Eclair NPR Questions

James Mehr · January 8, 2008

Hey All,

I purchased an Eclair NPR from Du-All Camera about a year ago. Because of a busy schedule, I haven't been able to use it as much as I'd like, but I quite the like the camera. I'm shooting a short film in March, and I'm planning to convert it to Super16 at Du-All. Has anyone had experience with a Super16 upgrade on the NPR? Will I lose the option to shoot in regular 16mm?

Also, what kind of lens mounts are available for the NPR? On my turret I have the standard CA mount and an ARRI bayo mount instead of a C-mount. Is it possible to just replace the turret with ones that have different mounts?

Any advice/thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

John Sprung · January 8, 2008

You should have no problem running regular 16 thru the Super modified camera. The CA-1 mount was a dog, I'd keep the Arri and put a "C" mount in the other position. Make sure that the secondary horizontal slide latch for the magazine -- the one under the top handle -- is in good shape. They had a tendency to loosen up. Check that the rubber drive coupling on the camera isn't worn or stiff. If it is, it can slip a little and put you out of sync.

-- J.S.

James Mehr · January 8, 2008

Thanks for the quick reply. I was worried that I couldn't shoot regular 16mm after the modification.

Stephen Smith · January 8, 2008

Thanks for the quick reply. I was worried that I couldn't shoot regular 16mm after the modification.

How will this be possible if the gate has been widened?

Martin Yernazian · January 8, 2008

Just because the gate has been widened, doesn't mean that you can shoot 1.33.1, the only thing that you will be ignoring is the the other 33% of extra space, that's all

John Sprung · January 8, 2008

How will this be possible if the gate has been widened?

Even double perf stock will pass thru the mechanism just fine. The one thing you have to do is get a ground glass marked for regular 16. You'll have unused image out where the perfs are on one side, but that does no harm at all.

-- J.S.

Stephen Smith · January 8, 2008

what i meant was it's not technically shooting regular 16mm is it then if you have to crop it. Does having the lenses offset not effect the image on the film if you crop down?

Edited January 8, 2008 by Stephen Smith

John Sprung · January 8, 2008

Does having the lenses offset not effect the image on the film if you crop down?

Yes, but not by enough to be of any concern. We could make side by side tests, and it would be extremely difficult to guess which was which. It's like printing cropped stills in a darkroom, or doing a pan and scan, only the distance off center is typically much smaller.

-- J.S.

Saul Rodgar · January 8, 2008

Also, what kind of lens mounts are available for the NPR? On my turret I have the standard CA mount and an ARRI bayo mount instead of a C-mount. Is it possible to just replace the turret with ones that have different mounts?

Some of the places that convert NPR's to S-16 do fix the turret to the body PERMANENTLY to one of the ports, so you would be able to use only one of the two, in your case usually the Arri B as it is the best one. The reason behind this is that the turret often interferes with the S-16 mod, so it easier for them (and cheaper for you) to fix it to the body than doing a mod where the turret stays able to pivot. Just be aware of this and ask the shop that you are looking at doing the conversion about this to clarify, before you actually do the conversion and are stuck with it.

James Mehr · January 8, 2008

Thanks for the tips. After reading the posts and doing some outside research, it looks like you have to re-center camera somehow for super16, which makes sense. Is there a problem with vignetting if you use standard 16mm lenses after the conversion?

Saul Rodgar · January 9, 2008

Thanks for the tips. After reading the posts and doing some outside research, it looks like you have to re-center camera somehow for super16, which makes sense. Is there a problem with vignetting if you use standard 16mm lenses after the conversion?

Not all lenses are created equal. Some will cover the format in their entire range, and some won't. It just depends on the lens. Angenieux has some great-looking, affordably-priced S-16 zoom lenses such as the (gigantic) 15-150mm T1.9 long zoom of the 17-65mm T2.2 short zoom. You will notice these two lenses are pretty darn fast but not very wide. Expect to pay BIG bucks for something wide and fast, both on the zoom and the prime lens categories.

Alex Turner · March 2, 2008

Not all lenses are created equal. Some will cover the format in their entire range, and some won't. It just depends on the lens. Angenieux has some great-looking, affordably-priced S-16 zoom lenses such as the (gigantic) 15-150mm T1.9 long zoom of the 17-65mm T2.2 short zoom. You will notice these two lenses are pretty darn fast but not very wide. Expect to pay BIG bucks for something wide and fast, both on the zoom and the prime lens categories.

I'm using a Angenieux 17.5-70mm on my Super16 NPR. It's an odd little lens that I got from the nice folks at Whitehouse AV. Nice and sharp with decent contrast, it covers without any vignetting and is very reasonably priced (under 1k). Only issue is pronounced breathing when racking focus. Mine is PL mount but I believe they will supply in other mounts on request.

I've also found that most of my older manual Nikkor SLR lenses work exceptionally well with the Super 16 format. In fact, my 80mm to 200mm Nikkor has become one of my favorites.