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What's the widest lens you'd recommend on an ARRI SR2?


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Hey guys,

 

So we're shooting the first ten minutes of our feature film this month and I'm trying to finalize my lens package. We can afford 5 Super Speeds (35, 50, 85, 100, 135) but I don't know how low I can go on 16mm. If it can handle something like an 18 or a 21, or even a 24, I would be very interested.

 

 

for more information on our movie, check us out at

 

po.st/sowhat

 

 

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It is, PL is PL mount, and the SR2 should be PL. However, I don't know if a CP2 will clear the J bar for the viewfinder. It might, but I've personally never tried a CP on an SR and they're a little bit big. Also 18mm isn't very wide for a S16mm camera-- you'd really want a 12 or a 9.5mm as mentioned.

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Try a rental house that's more oriented to cine lenses, look for lenses that are designed for Super 16.

For example:

http://www.radiantimages.com/lenses/s16/arri

 

No idea about that company, just using it as an example.

 

You can use PL mount lenses designed for 35mm on an SR2 but like Adrian said you'll struggle to find wides and some of the short, bigger barrelled designs will foul on the viewfinder. You might also potentially get some internal reflections that flash the film because the of the larger circle of light coming out the back of a lens designed for a bigger format. Basically it's overall just better to use lenses that are designed for the format you're using.

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Also (text editor failed me), maybe Dom can help us here, but the S16 superspeeds were designed with high resolution for the S16 format. I don't know if you will get the same resolution on screen shooting S16 with the 35mm format SSs. Maybe someone can answer that issue. How does the resolution compare between these two (35mm vs 16mm SSs) on the technician's lens projector (lp/mm) ?

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I know you could see the difference in the Aaton viewfinder between the Zeiss Contex primes and the 16mm Mk1 Super Speeds, the latter were a tad sharper. The 18 CP2 is very slow at f3.6, which could cause problems on a low budget feature.

 

As suggested, you should look around for a set of Super 16mm prime lenses to rent, these cover the focal lengths you'll use a lot of the time, 35mm motion picture lenses often get used for the longer focal lengths.

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Just in case there's any doubt, you're looking at the wrong lenses. These are intended for DSLRs, which have a sensor about the same size as 35mm. cine.They are very long for 16mm., for which 10mm. is a wide angle, equivalent to about 18-24mm. on a DSLR or 35mm.

If the reason for this isn't clear to you, have another look at your optics textbook or course notes.

Edited by Mark Dunn
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For my ARRI S (regular 16mm) I have a 16mm, a 32mm and a 50mm. The 16mm is wide enough for me, but I believe you should be able to go as low as a 12mm or 9.5mm without getting any distortion.

 

As others have said, look around for a rental house that will better suit your needs.

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Also (text editor failed me), maybe Dom can help us here, but the S16 superspeeds were designed with high resolution for the S16 format. I don't know if you will get the same resolution on screen shooting S16 with the 35mm format SSs. Maybe someone can answer that issue. How does the resolution compare between these two (35mm vs 16mm SSs) on the technician's lens projector (lp/mm) ?

 

I can tell the difference if I project 35mm Super Speeds with a S16 test reticle, which sometimes happens by accident if I've been checking 16mm lenses and forget to change reticles. The image looks very slightly softer than I'm expecting from a S16 Super Speed.

But I'm not sure the difference would always be noticeable on a production by the time of the final viewing after variables like focus error, stock resolution, and path to final output resolution are factored in. It's a pretty subtle improvement at the level of very fine detail that gets even more subtle as you stop down. Plus these are old lenses so there can be some variation. But I know Zeiss made a dedicated 50mm for S16 when they had a perfectly good 50mm in 35mm format, so there was a difference.

 

you can go down as low as an 8mm on 35mm..if you're willing to pay the rental for an 8R lens ;)

 

True, an astonishing thing.

You can get down to 6mm with Ultra 16s or Cooke SK4s or a Century, roughly a 90 degree angle of view on S16, but at 114 rectilinear degrees the 8R is something else..

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I can tell the difference if I project 35mm Super Speeds with a S16 test reticle, which sometimes happens by accident if I've been checking 16mm lenses and forget to change reticles. The image looks very slightly softer than I'm expecting from a S16 Super Speed.

 

Hey Dom,

Thanks. Even with the 16mm film stocks we had in the 80s the 16mm Zeiss SSs really "popped" on the big screen compared to the Schneiders I used to rent. With better film stock, I think these 80s era lenses have a good immediate application for those such as the OP.

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