Tim Carroll

Hey Karl, I missed that. Like I said, been preoccupied other places for the last twelve months or so. That's a real bummer. So now there's only the old 500T and 50D Vision 2 stock, the 200T, 250D, and 500T Vision 3 stock, and Double X, that's it. Wow, getting to be pretty slim pickin's. All that footage of the young woman with the cell phone was Vision 2 100T (with an 85). That was great stock. Best, -Tim

Hi Will, Why post them to Vimeo? Not sure the reasoning there. Best, -Tim

Hey Karl, I'm not worried about Kodak discontinuing 16mm film production. Though I am worried that they will continue to discontinue certain stocks like they did with 7231/5231 last year. That hurt. What I'm trying to point out on this thread is that 16mm never ceases to amaze me. Years ago when I shot my first Bolex footage with a Vario-Switar/EBM package I picked up for $200, I was amazed at the image quality compared with my new (at that time) Canon XL1s with the "best" lens available for it at the time, the Canon 14X manual focus zoom. The Canon package ran something like $4500 or something like that, but the little $200 Bolex/Switar package blew it away on image quality. Still amazing what these old lenses and cameras are capable of. I just find it exciting. Probably because I'm weird. ;) Best, -Tim

One thing to keep in mind, this is all Regular 16 footage, not Super 16 footage. And the last footage, the stuff with the young lady talking on the phone and walking around, was shot Regular 16, transferred best light with a Spirit, to anamorphic miniDV. So that wasn't an HD transfer, wasn't transferred to hard drive, and just put on miniDV tape. And it was all shot with cheapy little Schneider lenses, and that one Zeiss 8mm. I just think we've all kind of written off 16mm, especially Regular 16, and maybe we might want to give it a second look. I know I sure do. Again, a best light to miniDV transfer is not that outlandishly expensive. Best, -Tim

Most of the 50mm lenses in Arri Standard mount will cover 35mm. I know the Schneider 50 does, the Cooke Kinetal 50 does, and the one Zeiss I've seen does, don't remember if it was the Sonnar f1.5 though. Best, -Tim

It's no secret that for years I pushed film, especially with the Arriflex 16S cameras. I've been away from it for a while, shooting still photography and working with digital video in the GH-1 realm, trying to mate cine lenses with inexpensive digital cameras. Yesterday I ran across a bunch of old test clips that I'd shot years ago with an Arriflex 16S and some "cheap" lenses, an old Schneider 16mm, and 25mm, one of those old Zeiss 8mm lenses that I always thought was sub-par, and an old Angenieux 12-120 zoom. And I took all the clips in their most raw form (some were from miniDV tape transfers, some from hard drive transfers) and converted them all to ProRes HQ at 23.98 fps. Threw them into Final Cut and strung them together, then output them in AVHCD and .mp4 to view on my Sony Bravia 32" flatscreen. And I was amazed at how good they looked. So I compressed them (which definitely degraded the image) and put them up on the web site. You can view the long (19MB) clip below: How 16mm holds up Again, these were just test shots, and the hand held camera work is awful (probably had way too much caffeine that day) but the image quality is much better than I remembered. Everything was shot 16:9 with a taped off ground glass. The church stuff was an attempt to create a dark/spooky religious environment. The train, flags and pan street shots were a lens test for the 8mm, 16mm, and 25mm respectively. And the end stuff of the young lady walking around, talking on the phone, was a test of the 8mm lens and was a miniDV transfer (which looked really good on the 32" flatscreen). All of this was Regular 16, with cheap lenses. Makes me rethink shooting a project in 16mm, especially with the prices of 16mm gear at an all time low. Just thought I'd share. Best, -Tim

Lenses are on their way to their new home. Thanks for everyone's interest. Hope this set of fifty year old lenses continue making beautiful images for another fifty years, at least. Best, -Tim

It looks like the lens set is sold. Waiting for a check. If something changes, I will post it here. The selling price was the $3500 I was asking. As much as I appreciate the offers (currently up to $4200), I made a deal with the first individual who offered $3500, and I am not going to back out on that deal. If he decides he doesn't want the lens set, then I will post here. Best, -Tim

It's incredible how quickly these disappear once you've used the camera for a little bit. When I first got a IIC I was like, "How the heck is this gonna work!" One 400ft roll of film later, I wasn't even noticing them anymore. You look through them. Best, -Tim

The lenses go up on eBay tomorrow night. Here's a short test clip I shot with the lenses on a film camera: Cooke Speed Panchro Test Hunter Richards shot with this lens set and the Les Bosher PL adapter on a RED One last summer and was really happy with the results. He was supposed to send me clips but somehow that didn't end up happening. I have also used them with the Panasonic M4/3 cameras (GH1, GH2, soon to be available AF100) and they create that beautiful shallow depth of field as in this clip: GH-1 clip Best, -Tim

SOLD!

