Saul Rodgar

"I met a 600 member who lives out there named Tom Zane (Zanes??), who has done a lot of shooting/ spelunking/ rock-climbing. He might be of some help if you do more of this kind of stuff. (Weird co-incidence, Brad Heiner replaced me on a job on which I broke my ankle.)" Unfortunately, Tom Zanes is no longer with us. He passed away last year after a very brief but intense battle with a sudden and deadly brain tumor that did away with a great cameraman and mentor. On a May 05 shoot in Ruidoso NM, he kept complaining of a nasty head ache that wouldn't go away. He visited the doctor after we came back to Albuquerque and he found out then. They gave him only a month but he lasted until 06. He was very fit and healthy, which made all the weirder. I guess if it's in you, no matter how healthy you are, it'll get you. May he rest in peace.

It says near the bottom: A cover that flips overtop of the Mag Release on the ACL II replaces the sliding lock on the ACL 1 and 1.5 designed to keep the Mag Release from being depressed. Neither design successfully prevented magazines from prematurely falling off. The best lock of all is to use part of a CLOTHES PIN wedged between the top of the Magazine and the Release Latch; this forces the latch to stay engaged in the Mag. Mike Welle I was talking to George Z at OEH about this problem (mags falling off on ACL's). He claims he figured out a way to stop the problem. By putting a screw somewhere on the top near where the top handle screws on to the body, the problem is apparently solved forever. As I don't know anyone with such a modified ACL, I cannot empirically verify his claim. Besides taking his word for it, that is. He is a top notch ACL tech, equalled only [or should I say complemented] by Bernie O'Doherty and Les Bosher, possibly the three foremost living techs currently working on ACL's. When they retire or pass on, we are in trouble. But nobody is perfect or omniscient, or what have you. (He did fix my fried circuit-board CP-modified 48 fps ACL motor, despite the small fact that the motors and the parts for them have not been made for almost 30 years! And he only charged me $400! But he also did say that that same motor would never produce flicker-free footage on 400' loads like a real heavy-duty multi-speed 72 fps ACL2 motor. Yet I, nor its previous owner, have never had any flicker problems running this motor on 400' loads [knock on wood]). Be that as it may, I will have him try the screw trick on one of my ACL's next time they go into his shop. I'll let you guys know.

Thanks. They don't seem to have anything for ACLs, though. I am just wondering if the 24-48ips CP motor is as powerfull as the original Eclair 12-75ips motor. I'm concerned about the 4OOft mags and battery drain. Marc. Yes, you are right to be concerned. CP modified original ACL 1 and 1.5 motors to go under and over 24 fps, which is the speed they were designed to run at. CP modified motors are not "heavy duty" as the ACL 2 motor is, or as expensive and hard to find. This motor will run 400' loads with ease and will not flicker as the older and/ or modified motors did when strained by the larger loads. This generally would happen in longer takes, after a couple of minutes of the camera being run without stoping. On shorter takes (around a minute), done after the camera motor has cooled down, you may be able to get away with not getting flicker. I own an ACL with a 8-48 fps CP modified motor. The previous owner claims it runs 400' loads flickerlessly with the supplied 400' mags. I have no reason not to believe him, but I sincerely doubt it can keep up. I have not put the modified motor to test myslef, however, as I also own 3- 200' mags and prefer using them. I shoot short ends or A-minima 200' loads with it, though. For 400' loads I use my Aaton LTR 7, which has no problem keeping up, of course. I don't know about the battery drain, though. My battery is a huge custom made Powersonic block that, aside from being big and heavy, simply rocks on long and steady power supply chores. Best, Saulie