Mitchell R35 mkii - Questions

[Nicholas Lymberis]

Hi Group,

I'm finally getting round to looking at this and trying to source some advice / assistance!

We have a Mitchell R35 mkii rig with a Cinema Products Motor, however... we have no power supply / cables I can find. Can anybody advise what power source this requires and from the look of it is it a standard XLR power cable?

Also, we managed to find a bayonet mount adapter/sleeve for the baytonet mount on the cam body - but how on earth do I actually get a lens in there?

Never worked with a camera like this and piecing it together as I go.

Images here due to the constraints of attaching them... https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ahv48riu4srtrjr1vldvu/h?rlkey=ja4nvyb7z690mp8qx5dksrtma&dl=0

Thanking in advance!

Cheers, Nick

[Doyle Smith]

Great camera! From your photo it looks like the cable should be an XLR4-female at the camera body.  I don't know if some of the pins were for a sync pulse to the Nagra. At this point in history with crystal motors, that may have be unnecessary.  You'd only need two pins to pass power to the motor. They probably made it a 4 pin to prevent use of audio cables by mistake.

The original Mitchell motors were 110 or 220 VAC for sync. Variable motors were 110 VAC or DC except for a 24V DC motor (8-32fps) I don't have any specs on the CP motor since it was a later development.

I was a film loader on one of the first CP XR35 shows in the 70's and we used the CP 30V batteries (Model LA-2). The camera specs show the motor was designed for 28-36 VDC.

I'd suss out which pins are actually hot on the camera body and wire up a temporary pigtail to a lab quality variable DC power supply. I'm betting that the camera will come alive around 30V. Then build up some permanent battery boxes and cables if you're using the rig on location.

Edited November 27, 2023 by Doyle Smith

[Eric Eader]

Hello,

Here is a quote from the 7th ASC Manual (1993):

                                                                           Variety of motors for all uses.  Crystal-controlled 30V DC  4,8,12,18, 24,28, 32 fps with                                                                                   mirror positioning circuit, sync alarm, 50/60 Hz output signal.

Quote from Samuelson's  'Hands On' Manual (1994):

                                                                             MOTORS, SPEEDS, & POWER REQUIREMENTS:  Interchangeable motors, 24V DC                                                                                           governor controlled and 115V AC/DC 16--32fps variable speed.  Proprietary or non-                                                                                       proprietary 36V 24/25fps crystal-controlled and 12, 16, 20 and 25fps pre-set variable                                                                                     speeds.  115V 60Hz 24fps,  115 or 220V  50Hz 24 or 25fps single or three phase                                                                                           synchronous.  24V  AC/DC or 200/240V AC 24--128fps high speed.  115/220V  AC                                                                                         single shot.

Some discrepancies exist between "Official" references so above response seems appropriate for testing.

Unfortunately, when I used one of those cameras, I didn't pay the slightest attention to power voltage.  Just plugged in and rolled film.

[Eric Eader]

That is not how I had it centered on the page!!!

Man what a Bummer!!

[Nicholas Lymberis]

Thans Both - it's only got two live pins (after pulling it apart) and I tried with a variable DC power supply as mentioned and basically nothing happened up to 30V.

We took it apart to see if we could find the motor specs and in the process we accidentally pulled the motor apart - don't ask, lots of swearing... so we are now looking for a new one (though may have found one already).