After the successful introduction of the ARRIFLEX 416 and the Ultra 16 lenses at NAB, we are now busy assembling 16 pre-series cameras and various lens sets that will be available until the final product comes to the market at the end of this year. The first production to ever use a 416 camera and Ultra 16 lenses professionally is the German NDF Productions. They are currently shooting the TV movie Der Russische Geliebte (The Russian Lover), an adaptation from the book by Maria Nurowska.

Product Manager Marc Shipman-Mueller visited the set in Paris and talked with cinematographer Peter von Haller, first assistant Armin Golisano and Steadicam operator Kareem La Vaullée about their first impressions.

Thanks for taking some time out of your busy production schedule.
First, tell me a little about this production.

Cinematographer Peter von Haller lines up a shot

PvH: This is a TV movie for the German ZDF channel. It is the story of a 50 year old female professor from Germany, who teaches for a season in Paris. In her hotel she meets a younger Russian man, who stays there with his girlfriend, and falls in love with him. Since the story happens in Paris, we shoot the exteriors on location in Paris. All the hotel room interiors will be shot in a studio in Prague, because it is less expensive there.

What would you say is the biggest challenge on this shoot?

PvH: Our biggest challenge here is time. We have 24 days of principle photography for the whole project. Currently we are in Paris, and moving between locations in Paris' inner city is messy and takes a lot of time.

And how is the 416 doing?

PvH: It is great. We have been using it for a week now, ever since we picked our equipment up from ARRI Rental Germany in Munich, and it is a great improvement over the old 16 cameras.

Cinematographer Peter von Haller (left) and first assistant Armin Golisano (right) on location in Montmartre

What is your favorite new feature?

PvH: The camera is very quiet, that helps. But for me, the best new feature is the new viewfinder. It has a bigger image that is  brighter and shows more detail. I can judge focus better, which was especially useful during our night shoots. Even in wide shots I can now see details. I can tell if an actor looks the wrong way, or if something is in the shot that does not belong there. The 416 viewfinder is almost as good as a 35 format viewfinder.

Armin Golisano: My favorite feature is that the wireless radio is integrated into the camera body. Now there are fewer cables, and building the camera, or change-overs from tripod to Steadicam are faster and simpler. I like that, it speeds up work and makes the camera less messy.

Do you use wireless focus often?

The hand unit of the ARRI Wireless Remote System

AG: I always use wireless focus these days. It gives me more flexibility; I can stand off to the side and thus judge distances much better, plus I can stay out of the way and out of the eye lines of the actors. I use a mechanical follow focus only when a radically fast pull is needed. The ARRI Wireless Remote System is very reliable, and is fast and easy to use.

What other differences do you see between the 416 and the older 16 mm cameras?

PvH: The video assist is better. The image looks better, and I like the fact that it allows me to manually adjust the color balance right on the control panel with the blue and red buttons. We had a night scene where the streetlamps made the video image very green. By manually adjusting the color balance of the IVS we were able to remove the green, so the director could get a better impression of how it will look.

AG: The 416 is lighter and thus easier to transport. Oh, and we really love the new camera handle! It is properly balanced, has many attachment points and I can grip it securely. This makes a big difference.

PvH: I agree. That seems like such a small detail, but if you cannot grip a camera securely by the handle, and if you cannot attach anything to it, it slows everything down. The 416 handle is great.

Kareem with the 416 crowned by antlers

What situations have you used the 416 in already?

PvH: The camera has been on a tripod and on a Steadicam.

Kareem La Vaullée: The 416 balances very nicely on my Steadicam. It is very lightweight; in fact, I had brought my regular Steadicam arm, and the camera was a little too light even at the lightest setting of the arm. But that allows me now to use the antlers.

What do the antlers do?

KLV: They provide an extra bit of weight, but more importantly, they stabilize the rig in two axis. In this orientation here (at a right angle to the optical axis, as shown on photo) it stabilizes the horizon and the pan by giving it a bit more inertia. I guess a different arm or a smaller Steadicam version would have been sufficient for the 416, since it is so light. That is actually a very good thing, because then I can carry the rig longer and move faster.

Peter, what lenses are you using?

PvH: We have a Zeiss 11-110 zoom and a bunch of primes. For the longer focal lengths we use the Ultra Primes, and for the shorter ones we have pre-series Ultra 16 lenses: a 6, an 8 and a 9.5 mm.

What is your impression of the Ultra 16 lenses?

PvH: They look very good, and the T1.3 has helped us out at night. There was one scene that was a shot of two streets around Montmartre at night. We neither had the time nor do we have the budget to light two streets, and being able to use the Ultra 16 at T1.3 allowed us to shoot with available light and still get a great image with lots of detail and a good exposure. Especially on a wide shot, T1.3 can make a big difference.

AG: The Ultra 16 lenses are very flare resistant, which we have seen in a variety of scenes. It is also great to have the same front diameter on Ultra 16 and Ultra Primes, that makes it easier to work with. And the fact that the focus and iris rings are in the same position on all those lenses makes lens changes faster. In fact, I like how all the bits work seamlessly together. With the new lenses and the 416, a lot of these individual improvements add up so we can work faster. The same lens ring positions, the same front diameter, the camera's viewfinder, the integrated radio, the better handle, the display that works just like on a 235, lighter weight, it all adds up.  

Was shooting on HD ever an option?

PvH: No, not really. I did a production earlier this year on HD, and that is simply not as fast and easy as working with film. On this show here, for instance, we had a scene at the airport where the action happened in front of these big windows. The planes outside were in bright sunlight, while I got a low stop inside. Since we had a long tracking shot, we could not light the whole big airport. The extra exposure latitude of film came in very handy. This would have been impossible with video.

Thank you for the interview.  

Marc Shipman-Mueller