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Dom Jaeger

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  1. Dom Jaeger
    Well Bill, unfortunately the camera was working when you received it, and I don't think you can expect to buy a fully serviced one for what you paid. In all fairness to the seller, you can't blame them if it stopped working after a couple of carts. It sort of comes with the territory when dealing with vintage photographic equipment. Often these things sit in a case for years, when they get fired up again they seem to work for a while, until the dried up lubricants, corroded contacts or brittled plastic components cause a failure. You have some experience working on other cameras if I recall? Why not open her up and see what you can do. I've worked on a couple of 4008s and found them much simpler to open and operate on than other high end S8 cameras like Canons. Being able to remove the lens is quite an advantage in that respect. If you're into refurbishing S8 cameras it's probably a good experience to have a go at a Beaulieu. The mirror/variable shutter mechanism is a marvellous little design.
  2. Dom Jaeger
    Hi Robert, I posted the ring off today as it happens. :)
  3. Dom Jaeger
    I've actually been photo-documenting some service procedures on older film cameras as I do them, but with 2 kids under 4 I don't have the time to completely overhaul a camera unless someone pays me to do it. And that is becoming increasingly rare. I did recently get to do a full overhaul of an Arri 16 St which I documented, and which I plan to put up on my cinetinker blog soon. If someone pays for their 2B or C to get a service I'll definitely document it. Or perhaps I should set up a charity called Cam Aid and become the Bob Geldoff of old movie gear, making the world a better place for obsolete camera owners. :)
  4. Dom Jaeger
    Some 2Cs had a 6 pin (Tuchel) socket on the body used for Pilotone. The motor socket is the one you want to supply power to. 3 pin XLRs were traditionally used for 24V applications though. Is it possible it's a 24V motor? A photo would help. The standard 3 pin XLR wiring is almost always pin 1 negative, pin 2 positive - very simple to solder an XLR on the end of a battery cable. Can't help with UK battery suppliers I'm afraid.
  5. Dom Jaeger
    I don't think they're very common, the anamorphic desqueeze elements tend to make them long and awkward like that Kish one in David's link, and that's without an anamorphic lens attached! I'm not sure if Arri or Denz make a version, perhaps now that more anamorphics are coming on the market they might. But even standard director's viewfinders are ridiculously expensive, so expect to pay a pretty penny. We modified a Fries/Mitchell directors finder with an anamorphic extension viewfinder from a Konvas years ago because there didn't seem to be an after market version. Great big monster it is too. Panavision may have their own, I'm not sure. It may make more sense to rent one from a rental house if they have one. The other alternative is to just use a compact directors viewfinder like the Alan Gordon one with adjustable format masks, but obviously you don't get to see what the actual lens will look like.
  6. Dom Jaeger
    A scope groundglass just frames the squeezed image, you need an anamorphic viewfinder to desqueeze it for normal viewing. Some camera optical viewfinders have an anamorphic desqueeze option built in, others require a different viewfinder extension. Similarly with a director's viewfinder you need one with anamorphic optics between the eyepiece and groundglass if you want to see a desqueezed image.
  7. Dom Jaeger
    Of course!
  8. Dom Jaeger
    Separation tends to have a negligible affect on the image, although the danger is it may spread and eventually cause problems. On the up side it doesn't look very pretty, which means you should pay less than you would for a pristine one, even though the image quality will be more or less identical. It will of course also reduce your potential resale value. Occasionally separation can be caused by excessive pressure on the cemented doublet, either from poor assembly or having been dropped, which distorts the components and can severely reduce the lens performance, but if the test photos supplied by the seller look OK that's likely not to be the case here.
  9. Dom Jaeger
    What I've seen of Kinetta scans look damn good. It's the brainchild of Jeff Kreines, whose encyclopaedic film knowledge, wit and intelligence are well known to CML subscribers. From what I understand the advantages of the Kinetta scanner (beyond the quality of the scans themselves) are that it handles any film format, can scan even badly damaged or vinegared film, and is small enough to be easily transportable. The last time I researched it, there were Kinettas in Paris at As'Image, in San Francisco at Movette Film Transfer and one in Israel somewhere. There are others in archival or college institutions that don't handle outside work. For the Nixon scans I believe Mr Kreines took a Kinetta to the Nixon Presidential Library and scanned the films there. According to Kinetta@Massart the lucky students at Massachusetts College of Art and Design get 2.4K scans of their films for $10 per 100'.
  10. Dom Jaeger
    Hi Phillipe, I don't know about the one you refer to, but you can find free Filmo manuals at these sites: http://www.apecity.com/manuals/ http://www.intervalometers.com/bh/
  11. Dom Jaeger
    Imax Melbourne are showing it in 15/70 3D, although when I went last sunday there was a technical problem and they had to show a digital version. Despite some spectacular visual effects the 3D often seemed poorly done, and the Kirk/Spock love story script was pretty uninspired. I should've listened to Phil.
