Ultra 16mm Conversion in 2026?

[Robbie Haltiner]

Hi all,

Apologies if this is the wrong place to post but I am looking for any leads on a reliable technician who is able to convert a Cinema Products CP-16R to Ultra 16mm.

I haven't had much luck Googling and scouring the forums as yet - most of the information is not current and many of the recommended technicians seem to have either retired or are no longer with us.

So far I have reached out to Du-All who don't offer this service, Visual Products who have not yet responded and a few others around Australia (where I am located) who are no longer doing these conversions.

Any information anyone might have would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[Todd Pinder]

Funny I was just about to ask that question regarding my Beaulieu 2016! I think with my Beaulieu I'm best to send to Bjorn!

I guess really my question would be is Ultra 16 still a good choice?

[Tyler Purcell]

I wouldn't touch Ultra 16 with a 10 foot pole. There isn't a single camera that doesn't damage the area between the sprockets, which is what Ultra 16 uses. 

[Giray Izcan]

The only thing I would do is expand the s16 to ultra 16 area to expose more of the film for less grain and sharpness but not to use the ultra 16 portion. The camera would still be centered for s16.

[Robin Phillips]

honestly you'll be better off either picking up a S16 camera or simply over exposing your negative a bit more to expose those smaller grains. the world is low on skilled techs as it is, and if you do a conversion that has issues you may not find anyone either willing or who can fix it

[Aristeidis Tyropolis]

3 hours ago, Tyler Purcell said:

wouldn't touch Ultra 16 with a 10 foot pole. There isn't a single camera that doesn't damage the area between the sprockets, which is what Ultra 16 uses. 

Hey! 😁 - not in my case - not that's an advice either way, just saying it's fine in mine

Was kind of indifferent to it (got a gate that's a bit of everything really) but frankly I've got alot shots that are great for that and I am totally using it for a mini project that I'm doing.

[wang jing]

I don't think Beaulieu can do that. It's limited by design.

[Tyler Purcell]

1 hour ago, wang jing said:

I don't think Beaulieu can do that. It's limited by design.

You can widen the gate a bit, but not a lot. We are going to manufacture our own mirror assembly, which should allow us to widen it a bit for super 16. It's a long term project, but the Beaulieu has excellent rollers and very light on film. I bet with some machining on the sprockets and cutting back the pressure plate, you can get it to handle super 16 quite well. The biggest problem is the C mount, because re-centering would require a new hard mount. We would like to make one that's PL. I'm getting a few more broken bodies in for experimental purposes shortly. If I come up with something, I'll post it on my IG @tye1138 

[Tyler Purcell]

5 hours ago, Aristeidis Tyropolis said:

Was kind of indifferent to it (got a gate that's a bit of everything really) but frankly I've got alot shots that are great for that and I am totally using it for a mini project that I'm doing.

Yea it's one of those ultra and super gates. Don't worry, K3's scratch like mad. Just because you got a single roll through without a problem, isn't evidence of much. 

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Hi!

AFAIK you don’t have to discuss this topic at all as there’s simply nobody offering this conversion service anymore: Everyone is dead or has at least retired. 

[Aristeidis Tyropolis]

8 hours ago, Tyler Purcell said:

Don't worry, K3's scratch like mad. Just because you got a single roll through without a problem, isn't evidence of much. 

1400' and counting, no scratches.

[Tyler Purcell]

5 hours ago, Aristeidis Tyropolis said:

1400' and counting, no scratches.

If you put the film under a loupe, the scratches will be there. It's basically impossible for the sprocket area of a camera to not damage the film, especially on a K3. You may not notice them for several reasons, one of which could be simply the resolution of the material and the screen size of your work. We examine film on a 32" 4k 12 bit grading monitor, so it's nice a big, but if we work in 1080p, it hides a lot of issues with the film. So it could be just that simple of an answer. The Super 16 side can easily be made not to scratch, but that sprocket drive and the way the film is held in place onto the sprocket, is just never going to be successful in not scratching. I have never once seen ultra 16 without scratches of some kind in the picture area, but again in a 4k workflow. 

[Aristeidis Tyropolis]

3 hours ago, Tyler Purcell said:

I have never once seen ultra 16 without scratches of some kind in the picture area, but again in a 4k workflow. 

4K ProRes on 27' Wide Gamut.

Three different shots

 

 

Not seeing it Tyler.

If I need a loupe to find AFTER seeing it in 4K on a proper monitor and can't find it, it's a Schrödinger's scratch and the scratch exists in some quantum superposition and needs investigating - I will survive.

 

Edited May 22 by Aristeidis Tyropolis

[Tyler Purcell]

What was it scanned with? Some scanners with diffuse light and/or IR pass, can hide light scratches in the scan. 

[Brandon Paterno]

18 hours ago, Tyler Purcell said:

You can widen the gate a bit, but not a lot. We are going to manufacture our own mirror assembly, which should allow us to widen it a bit for super 16. It's a long term project, but the Beaulieu has excellent rollers and very light on film. I bet with some machining on the sprockets and cutting back the pressure plate, you can get it to handle super 16 quite well. The biggest problem is the C mount, because re-centering would require a new hard mount. We would like to make one that's PL. I'm getting a few more broken bodies in for experimental purposes shortly. If I come up with something, I'll post it on my IG @tye1138 

great news. if you are able to make both parts of the turret assembly (the gate/traveling mirror and the turret) you should be able to make super 16 parts. i’d imagine you’d want to extend the guides and mirror shutter plate a bit to compensate for the portion of extra rail you’d seemingly have to lose for the additional picture area.

there’s not too much there to begin with and i’d worry about any sort of discontinuity of surface material in that area since that seems to be a volatile area as far as the shutter arm linkage is concerned, and the plate is only touching the gate at six points (?) three on either side. dunno what the previous ultra 16 mods on this camera looked like but i have to imagine the mirror movement block was just milled out a touch on either side of the gate. and i swear there was some archival webforum thread of someone claiming to offer a super 16 gate service. maybe also related to another old webforum guy who talked about soaking his cams in wd40???

[Tyler Purcell]

4 hours ago, Brandon Paterno said:

i swear there was some archival webforum thread of someone claiming to offer a super 16 gate service

Yea! Pro 8 use to do it years ago, they were the Beaulieu importer for a while. I asked if they'd be willing to hand over any documentation related to it, but they don't have much anymore. They don't even service them. I've been learning how to service them myself, but I'm far away from making the gate I want. I'm getting in some busted R16's shortly which are probably good templates. We'll see how I get along. I really like the camera.