For Sale a set of the famous Cooke Speed Panchro Series II and Series III prime lenses, used by the likes of Kubrick, Cassavetes and many others. All these lenses are in original ARRI Standard mount and the set comes with the Les Bosher "ARRI Standard (Cooke) to PL mount adapter" so the lenses can be used on cameras with ARRI Standard Mount, ARRI Bayonet Mount and ARRI PL Mount. I've used these lenses with an Arriflex 35 IIC, and with the PL mount adapter, a Hot Rod PL Deluxe, and the Panasonic GH-1. A friend has used them with the PL mount adapter on a RED ONE camera. They make beautiful images. All five of these lenses received a CLA from Guy Genin at ZGC and are ready to go. The set includes: The Cooke Speed Panchro Series III 18mm lens (serial number 688XXX) with original Taylor Hobson Cooke front lens cap and Arriflex rear lens cap. The Cooke Speed Panchro Series III 25mm lens (serial number 740XXX) with original Taylor Hobson Cooke front lens cap and Arriflex rear lens cap. The Cooke Speed Panchro Series II 32mm lens (serial number 629XXX) with original Taylor Hobson Cooke front lens cap and Arriflex rear lens cap. The Cooke Speed Panchro Series II 50mm lens (serial number 687XXX) with original Taylor Hobson Cooke front lens cap and Arriflex rear lens cap. The Cooke Speed Panchro Series II 75mm lens (serial number 753XXX) with front lens cap and ARRI rear lens cap. The Les Bosher ARRI Standard (Cooke) to PL mount adapter. You can see many more detailed pictures on my web site at the address below: Cooke Speed Panchro Set This set will go up on the evil auction site Sunday night, January 30th. If anyone from Cinematography.com would be interested in purchasing them before they go on auction, please contact me. Best, -Tim

Used six times, always in the studio, absolutely mint condition. Comes in its original box, with PL mount, Support System, and Handles, Instruction Manual, and even the Sticker. Works with the Panasonic GH1, GH2 and other Micro 4/3 cameras. I believe the PL mount also works on the new Panasonic AG-AF100. Hot Rod PL Deluxe Best, -Tim

Hey Joe, I see you sold it, congratulations. Tough market right now. Best, -Tim

Hi Raul, I'd talk to this guy: Shelton Communications He's in Texas, he used to have a bunch of those, tried to sell them to me a number of years ago, may still have them. You might also want to talk to TCS in New York: TCS in New York They used to sell them years ago also. Their web site is now "under construction" but you can get the phone number off that link and call them. Best, -Tim

Mike, Axel won't charge you thousands to look the camera over and tell you what you have. If it's in seriously bad shape, it might be as much as a couple thousand to have it put back to factory fresh, but I would have him look at it and tell you the situation. Best, -Tim

Hi Mike, I'm not an expert, but have worked on those cameras. From the picture it looks like you have a stock factory ARRI IIC Techniscope gate in the camera. The factory Techniscope gate is Academy centered, as most the the 2-Perf/Techniscope cameras were from that period. So the centerline of the gate is Academy, not Super. The ground glass in the pictures is not the Techniscope ground glass I am used to seeing with the IIC. Which brings up the question, what camera is that? How is it marked and identified? Is it a camera someone converted sometime over the years? And how was the conversion done? Is it truly 2-Perf or just a IIC into which someone inserted a Techniscope gate? I've talked with Axel Broda about Techniscope conversions to standard Arriflex IIC cameras, and that is not an easy conversion. It requires very precise machining to the original camera and then very precise reassembly and adjustment with the new parts. Axel is one of the few technicians I would trust with that operation. And one other question, is there an adjustable shutter on that camera? I would consider sending that camera to Axel, he could sort it out for you. Best, -Tim

