Arriflex 16 BL (1965)

Name: Arriflex 16 BL
Brand: Arriflex

Thirty-one decibels at one meter. That number let documentary crews record sync sound without a blimp swallowing the camera.

Overview

Thirty-one dB (Weighted A) at one meter in front of the lens. That's the figure ARRI put in its own literature for the 16 BL, and it's the reason the camera exists. Before it, shooting sync sound on 16mm meant dropping the camera into a blimp. A blimp was a heavy, awkward enclosure that muffled the mechanism but made handheld work miserable. The 16 BL, introduced in 1965 by Arnold & Richter, was self-blimped. The noise suppression was designed into the body from the start, part of the chassis rather than bolted on afterward. ARRI's manual is blunt about the letters in the name. BL comes from "blimp," and the camera is self-blimped so that the famous ARRIFLEX movement could be built into a quiet body without compromise.

This was ARRI's first silent 16mm production motion picture camera, and by more than one account the first self-blimped ARRI camera. It was an immediate hit and stayed in manufacture for years. ARRI marketed it as "The Quiet 16 mm mirror-shutter professional motion picture camera for location synchronous sound filming." That sentence names the buyers: documentary crews, newsreel teams, and independent filmmakers working with small crews and tight schedules, where a clean dialogue track had become an expectation. The 16 BL carried forward the proven features of the earlier 16 St and 16 M.

The Arriflex 16SR replaced it in 1975, which makes every 16 BL you find today at least half a century old. That age is the central fact of ownership, more on that below.

Key Features

Self-Blimped to 31 dB (Weighted A)

The headline number is the residual noise level: 31 dB (Weighted A) measured one meter in front of the lens, per ARRI's own documentation. That's quiet enough for the camera to sit near a subject and let a microphone do its job without the mechanism bleeding into the take. Rather than wrapping a noisy camera in a sound enclosure, ARRI built the quietness into the housing itself and acoustically isolated the entire film mechanism from the body. The 400 ft magazine and the interchangeable lenses follow the same principle. The lens housings are insulated and lock separately to the camera body, so lens and movement become one rigidly interlocked, quiet assembly. Owners and restorers still describe bringing these cameras back to "nearly silent" running condition as a mark of a job well done. So the quietness is a maintained property, not a permanent one.

Mirror-Shutter Reflex with Continuous Viewfinder

The 16 BL uses the ARRIFLEX mirror-shutter reflex system. The rotating mirror-shutter works with high-aperture optics to give what the manual calls the brightest, clearest reflex image available on any camera. While the film sits stationary for exposure, the mirror rotates in sync with the shutter, so the viewfinder image never blacks out between frames. That helps when you're tracking fast action or framing a moving subject. The reflex system was refined over the years with interchangeable ground glass, an automatic-closing eyepiece, and an interchangeable viewfinder. An offset viewfinder was offered as an accessory to improve handling and balance for shoulder-mounted handheld work.

Precision Registration and Forward/Reverse Movement

The heart of the camera is a high-precision, cam-operated pulldown paired with a separate closed-cam registration pin system and precision film guides. ARRI claimed picture steadiness is limited only by the slitting and perforation tolerances of the film itself. That's a strong statement, but the double-cam design was built for that kind of precision, along with long life and reliability under adverse conditions. The movement runs forward and reverse, which helps in the field for checking focus and rewinding a take. Registration pins lock each frame in place during exposure, and that is a big part of why these cameras earned their reputation for rock-steady images.

A Lens Mount Built Around Zooms

ARRI made a deliberate and somewhat forward-looking choice: the 16 BL was designed to use zoom lenses as its prime lens, "taking today's advanced zoom lenses into consideration." The camera has only one lens mount, and it was purpose-designed for that job. Varifocal lenses were increasingly the tool of choice on location for their convenience and versatility. The mount is a bayonet lock made from specially fabricated wear-resistant steel, giving superior seating and alignment for larger, heavier glass. A universal lens housing also lets the camera take many fixed focal length lenses when a job calls for them. The front of the lens housing takes a snap-on adjustable matte box and an interchangeable holder for 3x3 (75x75 mm) filters. Selected zooms could even be fitted with a motorized zoom drive for smooth, repeatable moves.

