Arriflex 16mm Silent Cameras - ARRI 16SR

Despite being more complex than any of its predecessors, the 16SR has a great reputation for reliability. This is notable because the SR has by far more electronics in it than any previous ARRI 16mm. The SR is even somewhat tolerant of abuse and operator error.

Many ARRI accessories interface with the 16SR. A set of lightweight accessory rods mount directly to the SRs accessory shoe (just below the lens) and allow the use of a lightweight follow focus and a lightweight matte box. A Bridgeplate is also available that mounts to the bottom of the camera and couples with a dovetail sliding base plate. The combination allows the use of standard 15mm accessory rods. All ARRI matte boxes and Studio Follow Focus and lens supports are compatible with the Bridgeplate. The sliding balance plate allows the camera to be balanced on nearly any fluid or geared head, even when using long or heavy lenses. These are considered standard accessories and are nearly mandatory for any type of professional work. The 16SR is the first 16mm camera from ARRI that is compatible with all standard accessories, without the use of rare adapters or modifications to the camera.

The 16SR also included a Tuchel socket, next to the Fischer 11. The Tuchel socket was designed to provide Pilotone sync signal to a Nagra tape recorder. With the introduction of crystal sync on the Nagra, and now widespread use of DAT (Digital Audio Tape) for sound recording, the Tuchel socket is obsolete. It is possible to add another Fischer 11 socket in place of the Tuchel socket.

A very useful feature is the cameras 11-pin Fischer accessory socket. It employs the ARRI standard interface for external speed controls. This allows the use of a variety of external speed controls, which also work with the ARRI 35-III and 35BL models. A digital precision speed control is a common and very useful accessory that is not compatible with any of the older ARRI 16mm models (with the exceptions noted in the 16BL and 35BL sections of this site).

The 16SR increased the speed capability of ARRI 16mm to 75 fps. There is also a Highspeed version of the 16SR that has a top speed of 150 fps. These cameras are painted a light grey and have special mags labeled Highspeed which are required for these cameras. The mags can also be used on regular SRs, but the flange focal distance must be adjusted. These cameras have a minimum speed of 10 fps and are considerably louder in operation than a standard 16SR. It is possible to convert a regular SR to Highspeed configuration. It is also now possible to increase the top speed of a Highspeed SR to 200 fps.

The SR came standard with a through-the-lens light meter, referred to as APEC (ARRI Precision Exposure Control). Some models, referred to as "Automatic" SRs interfaced with lenses that had special pins that allowed the aperture to be set automatically by the SRs light meter. Only three such lenses were offered: The Angenieux 10-150 T2.3-3.2, and the Zeiss 10-100 T2.0 and 10-100 T3.1. These lenses can easily be identified by the two small chrome pins that protrude from the back of the lens mount, near the rear element. Please read my warning on the use of these lenses.

The SR uses a fiber-optic screen instead of a conventional ground glass. This also contributes greatly to the SRs bright viewfinder, which allows you to see clearly even at small apertures such as T8 and T11.

The 16SR marked a huge improvement in ARRI 16mm viewfinders. The new finder was fully orientable (the image is always right side up, regardless of what position you put the finder in). But the finder didnt just pivot, it also could swing to the top of the camera, or to the right side of the camera. The eyepiece could also pivot out (away from the camera body) slightly. The new finder was much brighter and sharper than any ARRI 16mm before it. The 16SR viewfinder has a resoultion of 125 lines per milimeter. This extremely high resoultion (equivalent to approximately 1500 horizontal lines) allows very accurate judgement of focus through the eyepiece.

The great thing about the 16SR is that it is the closest thing to a do-everything camera that ARRI ever produced. It is also the industry standard, and most widely used 16mm rental camera in the world.

Introduced in 1975, the 16 SR clearly shows the influence of the revolutionary ?clair NPR in the ARRI designers thinking. The appearance of the 16 SR clearly showed that the age of coaxial instant-load magazines had arrived in 16mm cinematography.

ARRI 16SR Family: 16SR, 16SR HS, 16SR II, 16SR II HS, 16SR 3, 16SR 3 HS, 16SR 3 Advanced, 16SR 3 Advanced HS

ARRI 16SR Family: 16SR, 16SR HS, 16SR II, 16SR II HS, 16SR 3, 16SR 3 HS, 16SR 3 Advanced, 16SR 3 Advanced HS