Yes, but it's not a good way to contact him. Best to call him on the phone number listed above. Best, -Tim

Best, -Tim

Jonathan, Been watching him sell off his rental inventory for the last six months now. Thought he was getting out of the rental business so he could concentrate on his video tap and camera accessory end of the business. I wonder if he is closing that down too. Best, -Tim

Karl, You misunderstood my post. I wasn't recommending or suggesting new lenses for 8mm. I was pointing out that it doesn't make sense to convert 16mm cameras to 8mm if there aren't readily available (read "inexpensive") lenses to use with the converted cameras. I'm a mechanical engineer with over thirty five years experience in precision machining and prototype work, I can make a mechanical motion picture camera in any configuration you can dream of if you have the cash. Converting any 16mm camera to shoot Regular 8, Double 8 or DS8 is not a problem, but why do it is there aren't good lenses available to make the converted camera useful. Just my 2¢ worth. Best, -Tim

Morning Hal, I had to laugh, just spent the last hour reading through this whole thread with the idea of maybe modifying a few old Arriflex 16S cameras to use with some of John Schwind's 100 ft rolls of R8 in a DS8 fashion. Was wondering what a fellow engineers thoughts were on this. And now I know. Had not considered the Arriflex 16SR. Might be a possibility. My own concerns on this are in the area of lenses. Everyone immediately thinks of availability of wide angle lenses, which I know is a concern. But my concerns lie more along the issues of lens sharpness and contrast. The smaller the format, the larger the "blowup" when going to a presentation format, and in my experience, as you get smaller, you want sharper and slightly higher contrast lenses (to increase the perceived sharpness) and aside from the 5mm Switar, I'm not sure what "readily available" wide angle lens is going to give acceptable results for 8mm. Plus the medium and telephoto end of things, I would think you'd want them all to be extra sharp and a little higher contrast than the lenses used for 16mm and 35mm. The other big issue would be that the FFD for C-mount lenses is 17.52mm, where the ARRI standard/bayonet/PL mount is 52mm. So you would have to sink the C-mount 34.48mm into the camera, which might cause some clearance problems with the mirror. Something to think about though. Best, -Tim

Hi Rob, Here's a picture of an Italian Door that Gregory Paul (of these forums) was selling a few weeks ago on eBay. As far as the FFD issue that Dom brought up, it would be best if you had a flange focal distance gauge to check the FFD and flatness of your new mount, and then a calibrated test lens (one that overstrokes past infinity) to check your ground glass, those are what we use when we service the cameras. And finally the black paint issue, that's a tough one. You're right, you definitely don't want any paint flaking off on the inside of the mount face, that could cause real problems. Maybe anodizing would be good, just be aware that it might add thickness to the part of the aluminum plate that seats against the camera body, thereby increasing your FFD. Just stuff to keep in mind. Best, -Tim

Rob, I'm a little confused. Do you mean "would there be a clearer view using an Arri 2C door?" If that is indeed your question, my answer would be "maybe". I love the Arriflex IIB and IIC cameras, but the one issue I had with my IIC was difficulty focusing. It used to drive me crazy when I was focusing the camera, I had to have my eye directly centered in the eyepiece or the image would slightly shimmer, which made critical focus really tough. I finally talked with a couple of "old time" camera operators about this and they confirmed that it was a known issue with those cameras. Something to do with the optics and the way the ground glass and viewfinder optics worked with each other. I think that's one of the reasons the "Italian Door" came along, it supposedly made the focusing easier. I even tried one of the Jurgen's doors on my IIC, but it did not resolve the issue. The IIC door might be brighter than the IIB door, but the "shimmering" issue is still there. Best, -Tim

Rob, Okay, so you sunk the mount in 5.5mm, I see. Did you have any clearance problems with the mirror? That's an area I would be concerned about since the nikon mount is a larger in diameter than the ARRI standard/bayonet mount that the camera came with, and you're sinking it into the camera 5.5mm. Is the mount centered for the Academy gate or the Full Frame (Silent) gate? That's very cool. Best, -Tim PS: Looking at your photos, it looks like your Arriflex 35 IIB is in remarkably good shape.