Ron Flex

Because I have very little patience and money I went out today and grabbed the 2nd hand Nikkor 35-70 zoom lens. Works fine with the LetusXL, the lens is relatively sharp and produces a nice wide angle. F3.3 is a tad slow but is ok outside, just pointless indoors without lots of light. Comapred to the older FD and Nikkors from the 70s it does feel a tad cheap but its not so bad. My main issue is how slack the focus ring is. The slightest touch moves it. I much prefer the stiffness of my old FD lenses. Is there any way to stiffen the focus ring up? Thanks!

I am looking to use a Nikkor AF 35-70mm F3.5-F4.5 Pretty slow but 3.5 is fine for outdoors in the summer and the zoom range is exactly what I need.

Wow spot on! My problem I guess is that I am doing film studies and not film production (Wish I had done the latter). We only have 1 practical module per year. I am interested in how you determined my whereabouts through my use of language. I always thought my internet tone was pretty non-descript! Thanks for all the advice. I have a production job over the next 3 weeks shooting a promotional film but its just me and a friend doing it so there won't be any meeting other production people since we will be the only 2. I think my best bet is to wait till my 3rd year starts and try and grab some attention round uni. Unfortunately at the moment everyone has gone back home for the summer.

Hello, I am curious about the use of Nikon AF lenses with DoF adapters. Is it posibile to manual focus these auto focus lenses or disable auto-focus altogether? Will AF lenses fit AI/AIS mount? Thanks

I am a film student and I am looking to join or create a group who create films. I have searched and searched and cannot find anything other than professional production companies in my local area. How can I create a group of like minded people who are talented and will take it seriously? I own all my own camera and sound equipment which is all of broadcast standard so that isn't a problem. Suprisingly nobody on my course is actually interested in production work which is making it very hard. What is your advice forum go-ers?

Thanks for clearing that up. I guess the lack of infinity focus is not the worst thing for a a DOF adapter as the whole point of it is to have a shallow DOF without having to zoom in the 20x lens. Just depends on how much the infinity focus is afffected and to what affect it has on rack focusing. I have been looking at Nikon lenses but the prices are quite expensive. The difference in price between a Canon FD 1.8 50mm and the same spec Nikkor is huge.

Yes, it is the modified Minolta lens at the rear of the unit which attached to the Letus. It acts as a relay lens and has backfocus adjustment. Image is here:

And will the back focus lens be able to rectify this to some degree?

Hello, I recently bought a LetusXL adapter for my XL2. It has not arrived yet. I am completely confused about the issues of flange focal distance and back focus with this adapter. It comes with a Nikon mount but the lenses are expensive and I already own a lot of FD lenses. I bought a glassless adapter that allows an FD lens to mount to a Nikon body. I assumed issues regarding infinity focus did not matter when it came to these adapters. I knew there would be some issues regarding flange focal diastance however I assumed the back focus lens that mounts to the XL body would rectify this problem. I thought this was its use. I have been told that the back focus will allow FD lenses to focus infinity (or near enough) and others have said that the back focus will have no effect. What is the real deal here? A few of these LetusXL adapters even had reversible mounts for both FD and Nikon!! Also will I be able to mount a 50mm F2 Pre-AI Nikkor to the mounts that Letus use? Thanks!

Hello. I have decided to switch over from 16mm to digital. I am selling all my film stock and camera. Once all my kit is sold I should have around 550-600 pounds to spend. I am looking purely at 2nd hand prosumer cameras. Ideally I would like a Canon XL1 after seeing good results and I have used Canon in the past. However 2nd hand prices seem to be above my budget, although I have seena few around my price range. What other cameras are in competition with the XL1 and can be had 2nd hand for 550-600 pounds? Or what prosumer camera would you recommend? I use Sony prosumer cameras at University and really do not like them. Thanks!

All the film is sold now. CP16 auction time has been reduced

I bought it November 2008 from a friend who bought it earlier that year. I think so anyway, is there anyway to check the manufacture date?

Now on Ebay UK: 3 cans of 250d 16mm http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=250369332400 3 cans of 500t 16mm http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=250369332855 CP16/A camera package http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=250369340637

I don't really have the money to support 16mm so I want to get rid of my kit. For sale: CP16/A Camera body in good condition with the usual scratching down the side. Mechanically sound and quiet. X2 PLC4A Magazines X2 Mitchell Magazines 4 Core Adapters 2 Batteries (Both healthy, 1 original and 1 Whitehouse Visual) New Whitehouse charger 240v/120v Comes in an old suitcase come flightcase Now to the Lens. The lens is a Angenieux F12-120mm with external viewfinder. However the viewfinder has snapped off from the lens! The lens still works and is in good condition with no fungus. The actual optics are fine but the viewfinder has snapped off. I am unsure of how to fix it or what spare bit to buy. I have not really tried any proper lens technicians. Film I have the following refridgerated and sealed cans of Kodak Vision 2 in 16mm. X3 cans of 250D X3 cans of 500T Prices For the CP16/A I am looking for around £400 which includes shipping within the UK. For the film I want to sell as a lot at £30 a tin plus P+P. I will put up pictures tonight. PM me with any interest.

