Matthew J. Walker

I love my Arriflex SR2 as it was my first and only 16mm camera; it has always been reliable. I'm forever committed to the Arri brand.

@Dom Jaeger You were correct. A tooth on the belt skipped which was causing the timing issue with the shutter. Very simple fix as you suggested. And @Mark Dunn the technician also confirmed to me that it still would have been safe to run the camera with the skipped tooth. It’s all fixed now. Thanks guys.

I'm bringing it to get checked out tomorrow, thanks Dom!

Thanks! Would running the camera in it’s current sate cause further issues or would you suggest not running it until I bring the camera to a technician? Manually rotating the mirror shutter after each take would not be the worst thing in the world, however the last thing I’d want would be to cause any further mishaps or potential damage to any camera mechanisms.

After shooting with my SRII at 150 frames per second accompanied by some new unusual noise, I switched off the camera and noticed the mirror shutter had not stopped in the open position when the camera is powered off, but instead stopped closed. I'm unsure, but I may have forgotten to engage the roller on the take-up side of the coaxial magazine, which in the past has simply led to a jam, however the film that was shot seemed to have spooled normally upon removing the film from the magazine. I usually don't make mistakes like that but again, I'm unsure. Now as stated in the user manual, "each time the camera is switched off the quartz controlled motor stops the mirror shutter in such a position that the finder is open for viewing". This was always the case with my camera and suddenly this has changed. When looking through the film gate, light can be seen coming through the lens, however when looking through the viewfinder the mirror shutter appears closed. If I rotate the mirror shutter by hand, an image becomes visible through the viewfinder again but the film gate is covered by the mirror shutter. What exactly has happened?

The easiest way to find out if a lens can be adapted without potential removal of lens material is to simply find the flange focal distance of your lens. If the flange focal distance of the lens you want to convert is longer than the required flange focal distance of the lens mount that is on your camera body, you can adapt the lens. If the opposite happens you cannot adapt the lens unless either: A.) The desired lens mount adapter diameter is wider than the lens housing diameter at it's widest point. B.) Lens housing material is removed to compensate for the wrong flange focal distance. C.) The lens is completely rehoused. Then the issue becomes if you manage to adapt the lens, you then have to measure the amount of rear element that is sticking out past the new flange point to ensure the rear element is not protruding too far running into the shutter mirror or sensor when mounting.

You will eventually spend more on film stock and development in total than the entire cost of any 16mm camera out there so go for the best that you can possibly afford.

The yellow hue is just a grade they applied in post production.

Low contrast lighting.

Just get clear lenses. An anti reflective coating does not require any color tint, and the colors of the coating itself is so minimal it will not alter your perception of color. A perfect example is the Zeiss T* coating used on cinema lenses, binoculars, optical equipment, ophthalmology diagnostic machines, etc. for decades. It’s simply a thicker; Zeiss branded AR coating.

@Boris Kalaidjiev The matte box is on 15mm rods. I have a variation of the "bellows matte box" as per the SR II instruction manual. It is an Arri MB-10 that only takes 3x3 or 3x4 filters as opposed to 3x3 or 4x4. My SR II also came with the "Lighweight support" as described in the same instruction manual. If you can find and purchase the lightweight support I'm sure any modern matte box would work with it since they all slip onto 15mm rods as well, although keep in mind most take 4x4 filters which are quite expensive in comparison to 3x3 or 3x4 filters. Here is an excerpt from the instruction manual detailing the lightweight support as well as the different matte boxes that were available at the time. Lightweight Support The lightweight support has been constructed as an alternative to the tripod bridge plate, for filming from the shoulder. It is used as a support for the lightweight follow focus system as well as for the bellows matte box and is alsoused as a support for the lightweight matte box when standard lenses are used. The light-weight support is placed in the camera shoe (19) and fastened with the knurled screw (a) which is found between the two support rods. The accessories can now bevpushed on the rods, positioned as required, and held securevby tightening the screw (b). Matte Boxes In addition to the bellows matte box which was developed for use with the ARRIFLEX 16 SR II (it can also be used with the 35 III), the 16 St bellows matte box can also be used; the old holder must be replaced with a new guide rail which fits onto the lightweight support. Only certain lenses can be used; the16 St universal matte box cannot be modified. The bellows matte box is secured in two places: the upper part is fixed to a matte box rod and beneath it is supported on the light-weight support; it is secured in the required position with the screws a, b, c. It has a fixed slot and a rotatable stage for two 3" x 3" or 4" x 4" or 94 mm dia. filters. With the suitable adapter ring this matte box can be used with short focal length lenses (e.g. the 8 mm Distagon) as well as with long focal length lenses (e.g. the 10 - 150 mm Angenieux-Zoom.) The lightweight matte box is fastened to the front of the lens with a clamp ring. To ensure a close fit there are lens adapter rings for the different lenses. For zoom lenses (with the exception of the Zeiss-Vario-Sonnar f 1.8 / 10 -100) a round rubber hood should be used; for fixed focal length lenses (and the before-mentioned Zeiss-Vario-Sonnar) a rectangular rubber tube should be used. As the lightweight matte box is used mainly for news reporting, a rotatable filter stage is unnecessary. A holder takes two 3" x 3" filter frames. Should the Vario-Sonnar f 2.8/ 10 -100 mm be used, the focus lever can be extended forwards with an extension. With fixed focal length standard lenses which have a rotatable front ring for setting the iris diaphragm, we recommend the use of the additional support for attaching the lightweight matte box to the lightweight support. The 4" x 4" production matte box for 16 mm zoom, standard and high speed lenses, with its three filter planes, affords optimal operation versatility for motion picture productions. Two 4" x 4" filter frames are rotatable and slidable for graduated filters. The likewise rotatable filter ring which can be replaced by a reflex prevention ring, is designed to take 4 ½”, round filters. The production matte box is fastened to the support rods of the bridge plate (see also »The bridge and support plate«) or the support plate and can be swung away through 90° to change the lens.

The eyepiece of the camera is similar to a Lensmeter in the sense that you must first adjust the eyepiece to to your eye. Not everyone's distance or near vision is the same. So focus the lens onto an object that is precisely the same amount of meters the lens reads, then focus the camera eyepiece until the image on the ground glass is crystal clear. Try that first, then move on to step two.

I've always used 3x3 filters in my bellows matte box pushed right up to the lens and never had any issues.

NEVER spread canned air into any part of the camera body, only in the the magazine! Here's a quote directly from the Arriflex SRII manual If this fibre optic viewing screen is hit with compressed air it will almost definitely get damaged.

I've had a Blackmagic camera spontaneously stop reading the SSD, then begin reading it again, but unable to write any data to it. Shortly after the screen went half white with random black horizontal lines as if the zebras were picking up blown out highlights, yet only on half of the screen. Upon turning the camera off then on a few times it magically began operating normally. As If it couldn't have been any closer to a nightmare, I happened to be recording video at a location that was being rented on someone else's dime. Not fun.