Aato LTR7 change regular 16 to s16

daniel mahlknecht · October 1, 2005

Hi,

I have just bought an Aaton ltr7 super16mm.

Unfortunately it was set to standard 16 and I have to set it to s16, and it seems not to be the same super16 conversion as described in the usermanual, but i can not be sure, because of the bad illustrations of this manual.

I managed to shift the groundglass and the lensmount (the lensmout I just loosened the upper 2 screws and shifted it as much to the motorside as possible and refastened the screws, in the manual this operation sounded totaly different).

What I could not do is shift the viewefinder, so I do not see very well the right angle of the super16area. I belive that on my camera it is not possible to shift the viewefinder, how can I understand wether or not the camera has ben modified for this operation?

A foto of this detal of an ltr7 where this can be done would be of great help.

Dimitrios Koukas · October 1, 2005

Hi,
I have just bought an Aaton ltr7 super16mm.

Unfortunately it was set to standard 16 and I have to set it to s16, and it seems not to be the same super16 conversion as described in the usermanual, but i can not be sure, because of the bad illustrations of this manual.

I managed to shift the groundglass and the lensmount (the lensmout I just loosened the upper 2 screws and shifted it as much to the motorside as possible and refastened the screws, in the manual this operation sounded totaly different).

What I could not do is shift the viewefinder, so I do not see very well the right angle of the super16area. I belive that on my camera it is not possible to shift the viewefinder, how can I understand wether or not the camera has ben modified for this operation?

A foto of this detal of an ltr7 where this can be done would be of great help.

And stop spamming the forum m8.

Dimitrios Koukas

lluis · October 1, 2005

You must unscrew the four viewfinder screws and change the position of the centering slot (a diminute piece between two side screws).

If you don't have, check http://www.aaton.com/products/film/xtr/ltr.phpof position

All the best.

Nathan Milford · October 2, 2005

The method is pretty similar between models. Shift the viewfinder, the fiberscreen and the mount. You have to remove the mount. If the spider (the part the mount attaches to) has two sets of holes use the second set. In this case the 'nipples' (the locating pins for the mount) should always be at 11 and 1 o'clock. If there is only one set of holes in the spider then rotate the mount counter clockwise so that the nipples at at like 7-9 o'clock (or something like that, it'll work out).

Note that you're taking the mount off so make sure no dirt or dust gets in there and alters the flange focal distance throwing your focus off and also you'll have to re-center and re-track your lens.

The viewfinder should have a shim on one side. When it's in R16 the shim should be on the right side (facing the camera) and the left when in S16. Just remove the screws, slide the viewfinder over and replace the shim on the other side.

The fiberscreen is set by a single screw in the gate, you just loosen it and move the screen left or right then tighten it. Bewarned that you might be altering screen centering and maybe even screen focus.

Good luck. If you have any problems give me a call at the number below on Monday and I can sort out any ambiguities.

- nathan

Dimitrios Koukas · October 2, 2005

Hi,
I have just bought an Aaton ltr7 super16mm.

Unfortunately it was set to standard 16 and I have to set it to s16, and it seems not to be the same super16 conversion as described in the usermanual, but i can not be sure, because of the bad illustrations of this manual.

I managed to shift the groundglass and the lensmount (the lensmout I just loosened the upper 2 screws and shifted it as much to the motorside as possible and refastened the screws, in the manual this operation sounded totaly different).

What I could not do is shift the viewefinder, so I do not see very well the right angle of the super16area. I belive that on my camera it is not possible to shift the viewefinder, how can I understand wether or not the camera has ben modified for this operation?

A foto of this detal of an ltr7 where this can be done would be of great help.

I have posted you three pages from a manual, have you found them?

You have three posts with the same subject.

Dimitrios Koukas

daniel mahlknecht · October 3, 2005

I have posted you three pages from a manual, have you found them?
You have three posts with the same subject.

Dimitrios Koukas

I have posted the question so often because the first times I got an error report and did not realize that it had already worked.

Thank you a lot, for the pages, now "unfortunately" I can be sure that I have bought a half modyfied camera, it has the s16-16 groundglass which can be shifted as described, and it has the super16 gate identical to the xtr also with the hole for timecode.

but the viewefinder can not be shifted as there is no space or spaceholder, and on the body there is only one set of three holes (the two upper ones can be shifted probably just to center the lens for reg16, but it seems to be enough for s16 also).

I cecked the centering with my regular 16 zoomlens by holding a mattglass to the filmgate and centering the projected circle in the gate. Its all a little homemade but it seems to work and the flange focus distance is still ok.

thanks also to nathan and luis

daniel