Quick-Change 400 ft Magazines

The camera takes a 400 ft (120 m) quick-change magazine with built-in feed and take-up mechanisms. You swap film in seconds, without threading in the dark or risking a fogged roll. A larger 1200 ft (360 m) double-compartment magazine was also part of the system, and a smaller matching case was offered that holds four of the 400 ft quick-change magazines.

Exposure Control and the Working Details

Among the options was a built-in ARRI Exposure Control System, reading through the viewfinder and measuring behind the lens. ARRI billed it as a professional-caliber exposure system available for the first time in a professional motion picture camera. The camera also carries a built-in tachometer to monitor motor speed and a footage counter with a reset knob. The rear panel carries the tachometer, counter, counter reset, battery cable receptacle, and the sound connector for the single-system module, all where an operator's hands expect them.

Single-System and Double-System Sound, Convertible

Here's the feature that separates the 16 BL from a lot of its contemporaries: it's wired and equipped for quick conversion to single-system sound, and the conversion needs no special tools. Add the ARRI Recording Module for single-system, remove it for double-system sync sound. The single-system magnetic module fits in the film compartment. Separate record and playback heads allow monitoring from the film, frequency response extends above 8 kc, distortion at 100% modulation is approximately 0.6% as measured on Eastman Kodak medium-speed Ektachrome, and signal-to-noise ratio is approximately 59 dB. For double-system work the camera supports the Pilotone system, in which a two-pole Pilotone generator connects directly to the motor shaft of the governor-controlled motor or the 50-cycle synchronous motor. Start-marking is operationally similar to the other ARRIFLEX 16 cameras. The difference between 24 and 25 fps is attained without swapping motors, just a pair of gears.

Power and Support

The accessory system was built out for real production. Nickel-cadmium batteries came in two sizes, both with a miniature charger built into the case: a 12V/4Ah pack that runs the camera with a 400 ft magazine for roughly 2000 ft of film, and a smaller 12V/2.5Ah pack good for about 1200 ft. A solid-state regulated power supply runs off standard 117V, 60-cycle lines and puts out filtered, regulated 12V DC, with preset outputs for other ARRIFLEX cameras as well. Support included a tripod designed specifically for the 16 BL, plus panheads, shoulder pods, and body braces. Carrying cases ranged from a hammered-aluminum case sized for a complete outfit with two 400 ft magazines to a lightweight simulated-leather case for the camera alone.

Historical Context

ARRI's stated objective with the 16 BL was a quiet camera of professional caliber for location sound filming, one that would deliver sharp, steady pictures and operating economy, built around versatility, compactness, light weight, and rugged reliability. The company chose the classic ARRIFLEX design as the basis and decided on self-blimped construction, because it was the only way to build the proven ARRIFLEX movement into a body quiet enough for sync sound. The 16 BL kept the technical features of the earlier 16 St and 16 M, so existing users weren't starting over.

The timing was right. Location shooting was becoming the norm, and sync sound was expected. The 16 BL and its contemporaries, the Éclair NPR and the Aaton, are credited with changing the face of television production. The 16 BL was used for all types of TV film production and documentary work, and period literature described it as a quiet handheld single- or double-system sound (or wild) 16mm camera. It was replaced by the Arriflex 16SR in 1975.

Collectibility & Value

The first thing to understand about buying a 16 BL is that you're buying a mechanical artifact, not a working camera. CinemaTechnic's assessment: the 16BL cameras are now nearly 60 years old and should be considered collectibles rather than working cameras at this point. Servicing is a challenge best left to specialists, and no common failures are well documented. That cuts both ways, since there's no known-faults checklist to shop against either.

Current estimates put a full camera in average condition at roughly $1,000 to $1,100, with very good examples reaching $1,300 to $1,400 and mint units commanding $2,400 to $2,600. Historical sales are all over the place. A Condition C unit sold for $487 in 2013, another Condition C model went for $775 the same year, and a 2007 sale hit $2,091 for a Condition C- unit. That spread suggests condition grading inconsistencies or genuine market shifts. Components trade actively: a crystal sync magazine sold for $507 in October 2023, a bellows hood fetched $197 in December 2023, and eyepieces sold in lots have moved for over $100. A printed repair manual, the Illustrated List of Parts, is available at $15.95.

Current eBay asking prices (undated, and asking prices rather than verified sales) include a lot of two near-mint 400 ft magazines at $300, a power cable at $399, a carrying handle at $300, and another power cable at $450. With complete cameras scarce, the accessories often carry the value.

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