.5mm, 50mm, 75mm, and the Zeiss primes that came in ARRI standard mount, as well as many of the Angenieux 12-120 zooms came in ARRI standard mount.

Best,

-Tim