Simon Wyss

The “Academy” camera aperture, if you want so, has the dimensions 0.864" by 0.630" as given by ISO 2906, in force since 1984. It was 0.868" by 0.631" in 1932.

I have the impression that you don’t want to understand that the cinema image is outlined by the screen or blinds in front of it. Projector aperture masks serve to cut out a fitting area with a margin of about a palm or less in the plane of the screen.

Camera exposure apertures do not determine the aspect ratio unconditionally. They are very often a little wider or higher than the exact 1:1.XXX.

And again, no reason to attach little value to the normal image. It has not been invalidated up to this day. I use integers because they leave no room for mistakes. Just the other day somebody cited a technical specification I have given on the lens mount thread of the Meopta Admira 16 electric model A. So many people act so fast and cursorily today, mark-copy-paste incomplete. There stood M 25 × 0,7 on a forum. Wrong. The early mount is M 25 × 0,75. To say nothing of all the ignorants who designate the C-mount thread as M25 or something the like. The M is misplaced, 25 is wrong, and if it were the regular M 25 the pitch would be wrong, too. A space belongs between the M and the figure but that is also not seen.

About Super-16 I have expressed myself clearly.

Yes, most of the pioneers used aspects different from the 1907/09 standard. Le Prince even had square pictures. Until 1909 Gaumont sold prints with the frame line between a pair of perforation holes. I know the technics of the early cinema rather well.

13 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

I never heard the term "Open Gate" until ARRI started using it for the Alexa, but I suppose it might have been used in Europe or by projectionists to describe a 4-perf 35mm gate with no masks in it (1.37, 1.85, anamorphic), i.e. Silent / Edison / Full Aperture / Super 35.

There are standards for projection masks

Yes, and can we please stop using expressions like 1.37?

The regular or normal screen aspect ratio is 4:3. The AMPAS camera aperture has an aspect ratio of around 11:8 or 1.375:1. Only a maximum projectable image area on 35 mm motion-picture film is defined by ISO 2907. The projector apertures should be adapted to the screen while accounting for angles and distorted borders by them. The aspect ratio is still 1:1.333.

Open gate, full gate, full frame, and the like are all hogwash. We have the silent 4:3 normal image and the 4:3 normal image with (a) sound track(s). Super 35 is also rubbish, there is nothing super to it. Edison, for those interested in history, took part at the Paris congress of international film producers in 1907 where the dimensions of camera and projector apertures were agreed upon.

One more time: the normal cinema image is 4:3, still today. It is also in use with the substandard gauges 9.5 mm, 16 mm, 8 mm, and Super-8/Single-8. Television was 4:3 until it got changed to 16:9. CINERAMA, CinemaScope, VistaVision, Todd-AO, Superscope, Technirama, IMAX are special formats. So is Super-16, a blow-up system from 16 mm originals to 35 mm prints of AR 5:3 or 1:1,666.

I have something against the digital electronics world disregarding the optics of the photochemical-mechanical cinema.

Leave the grooved fastening ring alone.

You can turn the lens relative to its thread by pulling it away from the camera while threaded in, not fully up. There is a spring ring built in.

The Aspheron needs to be screwed in all the way. Make sure the threads are not damaged and clean.

13 hours ago, Tyler Purcell said:

How many of those are single perf? 

• Vinten Scientific: 2-r.
• Sonoflex Tolana: ?
• Pentaflex 16: 1-r.
• Pathé BTL II: 1-r.
• Nord Professional: ?
• Morton Soundmaster: 1-r.
• Maurer 16: 2-r.
• Debrie CX: 1-r.
• Ciné-Kodak Special: 2-r., centering film guidance for Kodacolor

Some more 200-ft. (mag loading) cameras

• Vinten Scientific
• Sonoflex Tolana
• Pentaflex 16
• Pathé BTL II
• Nord Professional
• Morton Soundmaster
• Maurer 16
• Debrie CX
• Ciné-Kodak Special

We are experiencing the change-over from one era to the next. New generations grow up that don’t have an idea of the 20th century and times before, can’t have. An Arriflex 16 is a relatively simple camera compared to a Zeiss-Ikon Movikon 16, a Facine or a Paillard-Bolex H. But, here comes the big but, its mechanical main group, the claw and register pin control assembly, is demanding. Just like with a discussion momentarily going on at the filmvorführer forum about this very subject I must declare some opinions based on pure illusions.

