Tim Carroll

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.

Hi Kev, Transferring film to most digital formats is expensive, no getting around that. But you might try this method, which can probably bring your costs to less than $25,000 to $30,000. The way we've done it is to have all the film processed, and then do a one-light or best-light SD transfer of all your footage to something like mini-DV tape, "with a window burn". A window burn puts the timecode and the film key code right on the video tape. This is much cheaper than an HD transfer. You then take that video tape, ingest it into your computer's NLE and edit your film to make it look the way you envisioned. Once you have it the way you want it, then you record the key code for each section of film used in your final edit. Take that information to the transfer house and have them do a color corrected transfer of only that footage (plus handles) to HD. Many houses will put that HD material either on a hard drive or on disc, so you don't have to deal with any tape issues with the final color corrected transfer. Then you take that HD transferred material and make your final movie. If you shot your film with a five to one ratio, you end up only transferring one fifth of the total footage to HD, which saves you a ton of money. Make sense? Best, -Tim

Rob, Thanks for the pics. I apologize as I misunderstood. So you put a Nikon Mount on the front of your IIB to use for macro and closer up work, since the FFD of the Nikon glass is shorter than the FFD of the Arriflex IIB. I thought you meant that you had sunk the Nikon mount into the front of the IIB so that the Nikon mount would be at the right FFD and you could use your Nikon lenses all the way out to infinity. Still a cool conversion though. Bravo. Best, -Tim

Rob, Can you post some pictures of your Nikon hard front on the Arriflex IIB. As a camera tech and mechanical engineer, I would be really interested in seeing that. Best, -Tim

Hal, Yeah, it is an issue with the Cooke Speed Panchro 18 & 25 Serues III lenses, as well as the original Zeiss Super Speed 35mm lenses (the wide angle ones) and some of the other older 35mm wide angle cine lenses. Hunter Richards just shot some 16:9 footage with my Panchro set on a RED and he said he didn't have an issue with the 18 and 25. Don't know if he was using the Mysterium-X sensor version of the RED camera or not. I think a good idea is to Test, Test, Test. Best, -Tim

You're welcome. I also realized that the picture had been taken down, so I reposted it. Best, -Tim

Justin, To the best of my knowledge, you can't use a daylight spool on the take up side of the mag, only on the feed side. Use a regular plastic core for the take up side. Best, -Tim

If you get to the point where you split the items up, I would be interested in talking with you about this part of the package: CAMERA: One (1) Arriflex 2C GS/B Camera Body #7658 with all caps, cover plates, etc... In Excellent Condition Features 180 Degree Adjustable Shutter from a later ARRI 3C Camera New 185:1 ARRI Ground Glass New Eyepiece from a later 2C Model New gears, parts, etc... in "like new" condition mechanically *will include invoice from Mr. Broda. One (1) Arriflex "Wild" Motor for ARRI 2C (Rebuilt by Mr. Broda) One (1) Arriflex 24fps Governed Motor for ARRI 2C (Rebuilt by Mr. Broda) Two (2) Arriflex 400ft Magazines (Rebuilt by Mr. Broda) One (1) Arriflex 2C Matte Box (Shows some wear but in good condition) One (1) Arriflex 2C Transmission Plate (allows the motor to be mounted beside the camera for placement on a tripod or inside a blimp) One (1) Additional Transmission Gear (a spare) Two (2) Magazine Film Loop Protectors Best, -Tim

Michael, If it's the ARRI pistol grip sync motor, that is from the Arriflex 3C. You might want to talk to Axel Broda, he is in LA (actually Tehachapi, just outside LA) and he may be able to fix it or know who you could send it to. (661)821-6725 Best, -Tim

Thanks Vincent. So that works pretty well? Won't damage that rubberized fabric material? Best, -Tim

Been using my Harrison Changing Tent now for a few years, and it's getting stinky. Build up of sweat from humid summer days. Has anyone found a good way to wash one of these without ruining the fabric? CE recommends soaking the tent in a bucket of water, with mild dishwashing detergent. They say definitely don't put it in the washing machine. Just wondering what others may have tried and how it worked? Thanks for any and all info. Best, -Tim

Frederik, I use these by themselves: or these wired in parallel: And they both work fine running the camera with either the Arri constant speed motor pictured below: or the Arri variable speed motor pictured below: Don't really know what else I can tell you. Best, -Tim