questions abouth my aaton LTR7

[daniel mahlknecht]

I recently bought an aaton LTR7 modyfied for super16.

now this camera is different from the usermanual as well as from the tecnicans manual I recently bought. the viewefinder must be different the lensmount is different (to center it for super16 i have to loosen the upper 2 screws and then i can moove it from left to right) also the batteries get mounted the other way round, the mag release button is on the top , and the framespeed selection knob is on the side and not beside the 24/25 sync button.

(pictures are downloadable from www.dapalmerfilm.com/download/aatonLTR7.zip )

 

I sent a request to AATON france if it was possible to cange the viewefinder and update it for a videoassist and timecode but I didn't get a replie (maybe they don't understand english or the request was to absurd?) serialnumber is C170

 

maybe someone can tell me if these things are possible if this particular aaton is worth it and if there are other differences to the "normal" aaton LTR7 (this one hasn't even an AATON logo)

 

then I have the suspect that the two mags I have have once been taken apart and been rebuilt mixing the parts, as there are only super16 parts for one mag (see picture).

 

maybe someone can help me

 

thanks

 

daniel

[Nathan Milford]

I recently bought an aaton LTR7 modyfied for super16.

 

Congratulations. You would do well to contact Cartoni S.P.A. in Rome as they are the Aaton Agent in Italy and find out where to get the camera overhauled as I find most cameras of that vintage have not been serviced in quite some time (well beyond the factory four year service paradigm).

 

now this camera is different from the usermanual as well as from the tecnicans manual I recently bought. the viewefinder must be different the lensmount is different (to center it for super16 i have to loosen the upper 2 screws and then i can moove it from left to right) also the batteries get mounted the other way round, the mag release button is on the top , and the framespeed selection knob is on the side and not beside the 24/25 sync button.

 

Yup, it's one of the weird ones. You're lucky, you have a new-style factory Super16 gate and not some old gate hack-job some machinist worked out.

 

I sent a request to AATON france if it was possible to cange the viewefinder and update it for a videoassist and timecode but I didn't get a replie (maybe they don't understand english or the request was to absurd?) serialnumber is C170

 

Probably the latter as most of them speak fantastic english. They don't stock old viewfinders, you would only be able to get an OGT10 viewfinder which ships on brand new XTRprods which go for around $9000. You can get different aftermarket video assists ranging from $2000 to $8000 depending on options, format and orientation. Timecode is not an option for your camera.

 

maybe someone can tell me if these things are possible if this particular aaton is worth it and if there are other differences to the "normal" aaton LTR7 (this one hasn't even an AATON logo)

 

Given an overhaul, I think it's be a fine little camera. If it weren't already converted to S16 I would say it was mostly useless for a commercial cinematographer, so you lucked out. The Aaton face plate probably fell off at some point, the recess for it is there.

 

then I have the suspect that the two mags I have have once been taken apart and been rebuilt mixing the parts, as there are only super16 parts for one mag (see picture).

 

If the magazines are of the type that allows the take-up door to be removed, stock lots of camera tape. You can tell they're old magazines because they lack cylindrical guides above and below the claw and picture plates.

 

There is a odd wear mark on the picture plate of the second mag which might indicate the that the plate tensions are too high.

 

 

- Nathan

[daniel mahlknecht]

thanks a lot.

It had to be the absurdness of the question that they did not answer .

I don't know why I haven't thought of my own to contact the lokal AATON service. I will probably try in Germany as Munic is closer to where I live than Milan.

Still, the Kamera works fine and both of the mags seem to be ok, , I shot a short fiction with it (6 loads) and there were no scratch problems or any problems at all.

Soundlevel seems ok too, at least better than the Arri SR we had at school.

 

now i will need a nice zoom lens, as it seems to me that the nikonlenses have not a really accurate flange focus distance (with 2 out of 3 I could not really focus to infinit, meterscale wasn't accurate too)

 

thanks again

daniel