First time shooting with NPR

Aren Madsen · December 2, 2020

Yesterday I shot my first ever roll in my new Eclair NPR. It was a 400' roll of 50d, a short skit with some friends.

It was really fun shooting with it and the camera was great to use, I'll remember this first roll.

What were your first experiences with the Eclair NPR? What did you shoot? How did it go?

David Mullen ASC · December 2, 2020

I used an NPR in film school. Because of the two lens turret design, I had to constantly pull out the lockdown knob and then check that the first mount was snug by pulling it out and then pushing it back in and tightening the knob again, and then I had to check that the lens was mounted correctly in its mount as well, two points of failure that could affect back focus. Otherwise it worked fine.

Aren Madsen · December 2, 2020

5 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

I used an NPR in film school. Because of the two lens turret design, I had to constantly pull out the lockdown knob and then check that the first mount was snug by pulling it out and then pushing it back in and tightening the knob again, and then I had to check that the lens was mounted correctly in its mount as well, two points of failure that could affect back focus. Otherwise it worked fine.

Thanks for responding, I understand your point you make about the turret locking in, it hasn't been an issue for me yet, maybe the camera you used hadn't had the turret pin lubricated in a while, mine slides right in.

I was quite surprised yesterday with just how quiet the camera was, mine hadn't been used since the 80s and all I did was clean it up a bit. When listening to the audio from the shoot I can't even hear the camera even when the audio recorder was close to the camera.

Leanne Summers · December 2, 2020

It's always exciting to shoot the first roll through a camera, I've never used an NPR though.

32 minutes ago, Aren Madsen said:

I was quite surprised yesterday with just how quiet the camera was, mine hadn't been used since the 80s and all I did was clean it up a bit. When listening to the audio from the shoot I can't even hear the camera even when the audio recorder was close to the camera.

I've been experimenting with that some with my 16s. I've been surprised how little camera noise I've gotten from it. From what I've done, it seems like the angle of the microphone relative to the camera is the key factor. If it's at the appropriate angle, it seems to cut the camera noise it picks up.

Aren Madsen · December 3, 2020

9 hours ago, Leanne Summers said:

seems like the angle of the microphone relative to the camera is the key factor. If it's at the appropriate angle, it seems to cut the camera noise it picks up.

Very true, I used a Zoom H5 audio recorder with a stereo shotgun mic, it's a mono shotgun mic with two small left and right side mics as well.

I'd highly recommend some sort of shotgun mic when recording around a 16mm camera as to pick up the least camera noise.

How's your 16s been to use? What's the viewfinder on them like? I've heard they have nice lenses.

Edited December 3, 2020 by Aren Madsen
Misspelling

Leanne Summers · December 3, 2020

6 hours ago, Aren Madsen said:

How's your 16s been to use? What's the viewfinder on them like? I've heard they have nice lenses.

It's been great, I love using it. With the weight and how it's shaped/configured, handheld use took some time to get used to. It's got a good, bright viewfinder. I've used a Bolex before in the past, it's much better than what that had. That's one of the things I like about it, there's a lot of different lenses available. I have two Angenieux zooms (12-120, 12-240).

Satsuki Murashige · December 3, 2020

Here are some opinions from cinematographers who used the Eclair NPR when it was brand new, it was a much loved camera:

Personally, I only got to use the NPR once or twice in film school - Arriflex SR, Aatons, and Eclair ACL were much more popular when I got started. As I recall the magazine threading pattern was a bit convoluted, but I didn’t know the camera well at all.

It did seem rather front heavy to me with the big motor base, but that may have been because our school didn’t have any small prime lenses to go with it. I thought it was rather awkward with an Angenieux 12-120 on the front.