Even as a trained mechanician I did learn a few things when I worked on an Arriflex 16 for the first time. As a sidenote, I write Arriflex 16 without any adjunct because that is its name like ARRIFLEX is the Arnold & Richter designation of the 35-mm. camera they presented in 1937. As I have shown in an article four years ago the control cams stem from a particular sewing machine concept from 1877! Only short-lived success can be had by pouring in oil or smearing grease into places somehow. Where the sewing machine mechanism is capsuled allowing continuous oiling, this mechanism, which is run more slowly, can function greased. But the grease has to be where it’s needed and that only the technician familiar with everything knows.

I must keep up a separation between laypersons and initiated. The profession of the mechanic cannot be compromised. Everybody can do to a film motion-picture camera what she/he likes, yet not everyone can bring a jammed or stuttering mechanical camera back to a useful state.

Have the darned camera serviced by a goddamned insider.

It’s a pity that so many players don’t understand the thing about film lengths.

Everyone needs additional footage for threading up a camera. After initial cemented-on paper leaders the raw stock manufacturers changed to the simpler solution of more stock for the purpose. So a 400-foot portion measures something between 406 and 415 feet. The manufacturers give different amounts. Verne and Sylvia Carlson published numbers in their PROFESSIONAL CAMERAMAN’S HANDBOOK for Agfa-Gevaert, Fujifilm, Eastman-Kodak, and Ilford.

The unwritten base of a fruitful cooperation between cinematographers and those who process motion-picture film is the nominal length. It should be respected by both parties, that is no more than 4000 frames exposed on a 100-ft. roll. It takes that little discipline to stop shooting when the counter reaches the mark. The lab people should respect the nominal length as well. A few additional frames on both ends left intact, then spacer added. If the exposed length exceeds the nominal length, we have an ever-increasing affair. I don’t know the right expression in English.

Michael Raso should be aware of these intricacies and take care that you can expose 2000 frames with a 50-foot magazine. By the way, there are a number of 50-ft. spool cameras for 16-mm. film.

I hate Super-8. One point about the format, however, is outstanding and I acknowledge it, the image is vertically centered to the perforation hole. Therefore splices are full-area, no hole is bisected, same as with 35-mm. or 65-mm. film.

You may want to take advantage of that fact by making cement splices. A good wet splicer is worth its money, take care of it, have perfectly running film which you can also have thoroughly cleaned by ultrasonic equipment.

It’s 160 degrees with all models except 71-Speed which had 18 degrees on request. 71-S runs at 64 fps only.

8 hours ago, Jon O'Brien said:

I've heard that the Ektar f1.9 can suffer from yellowing from the lens coating.

25mm f1.4

What are some examples of tack-sharp C mount triplet lenses for 16mm cameras?

Lens coatings never turn yellowish, some sorts of glass do, namely thorium-oxyde alloys that contain traces of cerium oxyde. That goes brown-yellow.

The Cine Ektar 25 mm, f/1.4, is a Schneider formula.

The Hawk-Eye works made a few ciné triplets.

• Anastigmat, later dubbed Cine Ektanon 15 mm, f/2.7;
• Anastigmat 20 mm, f/3.5;
• Anastigmat 2 inch, f/3.5;

Sharper than triplets are four-elements lenses. Modern Petzval designs are surprising, for instance the Bausch & Lomb Animar 26 mm, f/1.9. Another good four-glasser is the Ernostar concept besides the all-time classic Tessar. Tele-Tessar are fantastic. Zeiss had the 18 cm, f/6.3, in a mount that takes only a quarter turn to pull through the focus range from infinity to 2,5 meters (8 ft 3 in).

Cleanest image else through fine grain stock, camera with good steadiness on rigid support, coated lens, sunshade, no filters, accurate focusing, and only little to no overexposure. A medium dense film projected with enough light yields the cleaner image than everything else. Of course you have a projection lens in the game but there again very good sharpness can be had with four-glass designs. The serious projectionist is equipped with a spyglass.

Roughly one stop. The Beaulieu mirror shutter contraption has a just shy of 100 degrees equivalent exposure.

There are Single-8 cameras with 230 degrees shutter opening angle.

On 9/4/2023 at 11:04 PM, Finn Benischek said:

Yesterday I just purchased a Bolex 8mm Reflex k1 camera.

That’s today’s plot. The camera most likely never saw a service since 1962. It takes an investment now for future use. You don’t expect a car that old to roll out of a barn just like that, do you?

The K, by the way, stands for Kern & Co., Aarau, an optical company.

