CP-16R Camera Malfunction? See this video!

[David Shawl]

Thanks for your response. We concluded that my AC handed me the camera with the mag (which is an original CP mag) detached. I was fooled by the illusion of a properly attached mag since the film was threaded through and the "rubber band" that spins the take-up side held the mag down firmly.

 

 

 

 

Hi David,

I was just looking on google for a repair manual for a CP, as I accidentally encountered your interesting post. First off, I have an MFA in cinematography form the AFI, and have shot quite a bit with a CP16, I also worked for a while at the Ascent Media Lab in Burbank, so I think I?m qualified to comment.

Considering the compression of the video file, I can?t tell you if your roll was underexposed in the beginning. You asked for a ?best light? transfer, meaning that as soon as your roll started to have problems the lab tried to compensate, which is the reason for all the grain.

The roll was obviously fogged, however it was definitively not fogged prior to loading, or after unloading the roll. If it had been, the entire roll would have been effected, yet your first few shots look fine. This means it occurred in camera. You describe that you at one point knocked the mag. loose and set it back into place. This is a very likely scenario, however the first time you or a crewmember knocked the magazine loose it must have gone bye unnoticed. Many CP?s are being sent out with Mitchell mags that where modified to fit the CP (Mickey Mouse ears). Usually the original CP mags fit very solid onto the body. I have handheld a CP riding on a tank, which was very bumpy, and almost dropped the camera, yet I never had any problem with knocking anything loose.

It is therefore possible that the spring holding the magazine in place needs service, however it is just as likely that the magazine was not attached correctly in the first place, permitting it to be knocked out of place so easily.

Considering a large number of comments in various answers to your post, I?d like to give you an advice that my teacher, Bill Dill ASC gave me, as I was a student. ?Many students tend to blame the camera, the lens, the lab, etc. for a malfunction before looking at themselves, yet in 90% of the time the problem is the result of operator error that could have been avoided?. Having the benefit of hindsight, I have learned that this really is the case, and that it always helps to be nice to the people who maintain your camera, and who process your film. It pays off in the end.

Good luck with your film studies:

Joerg Schodl, Cinematographer, Los Angeles