Inexpensive but good quality 35mm projector?

[Patrick Cooper]

I have conversed with several people who have bought 35mm movie projectors for around AU$400 - $500 which seems like a damn good deal for such equipment. Though I don't know any specific details about what the particular projectors they have or the performance. For a long time, I have been attracted to the idea of buying an old but compact 35mm cine projector for a similar price and buying commerically made prints (cartoons, trailers and hopefully even a feature or two) to project. Though one guy who has operated theatrical motion picture equipment for a long time claims that all the old 35mm projectors in that price range are very rough and have poor picture steadiness. Is this generally true? Is there such a thing as a compact 35mm projector that has good picture steadiness for around AU$400?

[nathan snyder]

Hi Patrick,

 

I don't have alot of experience with 35mm projectors but here is what I know:

 

I bought a projector almost a year ago. I paid around $400US for it and it cost that much to ship it to me. The make and model of the projector is a DeVryXD2000. It was model often used in theaters (as I understand it). However, it was not out of a theater. I bought this particular projector because dual sound mechanical interlock projector modified by Kodak ( I belieive) to be used to playback dailies wit the mag track in sync. I bring that up because this feature might have inflated the price, because it is a little more rare, but may have lso decreased the price because there are fewer collectors, or users for it. Here are a few photos of the projector:

 

http://owyheesound.com/cinema_theater/cinema_theater.html

 

The top three pictures are the ones of the projector I am taliking about.

 

Also, when I got the projector it was practically siezed up. I had to disassemble most of the moveing parts and soke them in solvent and then put it all back together and lube everything. Only a few parts had to be replaced but it did require service to run, and a serious just to put film into it. Now it runs fine, even good, but it took some work.

 

I have seen some new chinese portable projectors for auction on ebay. They are listed by kineman and sell for around $1000US It might be a good deal bcause they come with the lamp housing and the ballast for a xenon globe.

 

I think old projectors out of theaters can be good but they may need alot of work.

 

Oh, and don't forget you will need around 5 or 6 intermissions if you get only one projector because of the number of reel changes, unless you get a platter system to, but that would not be portable.

[Hal Smith]

I have conversed with several people who have bought 35mm movie projectors for around AU$400 - $500 which seems like a damn good deal for such equipment. .................

I bought a Simplex SP portable for $350, it's pretty heavy but one person can manhandle it. I had to replace the windows and seals on the intermittant gearbox oil level windows (mini-Maglight lenses and standard, hardware store o-rings worked) and make up a simple adapter to drive a high-impedance mike input on a power amplifier from the sound track photocell in the projector. It run pretty steady and quiet, good enough for dailies and the occasional feature or cartoon. It's got a 1000 watt incandescent bulb in its lamp housing, I plan on adapting the back end of a Source Four to it, a 750 watt S4 will put out about twice the light and half the heat as an older 1000 watt bulb with a simple reflector. If you just need a simple, silent projector the older "1919 patent" suitcase DeVry's can be had for less than $150, I bought an absolutely mint one for $90 off eBay. It was a project to figure out replacements for the original round cloth belts but I found some that work from McMaster-Carr.