andrewbuchanan

The NPR is the best camera going for the money. Just be sure you know its quirks and idosyncracies. The camera gets a lot of blame for operators who are inexperienced in its use. Variable shutter, registration pin, and horizontal pressure plate put this camera in a class with the very best of 16mm cameras. However, it is dated and takes some getting used to. The finder is pretty dark and you need a good motor (like the Tobin or AZ conversion or Cirpi), and a S16/PL mount conversion is really helpful) but for the price, its features are unbeatable. Plus, it's built like a tank. I use mine often as B-camera for an SR3A (I challange anyone to tell the difference) difference) and as A-camera on lower budget stuff (fictional narrative sync sound stuff, not just music videos) and myself, the director, and the producers are always pleased with the results.

Jammed Nikon F (FE, FM,FA, etc) bodies are cheap and there are about 1 zillion of them floating around. I wager that you could get one for less than $20. Lenses are fairly inexpensive as well.

Here's a few things from the last time I shot in the snow (hope it isn't too basic). Bring a grey card to get you exposures right. I hadn't worked with one in a long time, but I noticed that the reflection from the snow was driving my spot meter a couple (sometimes 3) stops off where it should have been. Watchout for reflection fooling you incidental meter too, don't point it toward the snow's reflectin and expect a proper reading. Also, those little chemical hand warmers that stay warm for 3 or 4 hours are very handy for keeping you camera and battery warm. Remember that taking a cold lens indoors will cause it to fog for a little while while the temp adjusts. Bourbon doesn't really make you warmer and doesn't mix well with cinematography. I'd use Vision 100 or Fuji 125 (you should have enough light if it is daytime) and definitely bring a Pola and some ND filters. I've always had good experience with www.filmemporium.com. Good luck.

D series lenses have iris control from the camera body, thus they can't be contrllled on the lens. Other brands suchs as Contax do offer great glass but can be very expensive, and some adapters don't have a Contax mount (they are great in m42 for a K3 though). Nikkor lenses are Nikon-mount lenses made by Nikon (series e never got the Nikkor designation for some reason). Nikon makes some rangefinder, enlarger, and other lenses but almost all you will see are Nikon F. AI just means you can set the photo up with the iris wide open then it will adjust to the proper f-stop when you shoot a photo (it is useless for moving pictures, and wouldn't work with movie cameras anyway). Visit Ken Rockwell's AMAZING site at www.kenrockwell.com for any info about Nikkors. I have a full set of Optar and Zeiss primes for my S16 and a set of Nikon for my 35 adapter and when you get a good Nikon (and some are better than others as Patrick mentioned) the sharpness is indeed quite impressive (but at 1/50th of the price, not quite as good as my Zeiss and Optars). I agree with R.Edge, the reputation of these low cost primes isn't any accident. A few more thoughts, Nikons are definitely the cheapest way to get a good set of primes on a 35mm adapter. The bad thing is they don't have follow focus gears, and mounting filters is hard (sure you can get a 52mm polarizer, but look for a graduated ND filter or a sunset). The 35mm adapter is supposed to help make thing more professional, and using Nikkors removes some of the professional support equipment. On the other hand, I have 20mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 135mm, 200mm mixed from 3 different generations of Nikkors and have less than $400 in the whole set. They take great pictures, but make pulling focus and using my 3x3 filters and my matte box very difficult.

Michael, Just a couple of thoughts... First IMHO, the Zeiss and Cooke zooms (especially the Cookes) around very difficult to find in the $1K price range. I'd watch what you get on ebay (I've been burn to the tune of $1200 before and it hurts). If you do find one of them, it will be a 30+ year old lens, may need service and so forth. Angenieux and Schneider, were passable lenses in their day, but never really compared well with Zeiss and Cooke and certainly would not be ideal for HD resolution. Also, these lenses are slow. Most of them are in the t3-something range. When you take into consideration that all adapters lose some light to the ground glass and front lens, this could make you really use a lot of light to film anything at night or in a dark room. Also, at the higer stop you lose the critical focus your adapter is supposed to give you DV. t3 depth is a lot different from t1.4. I know some people say that the lenses are less snappy at this stop, but I use it a lot. Also, you have problems with drift, focus during zooms, and weight and size (have you ever carried the Angenieux 25-250 around?). You can get good Non-Ai Nikkors (or the series E are great) for well under $100 at your local used camera store. You can also look at them before you buy them to boot. They are light, strong, and will give you the speed and resolution you will not get from a zoom. Also, when used on an adapter the larger 35mm still frame (large than 35mm cine frame) will give you more image to zoom in on and lower your chance of light fall off. Good luck.

Another vote for Matthew Libatique. I thought his name would be all over this thread. If you haven't seen his work, do yourself a favor and find some.

In my experience, the best telecine machine can make a peice of properly exposed Super 35 look like piss-poor Super 8 if the wrong person is at the controls. I won't name any companies, but I've gotten some transfers back from nice Spirit systems that made me think my light meter had broken... I ended up getting them redone on an old Rank turbo and they looked fabulous. In my experience, finding a trusted colorist, going somewhere with a great rep, and ALWAYS doing a supervised transfer will mean as much to your image as the machine.

