Charles Pickel

Hi Stephen;

Came across your post from last Oct. Yes, Aaton made these core lock hubs from plastic well into the XTR era. They ALL fail in exactly the same way. They later came out with machined aluminum replacements. Some folks couldn't wait and produced their own (in my case CNC machined by master Boeing machinist). I have BOTH factory and aftermarket parts available in black-anodized machined aluminum. I do NOT have the internal parts to spare. Factory hub: $35.00 ea., after market hub: $25.00 ea.

Thanks !

Charles Pickel

seriousgear.com

Seattle

Hi Andrew,

email sent today. Looking forward..

Could anyone tell me what the deal is with the Arriflex and its lubrication? It appears that's a big diference between the choices as the Arriflexes seem to require special lube and more regular maintanence. .......

 

 

Big subject, small space to answer in !. Short story long: All motion picture cameras AND lenses should receive regular scheduled maintenance, which includes (but is not limited to) lubrication. Frequency of maint. is a matter of judgement and experience, based on how much use, and other considerations (was the gear dropped ? did you go to an ocean beach in a full gale ?).

 

If the equipment gets infrequent use (a few thousand feet every few months), it may be prudent to go several years between minor overhauls. If use is heavy and routine, like a rental camera, annual overhauls (or more) are mandatory. Idleness is no guarentee that the camera is staying in top form either. Lubricants dry out and become "waxy", moisture and condensation come and go. plolonged sealed storage can be pretty hard on cameras and lenses - great environment for mold and mildew to grow, batteries go flat. Regular, light use is better than none.

 

The job should be done by a qualified technician. Arriflex and Aaton both have factory authorized shops in New York and Burbank, CA. But, independent techs

also exist and some of them do superior work. Generally speaking, there are more trustworthy independent Arri techs than Aaton techs. Shop around, speak with owners. The best ones will give you minor maintenance pointers. Good luck.

Charles Pickel

Serious Gear Co.

Seattle

Optically, they are pretty close in performance. My experience was that the HP was especially good at the long end. Mechanically, they are very different animals and this is a big difference. While more compact, the HP is mechanically less robust than the Cooke. The sections comprising its housing can become loose and rattly with even modest use. It is also a transitional design - not a true internal focus unit. Its front may not rotate, but it does track in and out. Its focus movement is very susceptible to entry of dust and mechanical wear. Angenieux corrected this in the HR.

The Mk-II Cooke is a true "fixed volume" internal focus design, but it has one unique quirk. Its zoom group tracks in a spiral cam, and therefore rotates during zooming. Some units have a noticable rotary tracking error as a result. This is very hard to correct, but usually minor in nature. Personally, knowing how sharp and robust these lenses were in rental service, I think they are the best value in a used 35mm 10-1 bar none. It is also far less bulky than the original Mk-I Cine Varotal 10-1.

Charles www.seriousgear.com

Assuming the lenses are in the same condition... which lens is better?

 

The Cooke 25-250mm MKII T3.9 or.....

The Angenieux 25-250 T3.7 HP

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Ryan;

Eclair originally sold primes for their cameras made by Angenieux and Kinoptik.

These range down to 10mm (Ang.) and 9mm (Kinoptik), there are even C-mount versions of the 5.9mm angenieux and 5.7mm Kinoptik (which covers S16).

-Charles www.seriousgear.com

Okay, I thought I had a grasp on this but apparently I am missing something when it comes to the various Switar c-mount lenses.  To be specific this is concerning c-mount switar lenses that will work with an Eclair ACL.

 

As I understood it lenses labeled "H16 RX" will only work with a Bolex RX cameras, and any other switar c-mount lens is fair game.  I have recently come across lenses labeled "AR" which I though were safe.  However some of them that have a deeper c-mount that will not work with an ACL.     

 

So, quick and dirty like from all those possessing Bolex and Eclair knowledge I could only dream of attaining, what are the switar c-mount lenses that will work on an ACL?

 

Thanks, and to be clear I looked in the archives and elsewhere to no avail. 

 

-ryan

 

P.S. I understand that there are better and newer lenses, however I am primarily interested in filling in this c-mount knowledge gap.  Thanks again.

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Looking for either one of the following camera packages:

1 - Arri SR1 (German) w/ 2 mags, batteries and charger.

 

or

 

2 - Aaton LTR7 (above s/n C1000) w/ 2 mags, batteries and charger.

Not necessarily looking for a camera package with lens, but if the price is right I may be interested.

Alain LeTourneau

Portland, Oregon USA

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