My 1924 Victor Ultra Cine. Battery Operated!

[Robert Murphy]

Hello everyone, I’m new. My name is Robert and I just got into the 16mm hobby. My first camera is a doozy. A 1924 Victor Ultra Cine. Powered by a 6v battery which I have already made a modern replacement for. It’s pretty rare as only about 50 were made, and I own the 50th one. The camera seems to run fine, but it’s missing a few parts. 
 

It’s missing its’ lens and one sprocket. The lens I’m trying to replicate using another lens that I am going to machine down to fit. I just bought a lathe to do this work. The sprocket is unique as it only has 7 teeth. I was lucky enough to find two single perf 7 tooth sprocket  that I can turn into one double perf.

 

The camera also runs at 14 fps, so I will be using a stroboscope to adjust the governor to the correct speed once it’s all put back together. I have a YouTube video about it if anyone is interested. 
 

Here she is:

 

I have since had the front name plate professionally reproduced. 
 

Here are a few links with info on the camera and company.

https://www.kinocameras.com/apparatus/victor-ultra-cine
 

https://www.antiquephotographica.info/VICTOR ULTRA CINE CAMERA WEB DETAIL 11-30-2017.htm

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by Robert Murphy

[Charles MacDonald]

if you want to USE this, you will find that Single perf film is Much easier to find, But you will have to check that the pulldown claw is on the correct side for single perf film.

[Robert Murphy]

17 minutes ago, Charles MacDonald said:

if you want to USE this, you will find that Single perf film is Much easier to find, But you will have to check that the pulldown claw is on the correct side for single perf film.

Thank you! I actually have stocked up on several rolls of 40 iso double perf b&w reversal film from the Film Photography Project. 

[Jon O'Brien]

Very exciting project, Robert. Welcome, and thanks for telling us about the camera. I will look forward to seeing your footage!!

[Robert Murphy]

Hello everyone.  This is an update. I plan on taking some test footage very soon. I have made the lens and sprocket and the camera is ready to film! My YouTube channel should host any content I make of the camera:

 

https://youtube.com/@20th_century_antiques?si=GQ88xO06MgWLuXag

Edited October 1, 2024 by Robert Murphy

[Robert Murphy]

My 1924 Victor Ultra Cine is Fully Functional! Just in time for its 100th birthday.

After a lot of sporadic work over the last two years or so, I finally have my Victor working! I did the first film test, which I can say is successful. 

The camera operates off of a 6 volt battery, which I created from a modern, sealed, lead acid battery, and is electrically driven. 
 
I bought this camera as a parts unit with a missing lens and missing take up sprocket. I created a lens from an old C mount which was turned down in my lathe. I also created the take up sprocket using my lathe. I was able to source the sprocket teeth from a newer Victor camera.

This was a labor of love since Victor’s Ultra Cine is so rare and my unit is quite possibly the last one produced. Out of a likely total of 50 units, I have number 50. 

Over the last two years, I’ve also gathered the film and chemical supplies needed to do my test. 

The test was done using the FPP’s 100 ISO 16mm Double Perf B/W negative film. This option was the easiest and cheapest method for me to develop at home. This also allowed me to see if the lens I created would even work. And it does! 
 

I took the negative film I shot and ran it by hand through my 1923 Kodascope Model A. For convenience, I used a powerful LED flashlight to substitute the projection lamp. I projected this on the wall and filmed with my phone and then used an app to invert the negative images. Here is the result, my family and our cat Neptune. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

[Robert Murphy]

Anyone care? 

[Robert Murphy]

Guess not. Merry Christmas 

[Simon Wyss]

Robert, somebody has to tell you, the video is plain awful. Why not spend a little money on a professional scan?

Victor’s career is an interesting story, the more I appreciate that you care for an Ultra. An f/3.5 lens is most probably a triplet. I don’t know who furnished the camera optics to Victor. Possible are Wollensak, Graf, Bausch & Lomb, ILEX, Goerz American, Gundlach, Dallmeyer, Steinheil, Meyer, Wray. I’d say Wollensak.

[Robert Murphy]

On 12/24/2024 at 3:23 AM, Simon Wyss said:

Robert, somebody has to tell you, the video is plain awful. Why not spend a little money on a professional scan?

Victor’s career is an interesting story, the more I appreciate that you care for an Ultra. An f/3.5 lens is most probably a triplet. I don’t know who furnished the camera optics to Victor. Possible are Wollensak, Graf, Bausch & Lomb, ILEX, Goerz American, Gundlach, Dallmeyer, Steinheil, Meyer, Wray. I’d say Wollensak.

Money is what I lack. Unemployed at the moment. The video was just proof of concept to see if the lens I created worked at all. Would love to get a more professional scan, but that’s not in the cards right now. 

[Robert Murphy]

I guess I agree what I show is lackluster, but I was excited to get this extremely rare and unique camera working for the first time in who knows how long. Odds were against me creating that lens and the fact that it works and in such clarity. I was stunned. 

I was never planning on projecting what I had filmed since it was filmed as a negative. But the quality was just so good, I had to manually run it through my old 1923 Kodascope (by hand) just to see what it looked like. I made the YouTube video with my iPhone and did the post editing on my iPhone as well (Correcting the negative and straightening) This made it look really really bad. 

I hope to land a job by the end on January, and then hopefully a few months after that I can shoot a proper test roll and have it developed and scanned professionally. 

Edited December 31, 2024 by Robert Murphy

[Simon Wyss]

A good new year!

I think we fully understand what you’re about. Better times will come.