Metal camera case for 16mm Arriflex ST cine camera. Made in Germany by Arri 1952.

Arriflex 16 ST camera made by Arri in Germany, 1952.

The ST 16mm camera was the first professional cine camera with a reflex viewing system. The camera has a three-lens turret and a through-the-lens viewfinder that can be used while filming because of the 45 degree mirror-bladed shutter (an Arriflex invention from 1937). The turret is designed so that the optical axes of the lens diverge so that short focal length lenses, giving wide angle views, can be fitted alongside longer lenses without them obstructing the view of the wide angle lenses. The camera was widely used for television newsgathering, and more than 20,000 were sold.