Heikki Repo

Call him, you'll get hold of him that way - don't send an email 🙂 But he's busy, better prepare for that - he did an ACL S16 modification for me recently - my camera was at his place for about seven months before he had time to work on it. Then the actual work took only two weeks. By the way, what kind of "eye mount" change are you planning?

As long as it's 12V no worries. The 7A is actually 7Ah, the capacity. It also means that it should be able to supply higher amount of amps if the cameras needs it, for example when shooting 75 fps. Sealed lead acid works great for high speed, though it's also rather heavy... remember to charge the battery in a ventilated area. Now, the only question I'd ask is how old is the battery? Is it still good?

Helsinki Airport in Finland has them too. But I have asked the staff about film issues and they have said that manual checking of film is offered when asked for.

Just make sure they don't use new CT scanners for hand luggage at the airport. That'll damage even low speed film.

Still available.

Would be really interesting to see some real world tests made with these lenses :)

Looking at the title of the thread - if you want fast lenses, for T1.3 you'd really need to go for Arri Bayonet and either Zeiss super speeds or Optar Illumina. If around T2/2.2 is good enough, there are options in Arriflex Standard too, Cooke Kinetal and Zeiss. C-mount Switars are around f1.4, f1.7

Has your NPR mounts been modified along with conversion to S16? If not, it should have C-mount and Cameflex mount built in. I think it's possible to find an adapter Arriflex S to Cameflex, but there are also many C-mount adapters available for different mounts. You might want to look for Kern Switar (non-RX!) lenses. They are quite nice C-mount lenses, though using filters or a matte box or follow focus with them is at the very least difficult, if not outright impossible. However, if you are mainly looking for shallow depth of field and tele lenses, how about Contax/Yashica to C-mount adapter and Zeiss lenses? Something like 50mm f1.7 is very cheap and Zeiss sharp. Only wider end is lacking and expensive since those are for 35mm SLR.

Larger image circle may cause flares due to light bouncing around within the camera. Bigger issue is, however, that a (consumer) lens made for full frame might not be as sharp as a lens made specifically for S16.

That aperture plate doesn't resemble the one from Les, but apparently the ground glass is as, ahem, sophisticated (I asked the seller about it).

It's surprisingly good! I have used a lot the second iteration (black, a bit less cheap feeling) of that side grip and it works well.

Furthermore: In the end, is it possible to make a feature film with a 100ft load 16mm MOS camera? Yes. Is it going to be easy and fun? Probably not. Most wouldn't even try it, but some have done it. Could you compete with such feature film with Hollywood high end blockbusters? Most likely not, but even if you had Arriflex 416 you would have hard time so there's that. In the end what really matters is how you use your tools. Doing some things is much easier with more expensive tools but everyone has to find the sweet spot of how much you can spend and what ease of use you can buy. And after that, the rest rests on your talent and will.

I think Tyler generalizes one point of view to everyone which just doesn't work. Do you work on high end commercial productions and have a good access to rental companies? Rent, rent, rent. Why would you want to worry about technical side of the cameras? Get the best there is, get the work done. Do you work as a DP on high end documentaries that often shoot on film with a real budget? Buy that Aaton XTR, it's a tool that pays your bills and owning an expensive piece of equipment that gets taken to road perhaps for months is justified. You are an artist that makes art installations? That Bolex is probably going to serve you well for all weird ideas you are going to get. Do you make a bit lower budget commercials on digital but would want to shoot more on film? Buy some cheap Arriflex 16ST and get some quick film shots (paid from your own pocket) on the first cut and see if your client likes them You want to shoot short narrative or documentary films, but you don't have the option of renting (companies too far away or you can't justify the rental prices with the way you work) nor does your film work pay your bills to such extent that it would be justified to buy a more expensive camera? Now we are talking. Eclair ACL or NPR, CP16R, Kinor. These cameras can be quiet enough for sync sound work, they are relatively cheap to own and lenses don't cost that much. They can give you professional results. You can get a video tap for Eclairs if you need one. I'm in this league. I'm happy with my ACL and the results I can get with it. One screen cap from my latest shoot, on Kodak Vision3 250D, Eclair ACL and Optar Illumina 25mm

Older ones: Arriflex 16BL, Auricon. Newer and expensive: Aaton LTR, XTR

I take it from your posts that you shoot either black and white or color reversal, right? If you were shooting color negative, having a 16mm camera with 400ft loads would definitely be the cheapest option €/mtr currently (though you'd also have to calculate the price of the new camera there...) As it is, the cheapest way to shoot on film is Fomapan on either 2x8mm or DS-8 or DS-8 split and loaded on reloadable S-8 cartridges - and then processing it all yourself. If you like the small gauge of 8mm, the economical side of Fomapan and self processing, maybe look at the 2x8mm or DS-8 cameras with 30 meters loads. At least those Bolex cameras are likely to get service in the future too. The downside is of course that they aren't quiet cameras, but I don't think any 8mm camera is...