I have the 2 lowel kits, both softcased. One is tiny weighs about 30lbs and has 2 pro lights and a V-light. The other weighs about 40lbs and has a Rifa, a pro light and a V-light. I have used A LOT of kits and these two, in my experience, are the very best for travel (expecially air travel). My Arri softbank kit is beautiful, but too hard to lug around - and has to be checked. I love the look of Kinos, but I think they suffer from the same problems of weight and size, plus like Arri, they are very expensive. I would really recommend Lowel, for price, weight, and portability- and they are fast to set up and take down. Each kit was under $1K, and I've never regretted going with Lowel.

Hi Adrian, I have a "Panavised" IIC and the only things that are different about it are a Pana lens mount, an accessory mount, and a logo on the motor. Everthing else is stock Arri, and works just like a stock IIC. I don't know if the IIIC is the same way, but I think there is a good chance it is. If you have trouble finding a manual specific to that camera I would suggest getting an Arri IIIC manual (which should be easy to find). Good luck.

More amp hours = more run time. Amp hours are some equation of how many volts the battery can run at over a certain period of hours. Get a BIG battery, the biggest you can find. Driving a motor with a 400' film load is a lot bigger job than spinning a DV tape. Also, these are not lith-ion batteries like camcorders. So get a big one if you plan on running the camera for more than 1 or 2 mags at a time. My kit is 2 of the biggest 12V Bescors and one little one (so I can finish what I am doing when the two big ones cash out). Also, when you get one, be sure to include time to charge. Most of these take 16 - 20 hours to get a full charge.

Watch out, the Optars have a shorter b-mount than most Arri lenses. A lot of adapters don't fit on them. If you buy them from ebay make sure you can return them if they don't fit.

Stephen, tried to PM you, but I'm not sure it went through. I'm on a real POS computer today. Let me know if you got it.

I second everyone above, unless you get some gyro equipment don't expect much. Most of the vibration isn't from the air so the size of the plane etc doesn't matter. It's the way the motors shake. I rented a big DXC 35w and tried taking it up in a Robins R22 helicopter, and it was a complete failure. First the camera hardly fit inside the TINY canopy without hitting the pilot in the shoulder (and that was the arm that was holding the control stick). The front was sticking out into the stream of air rushing by and was badly buffeted, the longer Fujinon zoom was shakey as all hell, and I couldn't get an eye to the finder when the camera was in position to frame out the landing skids. I ended up landing getting a PDX-10 with an image stabilizer and wide angle adapter and going back up. I shot 60i and slowed everything in post (through speed adjustment and deinterlace). This saoked up a lot of the vibration. The client was pretty happy with the footage, but I felt like a jack-ass for renting the big camera. Bottom line, if I had climbed into the Helicopter before we started I would have had a much better idea what I needed. If I could do it over... I would have climbed in with my camera to see how evrything fit. I would have looked at the angle I needed to frame around the landing skids. Also wider lensing at a lower altitude works better and slow motion helps minimize the shake. Straight forward shots and side shots were no problem in a helicopter with no doors, bit I don't know about a plane - that sounds really difficult to me.

When I have seen this term used it usually refers to a non-cine type of lens like a Nikkor or Leica that has been put into a new housing with proper marking and mechanics for cinematography use. Often a BNCR or PL mount is added and integrated iris and focus gears are installed. Sometimes it refers to a older cine lens that has been updated with the same stuff. Don't think of it like a rebuilt engine (something that is worn-out and needs repair), rather think of the rebuild referring to modification. I have a rebuilt set of Cooke Speed Panchros and some Samcine Nikons. They look like they were made with new lenses.

I use big Bescor lead blocks. They are about $88 - $104 from B&H. They are heavy as hell, but cheap and come with a charger. You will probably need a cig to 4 pin XLR adapter. 1 battery usually runs 3 400' loads in my camera (if it isn't cold). You can use these batteries for a variety of other things too (lights, audio, and making the campfire turn really neat colors).

I'm a big fan of Beaulieu and Nikon. For the Beaulieu, you can get some really sweet industrial c-mount lenses (like Schneiders) in wild focal lengths and brand new for not too much $. You can also get high speed glass for low light. Plus is has some advanced features like zoom speed adjustment and crys sync. that the others don't. The 5008 seems to have less electronic stuff to break than the 6008 and 7008. The Nikon R8 and R10 seems to have great glass and a very steady frame. If you get interested in a nice Beaulieu 5008 the was new when I got it, PM me. I have a very nice one with a new battery system from DuAll that I'm going to sell next month. It has the Schneider Optivarion with motor (perfect in every way), dummy battery system, spare dummy battery, hood and case. I even have the German manual somewhere.

The Zeiss 10mm Distagon is the sharpest/widest I have seen. I wouldn't use the Peleng for anything serious, it has pretty low res. when tested against any cine lenses and serious chromatic problems toward the edges on a 35mm frame (It's okay, but not what I would call high-end). Visual Products used to have a Zeiss 10mm for sale.

