At one time or another in the course of a moviemaker's career he or she will no doubt stumble on, sit on or hold an ARRI I6S (or 16M) camera. Arriflex' venerable I6S/M models still saturate the used market at down-to-earth prices. With a barney or a blimp housing, the Arriflex I6S is a poor man's version of an ARRI SR II. The big difference is the lack of accurate crystal sync speed control.

New life for a trusty old camera? The ArriflexI6S with TOBIN's crystal sync motor

Anyone who has ventured into projects which require crystal sync cameras is acutely aware of the high cost associated with renting these expensive cameras. My advice is rent the best camera and lens package you can afford. You'll probably get a camera that's been well maintained. Still, make sure a backup camera is only a phone call away. You don't want to find yourself paying for cast and crew to sit around and watch your camera operator disassemble your only camera.

Budget constraints are usually the determining factors as to whether or not a project gets made. The ingenuity of the designers at Arriflex has made those constraints slightly less constraining by providing good cameras at affordable prices.

I own a couple of ARRI I6S cameras and have been using them to film commercials, low budget music videos and high end corporate projects for some time. Unfortunately, the constant and variable speed motors that l own are way too variable for really serious work. I have resorted to crystal sync camera rental on a number of projects because of the necessity for sync sound in post-production. Wild sync of voice-to-image in post isn't all that difficult if the scenes aren't too long. But it doesn't take much to have your edit look like a really bad version of a wannabe Bruce Lee film.

I recently had the opportunity to evaluate the TOBIN Crystal Drive, and to my surprise it works as well or better than advertised. With a sound barney strapped over the top of my I6S and TOBIN's crystal sync unit and new motor attached, the average sound levels produced with the package were about 26.0 dB—measured around the camera on. all axes at about 24 inches—almost the same noise level as a Arri 16 SR II.

Here's a refresher to non-camera operator types on what crystal sync motors can provide for the moviemaker. When a crystal sync camera and audio recorder are used to film and record a scene there is no need for a physical sync cable connection between camera and recorder.

The accuracy of crystal sync operated motors is a few parts per million, so keeping dialogue in sync is relatively easy. As a moviemaker this means quicker set-up time if multiple crystal sync cameras are used in conjunction with a crystal sync audio recorder. Bottom line: you're going to save time and money.

Since the camera magazines were designed to run on 8.4 VDC power, TOBIN will modify your magazine motors at no charge for 12 VDC operation when you buy their crystal sync unit. I used an unmodified 8.4 VDC magazine motor and ran a test load through the camera. I found that if you didn't take up the film slack in the magazine at frame speeds above 30 FPS, the perforations stretched a small amount. With 12 VDC camera and magazine motors installed, however, operation was smooth.

I ran 400 feet of FUJI negative film through the camera utilizing all the 60 Hz HMI speeds for about 50 feet of exposure at each speed. I slated each speed, stopped, and restarted the camera, letting it run for the remainder of the 50 feet. The footage was flawless, and the lab reported no elongation or excessive perforation wear.

TOBIN builds a milliframe controller which connects to the crystal sync unit for the ARRI I6S/M and allows precise speed control up to 159.999 FPS (do not exceed your camera's maximum speed rating.) Adding the TMC-55Aa Milliframe Controller to the TOBIN Crystal Drive gives you access to 55,000 crystal sync speeds.

So, if you already own an ARRI I6S/M, for about $1,700 you can have what I call an "ARRI 16 SR TOO." The demo units that Clive Tobin sent me for evaluation have given my trusty I6S cameras new life. I just hope he doesn't want them back right away.