Arri 35 III, super-35 conversion, flare & light baffles

[Coby Garfield]

Working with a Director/Cameraman who owns his own gear, one body is an Arri III with a super-35 conversion.

In all but the softest backlight there is a vertical flare on the right side of the frame that is unwavering. It looks the same with various lenses, zoom and prime.

 

 

I realize there is a direct flare from the sun also in this frame, but the vertical flare on the right side remains even when the lens element is free of all direct hits.

 

The light baffles have been rebuilt and painted, but made no difference.

I have learned of other cameras with the same conversion where the baffles are in slightly different positions or spacing relative to the ground glass, but haven't been able to view these variations to compare.

 

Has anybody else seen a flare like this? How was it remedied?

Any ideas or suggestions are welcomed.

 

Thanks, CG

[David Rakoczy]

Cody,

 

Per the rules of this Forum, please go to My Controls and change your screen name to your first and last name.

 

The Members thank you in advance. :)

 

Sometimes if the Shutter/ Movement is out of sync you can have what looks like a Flare or Soft Focus on the right or left edges of Frame... I am just throwing this out as I can not see what you are describing in that Still. All I see is what looks like a lens Flare from the sun.

[Coby Garfield]

Sure thing, David.

 

Here is another version of the still where I have XXX'd out the sun flare you saw. Now look to the right at the vertical line pointed out by the red "arrows". This is the "flare" I'm trying to remedy. As I mentioned, it even shows up in shots when the lens is protected from stray light by matte box, eyebrow, hard mattes...

 

Does this look like a shutter/movement sync issue?

 

Thanks again,

CG

 

[Bernie O'Doherty]

It's on the rhs of the projected frame, which means the flare is coming from the left hand side of the camera, operator's viewpoint. Look all around the right hand side (front of camera) for any source of reflection. Check for missing black paint. Check for any shiny object. Check the perimeter of the aperture rim. You may need to paint that. Also. check that the mirror ends/sides are painted matte black.

I feel it's a reflection problem in the camera, since it's the same with all your lenses. A timing problem would mean the top or bottom of the frame would be blurred, and this does not seem to be the case here.

[David Rakoczy]

My SR2 did exactly that... on the left side of frame and Camtec said it was a timing issue. They adjusted it and I have never seen that since..... Here is a screen grab showing it. It is tough to see when not in motion but there it is... the same thing but on the left side. They said the mirror and movement were a touch out of sync.

 

[Rolfe Klement]

Same issue for me.

 

It turned out to be the mount point between magazine and body - either loose screws, body damage, magazine mount damage or missing paint etc. Easiest solution is to do a old fashioned camera test.

 

Place camera in dark room with no lens and lens cap in place. Do film test with magazine mounted. Use video camera with mic to film entire test. Turn on video camera then turnover film camera. Shine light around body into lens cap and all around. When you get developed film back - sync video camera footage to film footage (using turnover point) and you will know where the fault is.

 

thanks

 

Rolfe

www.creativesunshine.com