Need a new lens for me CP16A, must have a prismatic viewfinder and c-mount. PM me if you have one.

I sent in a lens for a look over and repair estimate over a month ago to Les Boscher. He has not responded to my emails in over a month now and never answers his phone which I have been ringing everyday. Has he gone somewhere? I thought he was supposed to be one of the best but at the moment he seems very slow and unprofessional.

I am not interested in an expensive route. I physically do not have the money. My University has mixers which can take CF cards and record but there is no way I could rent one out and pretend it was for University work as we have not used them yet. I looked on Ebay and a 2nd hand Minidisc player is only £10-£15. Who knows, the results through the cameras amplifier might actually be good. :blink: The only downside I can see is the crappy ATRAC compression. I am sure I read of a hack to allow different compression methods. I will have a browse for it later. Although if I had a ton more money I would get a HDD recorder. Even renting really is not an option for me.

I have had a thought. Could I not use the sound module built into my camera? CP16A. I plug the boom mic into the Ch1 XLR. Then I can set the levels etc. I can then plug the line in from a Minidisc into the headphone jack of the CP16A. Then plug headphones into the Minidisc. This surely would be better than the other method since I would be able to check and set the correct levels for the audio, plus the sound module has an amplifier. The only problem I can see is getting the correct volume setting for the CP16A phones out. Although I believe this can be done with trail and error. Here is a picture of the sound backplane on the CP16A for anyone unfamiliar: http://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0005wt3.jpg The XLR inputs are on the front of the camera.

I have my original Cinema Products battery charging on a Whitehouse charger at 240v. After 4 hours I put it in the camera out of curiosity and it the battery test peaked at the top of the green bar. The battery was 100% flat before I charged it. Does the battery indicator work properly? Should I leave it charging another 10 hours? When can I tell if the battery is fully charged?

Does ilab do a telecine service also? What do you usually do once you have the negative returned from ilab? Thanks!

I have never gotten any motion picture film developed before. When a site says development cost. That is purely for the film to be developed into its negative form correct? I assume the film must be printed in order to be telecined? Is the print included in the processing price? I am not quite sure what the whole developing, telecine service involves. DigitalCopyCat quotes this price for its 16mm to MiniDV: 16mm = £4.35 per 50ft Minimum order charge = £25.00

Ah yes. I read something about the naff compression. However I also heard that it is possible to choose how you encode the sound through the sony software. I heard that you can fit 2 hours of .wav onto 1 minidisc which would be great for me. I have read that you can choose between .mp3 .wav and their format using the correct software. Do you mean because of the XLR connections on everything? At University we use a XLR to 3.5 adapter iirc. I could even make one up at home hear. Only a case of chopping and soldering 3 wires. Can anyone confirm that you can hear what is coming through the line in, through the standard headphone jack on the MiniDisc recorder?

I have read that you can use MiniDisc as a double system sound recorder. Is this correct? Will it stay in sync with my sync camera or is there a high chance of it drifting? I have non of my own sound equipment and I am hoping to snag one of the booms and mics from my University. There will be no mixer. I could try and snag a mono mixer as well but the problem is that technically I am not allowed to borrow these items for private projects. So, I have never used a MiniDisc recorder before but have seen them on Ebay for around 15 pounds for a second hand Sony one. I am assuming I can just plug with boom into the 3.5 line in. Then have a set of headphones plugged in as well. Will I be able to hear what is coming through the line in from the headphones in the headphone jack? DATs and HDD recorders are way too expensive. Any advice on using Minidisc to record sound?

I want to shoot some tests soon on 16mm, about 100ft of two different stocks. Vision 2 500T and 250D. Is there anywhere in the UK where I can get this small amount developed for a decent price? I have only found places so far with minimum prices and amounts. Or just places that have awful flash websites with no prices or help. Any reccomendations? I am thinking about asking my media production lecturer at University but somehow I cannot see him knowing of anywhere since he has only ever used digital professionally and the University has stopped the using celluloid as part of its modules due to cost. Sucks I know.

Hello again. I recieved a Vivitar 45 lightmeter in the post today. It is in great condition with case but the battery is not passing the check test so I will need to source a new one. Maybe I have gotten myself a bit confused but I am not quite sure of how to use the meter. I have found a manual but it is only very short. So I set my ASA/ISO speed of the film and point it at the scene. Twist the dial till circle meets the red pin. Ok that is fine. My problem here is that this whoel process is not making sense for cine camera use. It makes sense to me when using my 35mm photo cameras as you can adjust both the apature and the shutter speed on the camera. However using a CP16 cine camera, you do not change the shutter speed. Is the point of the light meter purely to find what F stop would be best to use in the lighting conditions? The meter has cine frames per second speeds on. So do I just match up whatever f. stop number is under 24fps? Sorry, I am feeling like a total newbie now! :rolleyes: Manual is here: http://www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meter...ar_45_meter.pdf