an Arriflex S/B 16mm film camera?

Stewart Munro · June 14, 2005

how good are Arriflex S/B 16mm film camera?ang how much would you pay for one?thanks

Annie Wengenroth · June 14, 2005

Well, I have an Arriflex S with 3 primes, 2 mags, matte box, and battery belt. So far I've put about $1400 into the package. I initially bought the camera body, lenses, and mags, for $900. I have seen them go on ebay for as much as $4000 for a complete package but I've also seen them around the same price range as what I paid. I kinda lucked out with mine and would have probably paid more if I'd had to. I'd say anywhere from one to three grand is reasonable. It's hard to say because it depends so much on the condition of the camera and accessories.

As for them being good cameras, well you know what I'm gonna say, but then again I'm biased! I think they are good because even though they're obviously not meant for sync-sound work, they are built really well and very solid, but easy to work with handheld because you can use internal 100' daylight loads. For something that was initially constructed half a century ago, they have held up over the years. I think the only other things you can put into that category are cars, houses, and people...and some rare breeds of parrot? Wine? Vinyl LPs? Guitars? ;)

On the other hand, Owning a Film Camera is a Big Investment because it requires maintenance and you have to be able to afford the film to shoot on it. But then again, you're guaranteed to own a functional camera for life, whereas a video camera will become obsolete and eventually all your friends will laugh at you for shooting on an outdated format with something that cost $2000 new and now goes for less than half of that, used.

I think that was a long-winded way of saying "Very good" and "A few thousand."

Marty Hamrick · June 14, 2005

I've used the Arri S off and on for many projects for MOS work.It's my favorite of the older 16mm MOS cameras.Very easy to operate and built like a tank.Not exactly comfortable for hand held work (I preferred such as the Beaulieu R-16 for handheld MOS run and gun stuff),but off the sticks they're fine.Relatively low cost for a pin registered film camera.I like the ability to go between 100 foot loads and 400 foot mags.Sometimes you need the small size.