Tom Hepburn

I have an Eclair ACL. I also copied this from a manual: "Should the operating speed of the motor fall below the working level, then a warning light on the side will come on indicating loss of synchronisation. This condition applies if the output power of the battery is low." Tom

I wanted to also point out that once you get a few roles of Black and White under your belt (should you choose to go in that direction), there are really nice and unique looks that you can achieve with a Red, Orange, or Yellow filter and Black and White stock. I always found the grain in double-x to be a little much for my taste, but you may like it. Orwo may have a version of Plus-x (my fav B&W). Tom

Hi Gautam, I've always used orange stick to keep the gate clean then compressed air with the can held absolutely level. The sticks won't scratch anything and work well, particularly on build up in the gate. Love black and white film and really miss 7231. Good luck, Tom

a bit OT here, but Kip, do you have any frames you could share of that stock?

Hi Francis, "switchable between regular and super 16" You wouldn't even need a regular mag if the ones you have are S16. If you want R16 you would shoot for that by looking through the ground glass (if 4:3 R16 marks are there). Otherwise you could just scan/transfer the S16 and crop it when you edit. Tom

Hey Christopher, As Will mentioned, I printed one out myself. I glued it to the back on my clapboard. Where it helps me is when I'm filming a person and I want there face to in crisp focus and I don't feel completely sure I'm getting it, I flip the clapboard and take advantage of the visual aid it provides for focus. Tom

Hi Alec, I'm not sure about the polyester question, but just make sure you double check the filter factor when setting your exposure. Good luck. Tom

Hi George, I have not used that film stock, but it sounds interesting. Plus X was my Fav. I would love to see some results when you get them of the UN54. I may be able to use my Black and White filters after all. This makes me a little nervous though. I didn't know this was possible and am wondering what it does to the quality of the image. "ORWO Instruction 4185 the UN 54 film can be processed as black and white reversal film and be used to produce direct positives." Thanks, Tom

"Today I timed a 100' roll at the 24 fps setting on the motor and it came out to approximately 3 minutes and 15 seconds, which is, I gather, 30 seconds longer than what 100' of film should last at 24 fps. " Hey John Paul, Welcome. How did you "time" it? Running in a projector? I'm not that familiar with that model but others here are. Tom

It'll probably be footage of the "staging" of the moon landing :D Definitely post if something comes out.

Wow, my curiosity is really beating. Probably nothing (or too old), but you never know. I love a good garage sale though- so consider the source. Tom

Is that right 10K for a conversion? Anyway, I bought some film from Fuji a few months back that was at a discount. I believe it was slightly older and I have yet to see the results. Transfer costs again, so I can't comment on the quality yet. It might be worth giving them a call. Also, I believe Kodak offers student discounts if you're a student. Good luck, Tom

I'd second the Eclair ACL II. As was mentioned though, a video tap is probably out of your budget. Also, I would make sure you service it to make sure it's working as it should. OR, see if what is being sold has documentation on when it was last serviced. One other think that affects the look is the colorist when being transferred and any post production adjustments one makes on the clips. Tom

Hi David, I've done it before, but with short shots-no longer than 10 seconds. The longer ones will drift and it is frustrating. It depends on how your feel about things being "close" as far as sync. Some people can tell and others can't. It was more of a test for me and even though I got close with it, I still opted to get a crystal sync camera when I had the money. I did it by changing the clip speed with the software. Good luck, Tom

You're right Will. I have mine (w Turret) and there is no "port" for the cable. You do in fact push the lever up for single frame exposure. Tom

I hadn't see this, but it's pretty cool. I wonder if it's motion control. Thanks for posting. Tom

What a shame. Here in Chicago (4 hours away from South Bend) it was so windy that it was literally stopping people in their tracks. They just gave up trying to move forward and instead chose to hold their ground. It was intermittent at times though. Probably seemed OK for a moment and he thought, it'll be OK. Feel bad for his family too.

Hi Jesus, I was saying it was "painful" in that it's very expensive to transfer to HD. I love the image quality, especially if it's handled by a good colorist as has been mentioned. I would shoot much more film, but that transfer cost limits how much I can shoot. If you can handle the price I would go HD as that is very soon going to be the standard, if it isn't already. Take into consideration that on the Fox NFL broadcast, they now have the 16:9 aspect ratio on a 4:3 (the older standard) television, thus cropping the 4:3. The point is as time goes on it would be nice to have your work at a higher resolution IF you can afford it. Down the road you might want to use your footage as part of your reel, which will most likely be in HD. You can reduce the resolution with decent results, but you can't increase. You mentioned viewed thru Web sites and TV's. Well TV's are HD for the most part. In terms of websites, Youtube accepts HD movies. Something to consider. In the 90's I bought a High 8 camera, which was great quality at the time, and thought I was the man. That footage is hard to look at now, quality wise. that's my take on it. Good luck, Tom

Hey Brian, I have not found that to be the case, but maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. Where do you get your stuff transferred if you don't mind my asking? Thanks, Tom

I've noticed the same thing Kirk. In my opinion I don't think the 16mm cameras will ever come back to the value they once held. I bought an ACL II for $3,500 a few years ago (no lenses). I don't even want to look on ebay. I expected a reduction in demand, but wasn't ready to see it. Still I love the look of film. It's not the film and processing as much as it is the transfer to HD.... that's what kills me. Tom btw, the ACL still runs like a top!

Hi Bill, I've got some full frames (1920 x 1080) of 7231 that I can post later if you're interested. "grainy" can be kind of subjective, but you can decide for yourself. In fact I may have a couple different stills, one done on an Arriscan and one with a spirit. Let me know if you're interested. Tom

Hey Rob, I was just reading this post and wondered how it all worked out? Tom

Hi James, Try slowing the recording down to 100.1% and then reimporting. If that doesn't work, try 99.9%. Good luck, Tom

Hi Jason, I thought the footage looked nice! Would love to know what "tricks" you used for the flickering? Did it involve Keyframes ;) Tom

"If that's the case, then it might be worth also keeping an eye out for some NPR ones if you know of someone (or a friendly jobbing engineering firm) who could pop them in a lathe to turn the outside diameter down! ;) " You know I bought what I thought was a 200 ft. platter (ebay), but it turned out to be a 400. So since I was set with platters on my 400 ft mag, I did just that Ian; I had someone grind it down using a 200 footer as a reference. BUT, it didn't work, it appeared to turn evenly, so perhaps there was a balance issue. When I used it on the take up side it jammed, but on the feed side it was fine. BTW, the aminima's worked great on mine. Tom