chuck colburn

Good morning all. I thought I would toss in my two cents here in redards to camera lubrication. I serviced, overhauled and built motion picture cameras and optics for just over thirty years. I worked with some of the best techs in Hollywood, Chris Condon, Jimmy Beaumonte, Ed DiGuiliou etc. and in that time the only lubes we ever use were the greases and oils made by Losoid (german I believe). So after thousands oof lenses and hundreds of cameras including every thing from a 16mm Filmo to the 65mm Showscan cameras running at 60f.p.s. standard frame rate without a failure due to lubrication I feel confident enough to say that these lubricants are comsiderd the standard in the industry. I'm not saying that the lubes recommended by Arri or any other manufactuer are in any way inferior, just that they are not mandantory. The three main greases we used were 33B for movement gearing, Arri phenolic pull down claws and most prime amd zoom lens rotating and sliding surfaces. BBR-1 for ball bearings an #70 for areas requiring a heavier viscosity lube. The two oils were the standard camera and the hi-speed types. At one point I maintained all the cameras and lenses for the UCLA film school for over five years straight. So I know from experience how these lubes work on particular cameras and lenses on a long term basis. Anyhow as I said, just the two-cents of an old camera tech. Cheers, Chuck Colburn

Just to make this a little clearer the secondary lens is not attached to the camera lens, just mounted on the matte box rods. This allows you to move to and fro to achieve the needed magnification ratio. Expouser stop is still controled by the camera lens.

Good morning Peter, Since you're going to be working with profssional camera equipment you will probally have matte box rods sticking out front of the lens. An old movie camera trick was to use a longer focal length lens on the camera thus ensuring the least amount of curveture of field at the film plane and then mounting a large film format lens in front of that lens. Sort of like a highly corrected diopter. This also has the advangted of giving you much longer working distance than using a macro lens or a close up diopter, thus making your lighting setup easier. We use to use old Kodak Aero Ektars that were used on 10 by 10 inch roll film cameras as they were available at surplus stores for about $20.00. But I would think any longer focal length large format lens would do just fine. Chuck

At the top of my list. and God knows I'll watch anything if just to narrow in on one aspect ( lighting, direction etc. ) is Terms of endearment ( or was that engagment? ). That puke inducing hook of a fatal illness actually got me to get up and walk out of the theater. I still shudder at what a waste of money and talent not to mention what an incredibly rude thing to do to the lens and camera.

Good morning Mihai, I thought that might be the case. You need to take the body and the magazines to a rental house or cine equipment repair technician and have the clutches adjusted. Also it's not good to leave your shot rolls wound so tight like that. Get them to the lab as quick as you can or rewind in a dark room, being carefull to avoid static electrical charges. Chuck

How tight does the wind feel on the exposed rolls when you down load them? That is to say are you able to flex the rolls between your thumbs and fingers?

Timothy, If you are going to use gelatin filters behind the lenses then you are going to have to always keep one in there even if it's just a 1A or a clear. The reason is that the gel is going to increase flanged focal depth optically by one third the thickness of the gel, (appx. .0025) and this is way to much of an error with speed lenses espically the wider angles talk to a lens service tech. and he/she will advise you on the best course of action. Chuck Colburn

Hi Lee Young, The 9.5-57mm Angenieux was a very nice and if I remember right a relatively fast lens (F 1.6...?) Not too many were availble with side finders (V/F), but they were made. The finder on your 12-120 is refered to as a short finder and it is what you would find on the 9.5-57. And as you asked for any info, the v/f framing mask can be adjusted on any of the Angenieux side finders by loosening the three set crews on the grooved barrel on the finder and rotating the part. This allows you to reposition the finder to suit your tastes. Chuck Colburn

The Angenieux 10mm was an extremly sharp lens available in "C" mt. The Rx lenses were designed optically with the beam splitter block in mind, and were also set to .6875" flange focal depth as opposed to standard "C" mt. depth of .690". Now over the years I reset quite a few Rx lenses to standard depth for different people and never heard any negative feedback. So keep in mind if you see a "C" mounted lens engraved on the front barrel with Rx, (these were almost alwasy Kern-Switars) you have it checked on an auto-collimator or your footage scales could be off. :ph34r: