Rare Beaulieu Time Lapse Unit

Todd Pinder · May 18, 2008

I aquired this in a lot of Beaulieu items. I wondering is this the elusive interval unit. Made in Japan. Works with my 4008, but jack is too small for my R16. Just wondering what you experts thought!

Todd

Michael Lehnert · May 19, 2008

In reference to my own published scribble here and for Super 8 Today about that external intervalometer unit specially made by Beaulieu for the Beaulieu 4008 and 5008-series in the year "Raiders of the lost Ark" came out, I would say you got yourself an Indiana-Jones-like treasure item here :blink: . How did you get that? On which bazaar was it offered to you?! And for how much?!?

As I wrote all over the place here and there, I am still a three-digit number on a waiting list of a now bankrupt company that claimed over 15 years ago they might sell me one if I waited long enough (like: forever) for them to track one down :D . I have never actually seen one in real life, and only saw blurred pictures out of a time when scanners where table-sized and dpi was a reference for dot matrix printers... I have a pretty accurate text description from Beaulieu about it workings, out of a time when product infos where often text-only and had no pics to make the user its functions understandable.

Do you have more, if possible, higher-res pics of this unit, as one side should feature a series of switchgear to adjust the intervalometerage? I would appreciate some sharing ;)

Congratulations, Todd (welcome to ciny.com, by the way) and enjoy it very much!!

Cheers,

-Michael

P.S.: To quote Indy (yeah, yeah, I like my posts to be zeitgeisty, on the pulse of time and up-to-date): "This belongs into a museum!" B)

Todd Pinder · May 19, 2008

In reference to my own published scribble here and for Super 8 Today about that external intervalometer unit specially made by Beaulieu for the Beaulieu 4008 and 5008-series in the year "Raiders of the lost Ark" came out, I would say you got yourself an Indiana-Jones-like treasure item here :blink: . How did you get that? On which bazaar was it offered to you?! And for how much?!?

As I wrote all over the place here and there, I am still a three-digit number on a waiting list of a now bankrupt company that claimed over 15 years ago they might sell me one if I waited long enough (like: forever) for them to track one down :D . I have never actually seen one in real life, and only saw blurred pictures out of a time when scanners where table-sized and dpi was a reference for dot matrix printers... I have a pretty accurate text description from Beaulieu about it workings, out of a time when product infos where often text-only and had no pics to make the user its functions understandable.

Do you have more, if possible, higher-res pics of this unit, as one side should feature a series of switchgear to adjust the intervalometerage? I would appreciate some sharing ;)

Congratulations, Todd (welcome to ciny.com, by the way) and enjoy it very much!!

Cheers,

-Michael

P.S.: To quote Indy (yeah, yeah, I like my posts to be zeitgeisty, on the pulse of time and up-to-date): "This belongs into a museum!" B)

Thanks Micheal I was hoping and kinda figured that you would be the first to respond to my post!

Anyway I acquired it with a 4008s, off ebay of course. From the looks of the camera I was thinking that this might be one of the last 4008's that were built by Beaulieu using old parts.

It runs off of a 9 volt battery. Uses the remote control socket. Has a dial type switch to adjust the interval with corresponding red light that blinks every time it goes off.

Here is some more pics:

Todd

Bjorn Andersson · May 19, 2008

Thanks Micheal I was hoping and kinda figured that you would be the first to respond to my post!
Anyway I acquired it with a 4008s, off ebay of course. From the looks of the camera I was thinking that this might be one of the last 4008's that were built by Beaulieu using old parts.

It runs off of a 9 volt battery. Uses the remote control socket. Has a dial type switch to adjust the interval with corresponding red light that blinks every time it goes off.

Here is some more pics:

Todd

What you have on your picture, is a 4008S camera and a Timer unit for 1008/6008 cameras. This unit can´t make any single frame timelapse filming on a 4008 camera.

This camera is one of the FIRST 4008 that was built in 1969.

Bjorn Andersson

Todd Pinder · May 19, 2008

Well, there you have it from the man himself! Thanks for chiming in Bjorn!

I was curious why it was with this camera and why I have never seen this unit any where before.

Bjorn, do you have any info or pictures of the interval unit Michael talked about?

Todd

Michael Lehnert · May 19, 2008

Hi Björn, thanks for taking time and making an effort to contribute - and making this even more of a search for elucidation, Indy-style :P .

I was completely unaware that there had been an external intervalometer unit for both the Beaulieu 1008-series & Beaulieu 6/7/9008-series. My knowledge about the 1008-series is sketchy as it was never broadly marketed and sold by Dieter Ritter & son in Germany (or indeed taken up in Germany as it was abroad), but as regards the 6/7/9008-series, Ritter seemed to have kept this device from its German customers as it did not feature in the official sales.

What they did was promote a small series of such an intervalometer unit for the 4008 and 5008-series to enable timer capabilities that these models lacked as opposed to the 6/7/9008-series with its basic T1-T2-T3 timer. It sold out rapidly and gained notoriety for its elusiveness towards interested buyers in the late 1980s/1990s. Could it be that this was one of those units that Ritter had modified to work with the Beaulieu 4/5008? After all, the entire business plan of Ritter from the 6008-series onwards seemed to have been based on "tuning"/mod'ing Beaulieu devices...

Your assistance in clarifying this matter once and for all would be very appreciated.

With best regards,

-Michael

Jim Carlile · May 21, 2008

hi Michel-- just a few days ago I found one of these in an old parts box of mine-- it's really no big deal. They were made by Chinon for the 1008 cameras as part of a set, along with an AC adaptor and a shoulder brace. They have a little plug that goes into the remote jack on the camera and fires away. In fact, you can use them with any remote-jack in any camera, set at single frame.

I've seen circuits around where you can make your own.

Jim Carlile · May 21, 2008

Let me clarify-- you can use this intervalometer on any electrical remote jack with a mini-mini plug. It's just a simple capacitor timing circuit.

A lot of that Chinon stuff was used on later 6 and 7 series cameras. Must have been the Bell and Howell influence. The 1008 'Beaulieu' lens, for instance-- the same as the basic cheapo lens for the 6 and 7.

Michael Lehnert · May 21, 2008

Thank you very much, Jim, for that specification of Todd's finding (btw, "mini-mini plug" would be 2.5mm jack, wouldn't it?) and the clarification for which camera series it was made for, works with and that it's not that small-series 4008 device that proves to remain so rare...

*sigh*

so it's not the holy grail of Beaulieu intervalometers... bligh me, who do I have to hire to track one down?! Indiana Jones?? :ph34r: