Aapo Lettinen
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Everything posted by Aapo Lettinen
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A friend asked me to make a simple and relatively affordable crystal motor for Arri2c so I am starting designing one in late April and would ship in late July 2026. It will be a simple motor based on my 4-speed crystal motors, no shutter parking but has a flat bottom with tripod threads and I am investigating if I can attach 15mm rod mounts to it. Works with 14.8v vlock batteries via dtap cable. It is already possible to order them, price is 1000 euros including vat for EU sales / 1000usd for outside EU 0% vat. (I am working on A-minima and NPR projects from 16th March until 2nd April and may not answer during that time but before or after is fine. I am starting working fully on the project in late April and all orders needs to be in before June for the first batch so that I can order cnc machining in time. I can make a second batch sometime later but they would be more expensive.)
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I am continuing the 20-speed Arri16S motor project later this year. price point is set to 1600 euros, they are possible to order and I will start fully working on the motors once the ACL2025 motor project is finished in Summer.
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I have possibility to assemble "intermediate batch" of 100ft magazines in May2026. they would be 2800usd a piece with shipping and need to be paid 30% before 15th March and the rest before 15th April. The mags from the intermediate batch are not fine tuned individually with a camera so they would need maybe around 30minutes of work with your camera to work perfectly. This is pretty easy to do, I just don't have possibility to test the intermediate batch ones with camera body so the tuning needs to be done by the customer. The Summer2026 magazines will be between 3000usd and 3200usd a piece depending on how early they are paid for and would ship between June and August depending on machining and assembly schedules. Payment would be in two parts, with 30% in April-May2026 and the rest before 15th June. The Summer batch ones would be tuned here with a camera as it would be large enough batch for me to rent a camera body for one day for the fine tuning.
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just spent the whole day redesigning my A-minima 100ft magazine. Suddenly figured out how to make it 30% smaller and easier to load at the same time. Feeling so absurd returning here to the 'theoretical-level' conversation aften working physically with film mechanics the whole day. Just like, go grab a camera and run outside to film something! The "If I would have a IMAX camera" conversations don't really help getting anything done, they are surely entertaining but nothing ever happens if wasting electricity speculating theoretical cameras here š -
Ordering deadline for the rest of the orders this Spring is 15th March. So orders for products which will be delivered between April and June. On 16th I will finally start building the large NPR motor batch, assembling A-minima magazines and other stuff so will likely stop reading messages for about 2 weeks to concentrate fully on assembling work, between 16th March and 1st April. In early April I will continue normally, taking further orders for Summer2026 batches and the 2nd batch of A-minima magazines and some NPR and Bolex motor models. Price increaces on most products will apply from 16th March onwards. Typically something like 20% increase is expected on most products. Looks like I will still keep USD pricing in April but will calculate new higher prices to counter inflation and the Trump wars which affect parts prices.
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Ordering deadline for the rest of the orders this Spring is 15th March. So orders for products which will be delivered between April and June. On 16th I will finally start building the large NPR motor batch, assembling A-minima magazines and other stuff so will likely stop reading messages for about 2 weeks to concentrate fully on assembling work, between 16th March and 1st April. In early April I will continue normally, taking further orders for Summer2026 batches and the 2nd batch of A-minima magazines and some NPR and Bolex motor models. Price increaces on most products will apply from 16th March onwards. Typically something like 20% increase is expected on most products. Looks like I will still keep USD pricing in April but will calculate new higher prices to counter inflation and the Trump wars which affect parts prices.
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ALCS cp16r 45-speed crystal electronics
Aapo Lettinen replied to Aapo Lettinen's topic in Cinema Products
There is possibility to still deliver some CP16R 45-speed kits if ordering them before 15th March deadline because I have been so busy that I will delay selling my test camera to May. Price for 45-speed kit ordered in March is 950usd including shipping. I will start to concentrate on assembling NPR motors and A-minima mags from 16th March onwards for about 2 weeks and likely won't read messages during that time. -
Ordering deadline for the rest of the orders this Spring is 15th March. So orders for products which will be delivered between April and June. On 16th I will finally start building the large NPR motor batch, assembling A-minima magazines and other stuff so will likely stop reading messages for about 2 weeks to concentrate fully on assembling work, between 16th March and 1st April. In early April I will continue normally, taking further orders for Summer2026 batches and the 2nd batch of A-minima magazines and some NPR and Bolex motor models. Price increaces on most products will apply from 16th March onwards. Typically something like 20% increase is expected on most products. Looks like I will still keep USD pricing in April but will calculate new higher prices to counter inflation and the Trump wars which affect parts prices.
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new ALCS compact crystal motor for Eclair NPR
Aapo Lettinen replied to Aapo Lettinen's topic in Eclair
Ordering deadline for the rest of the orders this Spring is 15th March. So orders for products which will be delivered between April and June. On 16th I will finally start building the large NPR motor batch, assembling A-minima magazines and other stuff so will likely stop reading messages for about 2 weeks to concentrate fully on assembling work, between 16th March and 1st April. In early April I will continue normally, taking further orders for Summer2026 batches and the 2nd batch of A-minima magazines and some NPR and Bolex motor models. Price increaces on most products will apply from 16th March onwards. Typically something like 20% increase is expected on most products. Looks like I will still keep USD pricing in April but will calculate new higher prices to counter inflation and the Trump wars which affect parts prices. -
ALCS affordable 4-speed crystal motor for Eclair NPR
Aapo Lettinen replied to Aapo Lettinen's topic in Eclair
Ordering deadline for the rest of the orders this Spring is 15th March. So orders for products which will be delivered between April and June. On 16th I will finally start building the large NPR motor batch, assembling A-minima magazines and other stuff so will likely stop reading messages for about 2 weeks to concentrate fully on assembling work, between 16th March and 1st April. In early April I will continue normally, taking further orders for Summer2026 batches and the 2nd batch of A-minima magazines and some NPR and Bolex motor models. Price increaces on most products will apply from 16th March onwards. Typically something like 20% increase is expected on most products. Looks like I will still keep USD pricing in April but will calculate new higher prices to counter inflation and the Trump wars which affect parts prices. -
Ordering for the 1st batch of A-minima magazines is already closed, I am ordering cnc parts right now. It is possible to order from 2nd batch already but the price is higher and they will be delivered somewhere around July - August 2026. On 16th March I will finally start building the large NPR motor batch, assembling 1st batch of A-minima magazines and other stuff so will likely stop reading messages for about 2 weeks to concentrate fully on assembling work, between 16th March and 1st April. In early April I will continue normally, taking further orders for Summer2026 batches and the 2nd batch of A-minima magazines and some NPR and Bolex motor models. Price increaces on most products will apply from 16th March onwards. Typically something like 20% increase is expected on most products. Looks like I will still keep USD pricing in April but will calculate new higher prices to counter inflation and the Trump wars which affect parts prices. the price for the 2nd batch of A-minima magazines will likely be around 3200 usd for one magazine, 5000 for two.
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Ordering deadline for the rest of the orders this Spring is 15th March. So orders for products which will be delivered between April and June. On 16th I will finally start building the large NPR motor batch, assembling A-minima magazines and other stuff so will likely stop reading messages for about 2 weeks to concentrate fully on assembling work, between 16th March and 1st April. In early April I will continue normally, taking further orders for Summer2026 batches and the 2nd batch of A-minima magazines and some NPR and Bolex motor models. Price increaces on most products will apply from 16th March onwards. Typically something like 20% increase is expected on most products. Looks like I will still keep USD pricing in April but will calculate new higher prices to counter inflation and the Trump wars which affect parts prices.
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The future of my crystal sync projects
Aapo Lettinen replied to Aapo Lettinen's topic in General Discussion
Ordering deadline for the rest of the orders this Spring is 15th March. So orders for products which will be delivered between April and June. On 16th I will finally start building the large NPR motor batch, assembling A-minima magazines and other stuff so will likely stop reading messages for about 2 weeks to concentrate fully on assembling work, between 16th March and 1st April. In early April I will continue normally, taking further orders for Summer2026 batches and the 2nd batch of A-minima magazines and some NPR and Bolex motor models. Price increaces on most products will apply from 16th March onwards. Typically something like 20% increase is expected on most products. Looks like I will still keep USD pricing in April but will calculate new higher prices to counter inflation and the Trump wars which affect parts prices. -
Screenshot of some old test I shot in 2009. Zeiss 16mm T1.3 Mk3 on Arri SR3HS, the lens is stopped down to maybe T4/T5.6 split if I remember correctly, at least two stops in any case. This kind of tighter shots are optimal for S16 by my opinion and can be nicely shot handheld with slight wide angle like I did this test
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no, the idea is to use normal or slight wide angle lens and shoot physically up close to the subjects, typically from 2ft to 5ft distance. Opening aperture to get background blurred nicely if needed. Typically something like T2 to T2.8 aperture optimally. Anything smaller than T4 on s16 starts to lose the effect considerably. One usually needs to use primes to get them stopped down at least one stop to get nice linear projection without too much aberrations and disturbing edge falloff and softness. Zooms are also typically physically longer which affects the parallax and makes intimate handheld operating more difficult. Short primes are optimal. If one has heavy wide angle lens one distorts the face too much (kind of stretching their nose towards camera etc) and if using tele lens one needs to back off too much making everything very tele-shot-like "observation pov instead of being inside the zone of action with the characters" . It is kind of about entering the "personal space" of the subjects with the camera instead of backing down to the horizon and then zooming in to get tight framing. If the movie has not use for intimate closeup shots really observing the inner world of the subjects then it is better to shoot on another format I think.
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16mm is excellent for narrative work with tons of closeups and mcus. Does not necessarily need to be documentary-style but generally speaking the format starts to work really well when one shoots closer than medium shots. Generally speaking I would say it is the perfect closeup shooting format on most situations. One can shoot with something like from 16 to 25mm lens if it is fast enough and still blur the background nicely if needed. On wide shots I would use 35mm if possible, if planning cleverly one could shoot some wide shots of a dialogue scene on MOS camera on 35mm and then cut to low grain S16 footage on closeups where the characters are actually talking. This does not cost that much even, it is enough to have one roll of 35mm 4perf and the rest can be S16 material. I like to shoot 50D on 16mm if possible and a bit tighter shots and faster lenses than on 35mm. Mainly can shoot documentary stuff but in April-May will have some narrative projects on N16 npr and cp16r, at least one of them on 50D and will probably mix 35mm shot on Konvas to some scenes
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Not sure which "30 second limit" you are talking about, the camera has a crystal sync motor and can shoot the whole roll at once
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I think music directly translates to light and movement. Contrast and dynamic. Music kind of IS cinematography but in different medium. Depends on the style of music of course but still. If composing soundtrack and then translating it to cinematography one can also avoid some pitfalls of typical cinematography cliches. And the underlying themes and dark and bright overtones are kind of crystallized which will absolutely make the movie better
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at the moment I kind of feel that music is "more cinematography than cinematography" in a sense... instead of making moodboards or such for a movie I think that it is more useful to make a soundtrack for the movie first and then shoot the actual movie. This might be a good way to gain funding too because it is much cheaper to make indie music than to arrange test shoots and demos and teasers to seek funding. Using AI is of course cheap if making moodreels etc. But if not wanting to resort to AI garbage then it could be a good way to make couple of soundtrack songs and make a reel out of them using concept art. I have this crazy idea of making short films this year so that I would both shoot the film AND compose the soundtrack. One of the benefits is that it is much easier to negotiate with musical themes with the director than on specific cinematography stuff which easily goes so technical that the actual storytelling aspect is lost. On music one can immediately catch everything
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Yes absolutely, digital cameras work best if being purchased for certain carefully planned couple of projects and after that sold before they drop value too much. You have to have some kind of digital camera which is multi purpose and mainly used for stills but which can shoot video if has to. It is mainly used for promo photos and making of videos if on a film shoot. But if something horrible happens to the film camera one can still finish the shoot with that mirrorless makingof camera. I use gh5s with kit lens for this at the moment, it is cheap enough so that others can borrow it to shoot makingof and I can concentrate on the film camera. Audio gear does not expire like video technology. One can buy recorders and mics and they are still valid 20 years from now. I only buy more audio gear if needing different type of mic or extra mics. Upgraded to F6 recorder from the old H6 to get more sturdy body and timecode and npf battery option, sold the 12 years old H6 as it still worked fine. All my from 10 to 20 years old mics work fine, just bought some different type ones for music projects. I have used sennheiser and audio technica mics from the 80's on projects and nothing wrong with them and work find with modern recorders
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Final music sample for now. Unconventional instruments again and as before, every instrument real and self played. Yes I am recording these digitally, at the moment with Zoom Livetrack L12, one instrument at a time and then mixing with computer. And microphones on this one were all small diagram condensers and not tube or ribbon mics! If comparing to the film world I guess it would be counted as movie shot on film but finished and projected digitally š Did not make a video when recording this but people would call me mad doing some of the stuff, like that screaming self made instrument sounding like broken glass or dying animal, and playing baritone guitar with violin bow like that š To get a really interesting result one has to ignore the "rules" at times of "how it is allowed to make music and how not". Reminding that it took around 2 hours to record this so it is not about it taking too long or anything if wanting to use real instruments. Synth use is just laziness š
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Thanks! have not listened to Preisner but I am kind of a Gustavo Santaolalla fan which sometimes can be heard from the use of very bright guitar style instruments. Will definitely sometime travel to Bolivia to pick up a very good quality ronroco, they don't sell them here but the sound is just lovely! Basic ukulele style instruments work for my stuff pretty well at the moment when not having super special exotic stuff available š Here is the latest from the same soundtrack, again very different style than the previous ones but the same thematic story continues especially by the flute. playing unconvetional instruments with violin bow etc which is pretty heretic to some musicians š
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Maybe I continue posting music samples because Acoustic Instruments vs. Synthetised Instruments is the same debate than Film vs. Digital. I feel it is very difficult to get synth instruments to resonate with the soul on the same level. It is subconscious thing like the analog image resonating differently
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and making some music for old short film projects too. small sample from today. will mix the more complex ones probably in Summer when the birds are singing too loudly that one could record anything. Maybe this kind of stuff is not everyone's cup of tea but I think one can at least hear what I am talking about when comparing making something for real instead of just checking internet for references and then trying to get some stupid AI "compose" something you kind of like. Playing every single note by yourself is just entirely different universe, I think one can catch something real that way instead of the endless mirages the pop culture and internet drown us in. Especially people need to shut up about "not being good enough to make something by themselves" because that is total bs and just leads to the whole human culture being reduced to nothingness
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I would totally expect Fomapan to have tolerances all over the place as even my projector sounds different with it and it had lower stability on our ACL shoot. but it is surprising Kodak messes up with negative stock. They do know better and have no need to cut corners because they set the pricing by being the market leader. The balance is important yes and it can be surprisingly small details at times which do matter a lot. For example on the 10-speed motor I installed on a forum member's K3 there was a tiny invisible soldering joint issue on one small 1206 resistor on the mainboard. The -12CĀ° weather I exposed the camera to revealed the issue, the resistor shrunk maybe like one tenth of thousand of a millimeter and temporarily lost connection and the motor started behaving weirdly. I solder these really carefully and manually inspect every joint like 20 times but this was totally invisible microscopic fault which was only exposed by the huge temperature change. If it cannot be detected it cannot be repaired. People get annoyed when it takes so long for me to get stuff built and shipped but it is partially this why it takes so long. Every freaking small detail needs to be manually checked a million times if you want the device to be reliable. Otherwise it would be just like that Ursa Mini G2 which I have talked about many times, the one which came to the set in factory package totally new and did not even turn on and had to be sent immediately back. They did not even bother to check that the camera would turn on before shipping it to the customer.
