Highest Quality 16mm projector

[John Adolfi]

Is it one of the Eiki projectors or perhaps the Bolex. Or just maybe the Fumeo. If so which model and why? I'm looking to shoot and project movies as they were meant to be!

[Will Montgomery]

I'd put in a plug for a good ol' Bell & Howell. Those things were built to withstand 5th graders... they stand up well over time.

[marc barbé]

Is it one of the Eiki projectors or perhaps the Bolex. Or just maybe the Fumeo. If so which model and why? I'm looking to shoot and project movies as they were meant to be!

 

Hi,

You sound angry: "To project movies how they were meant to be".

It all depends on who made them, produced them, how, et caetera, et caetera....

 

As far as small 16mm projectors go, I'd try Eiki, Elmo, Bauer, Bell&Howell. They're all good, you got to run them, spin them and decide which is the one.

But first I suggest you shoot.

 

Good luck and cool your jets,

Marc.

[Charlie Peich]

Is it one of the Eiki projectors or perhaps the Bolex. Or just maybe the Fumeo. If so which model and why? I'm looking to shoot and project movies as they were meant to be!

 

Check out this site 16mm Film Talk. Die-hard 16mm film and projector collectors. Most will answer your questions as to which ones are the best now. Super 16 will be difficult. The Bolex was a great machine, however there are maintenance issues now, no one to work on them in the States, and no parts.

 

If you subscribe to the site, look up Ken Layton in the members list. He rebuilds several projector models and also rebuilds tube amps for the old projectors.

[Simon Wyss]

Mechanically, one of the best 16-mm film projectors is one of the Bolex-Paillard S series (S 211/221, S 311/321). They have a straight-pull claw movement with double plain bearing, felt oiling, diagonally acting side guide rails, perfectly accessible gate, and felt oilers for the rest of the moving parts.

 

Another fine machine was the 1938 oil lubricated Diksi Tfp. with 8-tooth feed rollers, straight-pull claw, vertical adjustment by claw up-and-down, quickest removable gate assembly and micrometer focus. Its successor of the 1940ies has still 8-tooth rollers but a different gate assembly.

 

Then comes the 1951 German Siemens & Halske model 2000 with solid mechanics, felt oiling, straight-pull claw of very moderate film acceleration, and not too bad a gate. Only the motor was cheeply sold.

 

Older Bell & Howell projectors offer 8-tooth feed rollers, short gate but the claw too close to the aperture. By some strange reason the 16-mm projectors of B. & H. were built off-standard unlike their 8-mm ones which position the film over the same distance as the cameras (should) do.

 

Cinelabor, the Italian straight puller, has too long a gate. The rest is crap. Believe me, I have made big pictures with substandard film, the difference is when it comes to cleaning gate and aperture of a hot run projector.

[John Adolfi]

Hi,

You sound angry: "To project movies how they were meant to be".

It all depends on who made them, produced them, how, et caetera, et caetera....

 

As far as small 16mm projectors go, I'd try Eiki, Elmo, Bauer, Bell&Howell. They're all good, you got to run them, spin them and decide which is the one.

But first I suggest you shoot.

 

Good luck and cool your jets,

Marc.

 

 

Not angry, just having some fun being emphatic. The idea of projecting 16mm home movies has gone the way of the dinosaur BUT when people are allowed to experience a projected film on a good sized screen, there is an altogether different experience. A good one, don't you think?