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New (to me) Arriflex S16


Mark Day

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Hey guys, I just purchased an Arriflex S16 off of e-Bay. This one looked the best (and even better than some of the more expensive ones). I paid $499.99 + S&H. The seller has 100% feedback and has thousands of sales. I've been e-Mailing him and he's been very helpful - seems to be a really nice guy. It's all there except for a lens and power supply. Since I build vacuum tube audio, I can build a power supply, battery system, and battery charger fairly easy. Right now, he's got a lens (Schneider, I think) for $299.00. I'll probably buy it once I sell my Autopak-8 D10. What I'm wanting to know is: is there a lens mount adapter made that would allow me to use my Nikon lenses (I have a D2X and F4) on this camera? Maybe an adapter for the older AI lenses. I know it's not the best idea in the world, isn't kosher, and could contribute to the ozone layer, but I'd like to try it.

Thanks

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There are several different 16mm Arriflex cameras. Which one is this? Would you mind linking to the auction?

 

Unfortunately it isn't possible to adapt Nikon F lenses for any Arriflex cameras. All mounts (Arri Standard, Bayonet and PL-mount) on Arriflex cameras have longer flange focal distance than Nikon F mount.

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Sometimes the order of things makes a difference - S16 is shorthand for Super 16, whereas I'm guessing the camera you bought is a 16S, which is almost never Super 16. :)

 

Because of the fairly deep flange depth that Heikki mentioned, with an Arri 16S you're pretty much limited to Arri Standard lenses, which can be affordable but are pretty old now. Some of them might have issues, the most common I come across being worn focus threads that can cause image shift. But they were high quality for the time. Cooke Kinetals were probably the best, but you'll find lenses by Schneider, Zeiss, Angenieux, Kilfitt, Astro Berlin, Kinoptik and others. You can use lenses made for 35mm format on your camera as well.

 

If you have a newer Arri 16S/B, two of the turret mounts will be Arri Bayonet mount, which lets you use more recent Arri Bayonet lenses. You can immediately identify that mount by the two cut outs for the protruding locking flanges.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

OK, I've ordered a Schneider wide angle (16mm) lens and I'm currently building a modern power supply. I've also got a couple of 400' magazines on the way, (not that they'll be used any time soon but I thought for the price, might as well pick 'em up.) Two of them are for my 16S and two of them are for a "BL", but if I find some 'junk' "S" magazines, I can convert the "BL"s to "S".

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Guest Glenn Brady

OK, I've ordered a Schneider wide angle (16mm) lens and I'm currently building a modern power supply. I've also got a couple of 400' magazines on the way, (not that they'll be used any time soon but I thought for the price, might as well pick 'em up.) Two of them are for my 16S and two of them are for a "BL", but if I find some 'junk' "S" magazines, I can convert the "BL"s to "S".

 

The 'BL' magazines are gear-driven and the 'S' magazines driven by a torque motor, so converting one to the other, even if it was possible, would be prohibitively expensive.

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