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Super rare Chinese 16mm camera A combination of Arriflex SR and Eclair ACL


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Posted

Hi. I found a very interesting 16mm Chinese camera today, and I would like to share it, the body construction is borrowed from the Arriflex SR but the motor and magazine appear to be of ACL design.

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  • Like 2
Posted
6 minutes ago, Phillip Mosness said:

Do you know when this was made? 

No, can't find any information about it, only know it's made by GANSU OPTICAL INSTRUMENT FACTORY

  • Premium Member
Posted (edited)

Looks like an ACL copy with an Arri viewfinder and pressure plate, which means probably the gate is SR style as well. 

Interesting. 

Do you have a picture of the gate? 

Edited by Tyler Purcell
Posted
7 minutes ago, Tyler Purcell said:

Looks like an ACL copy with an Arri viewfinder and pressure plate, which means probably the gate is SR style as well. 

Interesting. 

Do you have a picture of the gate? 

Sorry, only got those images about the camera body. I don't own this camera, just saw a guy selling it. He was also selling some projectors and film-related books. I guess he found them in a deadstock at a film factory.

Posted

He is also selling an extra motor. Some photos of motors. Very similar to the ACL, the connections are in the same place but the shape is different.

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Posted
11 minutes ago, Heikki Repo said:

Is it this one? "SX16K was made by Linxia Sine Equipement Research Institute. It shoots at 6-144 frames/second, and is powered by a 27V battery. At 6-48 frames, the stability is within 0.01mm, and at 48-120 frames, it is within 0.02mm."

https://rangefinderforum.com/threads/chinese-red-flag-20-and-lenses.23816/post-903201

https://images.app.goo.gl/ZVDSDpCMfM8ZrFMy5

 

I answer myself: most likely not - https://rangefinderforum.com/threads/chinese-red-flag-20-and-lenses.23816/post-580646

  • Premium Member
Posted

looks like pretty cool design! Not sure about the quality of the motor but the camera might be pretty good concept.

If there would be multiple of those it would be worth restoring them and maybe updating if needed. Single ones may be useful if they happen to work but rare cameras are always better if there is more than one available

  • Like 1
Posted
8 hours ago, Tyler Purcell said:

How much are they selling it for? 

He sells this set for 2500 USD,but not sure the camera is working or not.

Posted
5 hours ago, Aapo Lettinen said:

looks like pretty cool design! Not sure about the quality of the motor but the camera might be pretty good concept.

If there would be multiple of those it would be worth restoring them and maybe updating if needed. Single ones may be useful if they happen to work but rare cameras are always better if there is more than one available

Unfortunately, less than 50 SX16Ks were produced, and the one I found was probably even less. In the era of film-to-digital conversion, many Chinese film factories closed down, and film processing equipment and movie cameras were recycled as scrap metal. Very few made-in-China film cameras have survived to this day.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Premium Member
Posted

I think they bought old SR parts and basically couldn't figure out how to drive them, so they build that big board/motor that sticks of the side. Because honestly. that movement looks like it came out of an SR and I don't think they would have gone to all that trouble to re-design it. Very odd. 

Posted

A friend of mine bought this camera and sent it to me for lubrication. The name on the magazine is 甘光(GANSU OPTICAL INSTRUMENT FACTORY) S16 XW, I am still trying to find the manual.

Yesterday I disassembled part of this camera and compared it with my ArriflexSR&EclairACL. The conclusion is that S16XW does not use any SR&ACL original parts. Looks similar but the details are different.

The magazine looks like an ACL magazine, but its internal structure is identical to an SR magazine.

The viewfinder is the same as the SR, but the release screw hole of the viewfinder is directly below the viewfinder instead of built-in.

The design of this camera is based on the Arriflex SR and Eclair ACL. The factory should have obtained these two cameras, measured and mapped them, combined the parts that were easier to make, and cancelled the built-in motor of the SR and the reflector structure of the ACL.

The motor speeds are T2/48/36/24/12.

  • Like 1
Posted
5 hours ago, Jason Lu said:

The design of this camera is based on the Arriflex SR and Eclair ACL. The factory should have obtained these two cameras, measured and mapped them, combined the parts that were easier to make, and cancelled the built-in motor of the SR and the reflector structure of the ACL.

So if one wanted to manufacture a new professional 16mm camera, just copy this one to have one with the easiest to make parts? 😂 But Super16 it apparently isn't... 😉

  • Haha 1
Posted
2 hours ago, Heikki Repo said:

So if one wanted to manufacture a new professional 16mm camera, just copy this one to have one with the easiest to make parts? 😂 But Super16 it apparently isn't... 😉

I’m not sure to call it a "professional" camera,  not even sure it will work properly yet....

  • Haha 2
Posted
1 hour ago, Jason Lu said:

I’m not sure to call it a "professional" camera,  not even sure it will work properly yet....

A revolutionary camera nonetheless 😂

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