I just Jorge at Cinematechnic tune up my Zeiss and Optar primes, and he had some interesting insights. Before I get into that though, Cinematechnic provided great service. Jorge does great work at fair prices and turn-around is FAST. Plus, he explains everything in miniscule detail - I learned a lot from just talking to him on the phone. Anyway, he was able to project some my Optars against a set of MK2 Zeiss S16 primes, and said they compared very well - losing in contrast (by comparison) below f2.0. The rest of the range compared quite well. He was careful to qualify that it was not a comprehensive test of one lens against another (as there are many qualities to evaluate and a projector doesn't cover all of them), but that the Optars are very, very close to the Zeiss MK2 lenses. I've always heard this, but it was nice to hear it from someone who knows a great deal more than I do. I also have a couple of MK1 Zeiss primes in my set. Jorge told me they have very good glass, but they are harder to use mechanically than the newer lenses (the smaller barrels spin faster, they are not marked as well for an AC, and they have very fine threading for the focus). This can lead to problems if you hang things off the front of the lens (like matte boxes and a couple of filters). In general, he seemed to think they were very good lenses if used carefully. I can tell you from using them with my Optars that they cut together very well. Finally someone mentioned using Nikkors. I've done this a pretty good bit, and in my experience they are really good in the telephoto - super telephoto area, okay at normal perspective, and pretty bad at wide angle.

Matt, I'm reasonably certain the space you need is 2mm, but you should check with a technician to be sure. There are a few techs on this forum, who seem to be very helpful folks I think Nathan M. is one. These guys would be a better source of this info than myself. By left I mean if you open the camera and look from the film compartment through the lens, the area will be on the left. Or if take the gate out and you look at it from the polished side that touches the film (and the side where the shutter is pointing away from you), then the area will be on the left. The more I talk about this the less sense it makes. I think NCS has some info. on their self-install s16 gate on their website. That gate is pretty cheap and they give you a discount for you old regular 16 gate.

Yep, I've got one of 'em. I've gotten to know it pretty well over the years. It has a lot of little quirks and idiosyncrasies, but I am a serious fan. I sold an Arri S and an then an SR1 before I settled on the NPR. I think it's one of the best things going for under $10000. I use it from time to time to back up some very nice new cameras (like the XTR Prod and SR3A) and it never dissappoints. GET A MANUAL AND READ IT. I'd say this applies to any camera - but there are certain circumstances where you can actually damage your camera if you don't follow the processes correctly. SO, don't forget to read first. If you have any questions email me, there is a good chance that I can help you if you have a problem. Enjoy the NPR.

Seems like I read that the ACL 1 had a finder that wasn't as good as the 1.5 or 2 and I don't think it came with anything near 75fps (from the factory) both of these problems can probably be fixed with adding later parts from an ACL 1.5 or 2. I also think I might have read that the ACL 1 was initially designed for the 200' load only, so it has a little harder time with the 400' load (as far as torque on the factory motor), even though the mags fit fine. I think that there are a few web sites dedicated entiredly to the ACL so I'd check google as well as the archives here. I like the overall weight and size of the NPR as well as the quick shutter adjustment as well as the purity of the camera. It behaves and has to be treated like a 35mm in my opinion (as far as tripods, and accessories are concerned). Mike's posting was very insightful. You do give up 75fps, which is a very nice and fast top speed for the ACL. However, you get everything for under $2000. I also see a lot of folks who like the CP-16R on this forum, but I have never used one personally.

Optar 8mm is the best in your range. Elite 7mm is great too, but cost as much as a car.

I have an older S3 Cooke lens (18mm) that came with a camera I bought. It is in astioundingly good condition escept a tiny hairy spot that looks like fungus on one of the smaller back elements. I'd really like to get the lens cleaned and serviced and see if it is still useable. However, it seems most lens service companies don't want anything with fungus to get near their service area (which is totally understandable). However, bad things have to happen to good lenses from time to time - does anyone deal with this problem? I've isolated this lens in an airtight container (to protect my other lenses), but should I just trash it? I hate to throw out suck a great old lens, but don't want spores getting around my cameras or other lenses. Any advice would be appreciated.

Uh yeah... I really don't know what you mean. A decent finder, a centered lens, and a proper camera are just as important for a b-camera as an a-camera. If you have money and film to waste, or you are just learning the ropes, fine. Don't expect to do much of anything high end though. I seriously doubt any professional would go out with a not TTL camera on a job that mattered. I know I wouldn't. I return to my point, which is that this camera is just a bad one to modify. No more or less. If you going to mod a cheap camera, at least do it with one like a K3 or a Bolex so you can get a few accessories, maybe a decent lens or two, possibly get the camera service, and maybe be able to sell it when you outgrow it.

I have to disagree, recentering the lens mount has nothing to do with viewing from the camera. It places the center of the glass into the center of the new frame. The 2mm that is added to the gate is split and the mount moved 1mm the recenter the lens (if I remember correctly). I guess you could get by without it, but why go through the S16 conversion if you are going to have an off-center lens and no finder?