Arriflex 2A/B Viewfinder

Clive Alex · January 30, 2011

Hi,

I have a Arriflex 2A and when looking through the viewfinder there are vertical lines and when looking in the lens mount theres an optical box type thing which produces the lines. I was just wondering what was the purpose of this?

Jean-Louis Seguin · January 30, 2011

Without them, stray light reflected off the groundglass would reach the film with all sorts of undesirable effects.

Cheers,

Jean-Louis

Thibaut de Chemellier · January 30, 2011

...Same thing on the Arriflex 35-3 but with only 2 antireflections "lines". My advice would be: don't ever try to remove them , try to forget it when you're framing.

Tim Carroll · January 30, 2011

Hi,

I have a Arriflex 2A and when looking through the viewfinder there are vertical lines and when looking in the lens mount theres an optical box type thing which produces the lines. I was just wondering what was the purpose of this?

It's incredible how quickly these disappear once you've used the camera for a little bit. When I first got a IIC I was like, "How the heck is this gonna work!" One 400ft roll of film later, I wasn't even noticing them anymore. You look through them.

Best,

-Tim

Clive Alex · January 30, 2011

Thanks to everyone,

I don't mind them, just curious as to why they're there. My Arri 16bl hasn't got them, but I find the bl's eye shutter a pain. So can I leave the 2a's viewfinder uncovered without having to worry about stray light effecting the film, even in strong sunlight?

John Sprung · February 1, 2011

A lot of the II's, A, B, and C, had them removed. In the days when they were in the rental inventory, it was more common to find them without the baffles. I never had a problem shooting without them, but since you have them, I'd leave them in -- mainly to protect the future value of the camera as an antique.

-- J.S.

Dom Jaeger · February 1, 2011

So can I leave the 2a's viewfinder uncovered without having to worry about stray light effecting the film, even in strong sunlight?

You should still cover the viewfinder. The baffles are there to prevent light from the taking lens reflecting off the ground glass.

Clive Alex · February 2, 2011

I have one more question, just to be sure about my framing. I suspect it's the same as my 16bl but I'm going to ask anyway. When I compose a shot am I using the framing lines with the round edges in the centre of the ground glass or the whole viewing frame of the ground glass?

John Sprung · February 2, 2011

There are lots of different ground glass markings, so we can't be sure which you have. Arri has an overview area in the finder, so you can place equipment just out of frame. The best thing to do is shoot a test using a big white card, and with the head locked off, direct someone to draw on the card exactly the lines you see in the finder. This'll show you if there are any problems with the ground glass. If you're going to telecine, shooting this kind of card will let them set up to get exactly the compositions you intended.

-- J.S.

Allen Achterberg · February 10, 2011

There are lots of different ground glass markings, so we can't be sure which you have. Arri has an overview area in the finder, so you can place equipment just out of frame. The best thing to do is shoot a test using a big white card, and with the head locked off, direct someone to draw on the card exactly the lines you see in the finder. This'll show you if there are any problems with the ground glass. If you're going to telecine, shooting this kind of card will let them set up to get exactly the compositions you intended.

-- J.S.

Tape the white card to wall. Turn off lights. and Shine a flashlight through the viewfinder. Move camera appropriately close enough to get a non distorted visual from whichever lens you use. 50mm-80mm might be best. you will see the groundglass lines projected through the lens, and can sharpie them in. then you can match the framelines to the markings and shoot some footage to compare groundglass framing alignment.