The Arriflex 35, released by

Arri The Arri Group () is a German manufacturer of motion picture film equipment. Based in Munich, the company was founded in 1917. It produces professional motion picture cameras, lenses, lighting and post-production equipment. Hermann Simon menti ...

in 1937, was the first reflex 35mm production

motion picture camera A movie camera (also known as a film camera and cine-camera) is a type of photographic camera that rapidly takes a sequence of photographs, either on an image sensor or onto film stock, in order to produce a moving image to project onto a movie sc ...

Function

It was built around the spinning reflex twin-bladed "butterfly" mirror shutter designed by

Erich Kästner Emil Erich Kästner (; 23 February 1899 – 29 July 1974) was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including '' Emil and the Detectives''. He received ...

, chief engineer at Arnold & Richter Cine Technik (ARRI), Arri Group, set at 45 degrees horizontally to the lens axis. This mirror reflex system was invented in 1931. Modern standard models have a maximum shutter exposure opening of 165 degrees, (not 180 degrees as claimed in Arri manuals), the 35 IIC-BV model having a variable shutter. The mirror shutter allows the camera operator to see a viewfinder image equal to the recorded picture, without parallax, although there is noticeable image flicker in the viewfinder when the camera is running, caused by the two open exposure segments of the mirror shutter. The camera utilizes a three lens turret with three aluminum Arri lens mounts (later 35 IIC/B with one stainless steel bayonet mount and two aluminum Arri mounts), and is capable of frame rates up to 80 frames per second with an accessory speed unit. Film magazines are for 200 ft or 400 ft loads. The DC motor is mounted downwards as a handgrip. Later flat base DC motor mount units were developed e.g. by the Cine 60 company, allowing the camera to have a lower profile, where the motor is mounted on the side of the camera body vertically upwards, allowing the camera to be mounted on standard tripod heads without a special head accommodating the handgrip motor, and providing a more compact profile for 'blimping'.

History

It is still used extensively in motion pictures for sequences without synchronous sound - "motor only sync" - and unique camera movement, e.g. on

Steadicam Steadicam is a brand of camera stabilizer mounts for Movie camera, motion picture cameras invented by Garrett Brown and introduced in 1975 by Cinema Products Corporation. It was designed to isolate the camera from the camera operator's movement ...

. It was widely used with 200 ft loads (the smaller 200 ft magazine was in production at that time) as a 'battlefield camera' for the German

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

for collecting battlefront intelligence, (e.g. for analyzing weapons effectiveness), for training films and for use in propaganda cinema films.

Models

Arriflex 35

The Arriflex 35 was introduced as a handheld newsreel camera at the Leipzig Trade Fare in 1937. Although originally intended, the camera was just too late to be used at

Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda. A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...

's Olympia I & II, therefore she shot on a Parvo camera. The US army captured some models and brought this camera to the US in the 1940s, where it served as a prototype for the almost identical Cineflex PH 330. Due to its importance during World war II footage, Arriflex 35 cameras were later used in the

Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...

.The original Arriflex 35 had three Arri standard mounts on a rotating turret. The viewfinder was a fixed tube on the camera door. It used both 200ft and 400ft magazines. The first American feature film made using a captured Arriflex 35 was ''

Dark Passage ''Dark Passage'' (1946) is a crime novel by David Goodis. It was the basis for the 1947 film noir of the same name. The film implements extensive use of the first-person camera technique. Plot Vincent Parry, wrongly convicted of murdering hi ...

'' by Delmer Daves.

Arriflex 35 II

This model was released in 1946 and had three Arri standard mounts. It could also load 400ft magazines and had a simple eccentric screw pull down mechanism. ARRI began importing this camera to the US in 1947. The Arriflex 35 became a commonly used camera among New Wave filmmakers.

Arriflex 35 IIA

Introduced in 1953, the Arriflex 35 IIA featured a more robust steel film gate. It also used a 180° shutter made possible by a more efficient

cardioid In geometry, a cardioid () is a plane curve traced by a point on the perimeter of a circle that is rolling around a fixed circle of the same radius. It can also be defined as an epicycloid having a single cusp. It is also a type of sinusoidal spi ...

cam movement design.

Arriflex 35 IIB

Released in 1958, this model reduced the shutter angle to 165° and added some improvements to the viewfinder.

Arriflex 35 IIC

The Arriflex 35 IIC was introduced in 1963, and had a larger ground glass and a movable viewfinder. It also allowed shooting anamorphic and seeing a desqueezed frame. It became a film production standard. It originally came with 3 Standard Mounts, while later models (after 1965) had the option of Bayonet mounts. After 1980 many were converted to hard front with a single PL mount.

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

used the Arriflex 35 IIC on ''

A Clockwork Orange ''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to: * ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess ** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel *** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...

''. The Pan Arri 35 IIC had one Panavision compatible lens mount and was used for '' Star Wars: A New Hope''. Some Arriflex 35 IIC were used until the 2010s, for example in '' Savages'' in 2012.

Arriflex 35 IIIC

The Arriflex 35 IIIC was released in 1982. It removed the turret and only featured a single PL mount, had a crystal sync handgrip motor with 12V and 5-50 fps, forward and reverse. This camera was not as successful as the Arriflex 35 IIC, and only a few models are still available.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Detailed informationManual of the Arriflex 35 IIC
Movie cameras Film and video technology