Yes, timing between claw and shutter is off. Another camera that has been tinkered with. Repair job

One very good question. As a former lab owner I had always wondered about that. Nothing in this country

Perhaps France, Italy? USA. International Motion Picture Almanac to begin somewhere

A contact duplicate represents a moment in time, reprographed on suitable stock, nota bene, an integer full-surface photograph, frame by frame. If done properly, under the pressure of a glass block or similar onto microfilm, quality loss is minimal.

An electronic scan means denial of the artefact, you step away from the physical photograph, only binary coded data are delt with. Immaterialisation takes place. In the case of the film moving continuously while being scanned, quality loss can be considerable.

You’d need a flange depth gauge plus indicator or a measuring instrument, metal shims of 0.0005" thickness or less, and the fitting tools for all the narrow-slot screws and more. That’s why there are active camera technicians like Dom and others.

You can give me the Beaulieu for a cleaning of the finder optics.

If it doesn’t have to be Beaulieu, I can adjust an Ambol Cine-Focus for you on a Paillard-Bolex H-16 with Switar 25 mm, f/1.4. That’s a split-image rangefinder coupled to the lens, very precise.

You have a 15 times magnification of the scene with a Bell & Howell Filmo 70-DA and the later models. The lens is rotated on the turret to one side of the camera, after focusing to the other for exposure. The Filmo’s critical focuser is used with glasses or contacts.

Yet another solution may be a reflex zoom lens with a split-image focusing screen incorporated, a Pan-Cinor by Berthiot f. ex.

503 frames is short of normal, it should be around 648 but possibly the frame counter slips.

A photo of the finder will allow us to tell you the enlargement factor.

My advice: put money aside for an overhaul or sell it to buy an other model. Maybe you take to a standard model that can be fitted with regular C-mount lenses. Optical freedom

The sidefinder belongs to it. In dim light you don’t see much through the reflex finder.

The H cameras are more demanding than one might assume. I wish you joy with the equipment and a tripod.

One thing is already clear, the 16 mm lens you can only use stopped down to f/4 or more, wider open images will be out of focus. Below 50 mm of focal length and f/3.3 the influence of the reflex double-prism (astigmatism and prismatic dysfocus) is noticeable.

Next I can tell you that you don’t need to disengage the spring while the camera is not in use. To run the spring down, though,  is a wise move.

How much did you pay for the package, if I may ask?

From an emulsion batch several master rolls can be coated. These rolls get cut into parts, two, three or four of shorter lengths than a master roll. Then a part is cut into strips which still measure up to 6000, 4000 or 2000 feet. Finally, after perforation, units are cut of useful lengths that fit camera magazines or spools.

-I know a number of Regular 8-mm. projectors that outperform the vast majority of Super-8 projectors. They have a higher light-dark ratio, better mechanics, and sometimes better lenses.

What is not on the market is a clear-base low-speed panchromatic black-and-white reversal stock. Fomapan R is an ISO 100 film reverse processed. Ektachrome is an ISO 100 film E-6 processed. From 1932 to 1961 Double-Eight stocks were ISO 10 to 40. Early Kodachrome had 10 ASA*. Panatomic-X reversal ASA 32, Agfa Isopan ISS ASA 64. Gevaert Microgran ASA 40 (27 Scheiner). In view of 400 times magnification upon projection (easily) and many camera lenses with stops not beyond f/16 something like Adox CMS 20 would suit well. It might thus be worthwhile to contact Mirko Böddecker of Fotoimpex for a talk about cooperation. I would be willing to think about manufacturing a small butt welder for 8-mm. film in case polyester-base CMS 20 comes as 2 × 8.

______________________________________

* At the change from DIN/10-ASA to a new ASA system about a doubling of nominal speed came into being, therefore ISO and ASA figures cannot be held against each other across the 1961 line.

There are a few things to be set correctly.

• The shutter should be halted with its leading edge one to two millimeters above the aperture in the TIME function when side release is held to front;
• The shutter should cover the aperture entirely before the claw begins to exert pressure on a hole edge;
• The shutter should not free the aperture before the claw has cleared a perforation hole after a pulldown. Variable shutters set fully open.

I investigate the functions from behind against a window, pressure plate removed, with a crank either on the 8-1 shaft or on the 1-1 shaft with the younger models. MOT switch on 0, side release all the way rearward. The halt position must be checked frontally.

Nothing new under the sun. With the 1961 Bauer 88 L Zoom you could pull the trigger from normal run to a 64 fps override, the auto iris compensated for the change, and that wasn’t the only 8-mm. camera to offer this.