  12. Dom Jaeger
    Well Adrian you should have moved to Melbourne instead of California. Not sure it'd be any good for your career but we do have the best pubs in the universe. B)
  13. Dom Jaeger
    We've got a couple of CP Ultra T sets (9, 12.5, 16) at Cameraquip, very nice high speed lenses, comparable to 16mm Super Speeds. Contrast is quite good actually (on these ones at least), but susceptible to flare, yes. As I mentioned before, the 9mm doesn't cover S16, but the 12.5 and 16 do. As far as shipping goes, rental houses in this country freight things all over the place. Alternatively, if you ever make a trip to Melbourne bring your camera and a roll of film and drop in. You can shoot off some tests with various lenses and I'll give your SR2 a quick check-over.
  14. Dom Jaeger
    The most common example you see is on road markings where words such as "left turn only" are stretched out vertically so a driver can read them normally from their low perspective. Some early artists may have used drawing aids like a magic lantern or camera obscura, but more commonly they used a grid to map out a picture, which could then be transferred to a canvas or fresco wall and enlarged (or distorted) as needed. The Quay brothers made this excellent little animated short film about the history of animorphosis in art, look out for the fabulously subversive Erhard Schön woodcut from the 16th century where an apparent landscape becomes something else entirely: http://veehd.com/video/4724307_Timothy-and-Stephen-Quay-Anamorphosis-1991
  15. Dom Jaeger
    Hi Jean-Louis, Have you tried Zeiss themselves? I regularly get parts for old Zeiss lenses from them, very efficient service. They may still have iris leaves for Standard Speeds. Part number is 104881-8013, also used in the 20mm and 40mm.
  16. Dom Jaeger
    Yes old 16mm lenses are still relatively cheap compared to their 35mm brethren - when REDs first appeared 35mm Super Speed sets nearly quadrupled in price. The one exception seems to be C-mounts, which have been discovered by digital stills shooters keen for a 'vintage' look. Try getting a pre-set Switar for a Bolex these days for under $700. This Meyer Kino-Plasmat from the 30s recently went for over $12000! http://www.ebay.com/itm/271194952799?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649&autorefresh=true But I have a feeling pro 16mm lenses will start to go up in value as more S16 sensor size cameras appear. One note about old lenses like the Schneiders and Zeisses, there can be tremendous variation in quality depending on their state and service history. Many will have a severe image shift when the focus direction is changed, which can only be cured by rebuilding the helical threads. Some of them don't have focus stops so you can unscrew them completely from the mount. They can have a yellowish cast and sometimes strong veiling glare that completely reduces the contrast. So it can be a gamble to invest in them, unless you're OK with that. I would second the advice to rent first and try out some different lenses. FWIW, I dug up some 16mm format Arri St mount lenses we have here at Cameraquip: From left to right: Angenieux f/3.5 14.5mm which fits an SR and covers S16. Schneider f/1.8 10mm (post '67) which fits but doesn't cover S16. Schneider f/2 16mm which doesn't fit. (#8998356) Schneider f/2 25mm which doesn't fit. (#10359692) The Schneiders that don't fit still have a bevel, so I guess I was wrong about that as an indicator.
  17. Dom Jaeger
    The f/1.5 25mm Schneider you're looking at may well fit, it has a different rear (with bevelled edges) than the f/2 25mm I tested, but I can't honestly say for sure. I think the problem with early Schneiders was the first large diameter step behind the mount being too wide and deep, later ones were bevelled to clear. Perhaps Schneider can date the serial number, I presume the change came around late 60s or early 70s, after the 10mm was modified in '67. Any lens in Bayonet mount should work on an SR since the Bayonet mount was introduced with the 16 BL, so lenses in that mount needed to be compatible with the new smaller clearance dimensions. 35mm format lenses don't protrude as far behind the mount as 16mm ones, so should be OK even in Arri St mount. That's why the 16 BL lens list included mainly 35mm format primes.
  18. Dom Jaeger
    A lot of older 16mm primes were designed for the Arri 16 St and 16 M cameras, which had more mirror clearance than all the later 16mm Arris. So from the 16 BL onwards you can't use most Cooke Kinetals or the early 16mm Schneiders (10, 16, 25) on Arris as they will hit the mirror or baffles. Schneiders are a bit tricky as there were several versions, but I've definitely tested an f/2 16mm and f/2 25mm and they did not fit an SR. The list of compatible (in terms of clearing the mirror) prime lenses in the 16 BL manual includes only a few lenses actually designed for 16mm: the Schneider Cinegon f/1.8 10mm as from 1967 (which is I believe serial no 9861936 and up) and the Zeiss Distagon f/2 8mm. Neither of those cover S16 however. The rest of the lens list are 35mm format lenses: Schneider Cinegon and Cine-Xenons (18, 28, 35, 40 etc), Zeiss Standard Speeds (16, 24, 32 etc), Cooke Speed Panchros (18, 25, 32 etc) and a couple of lenses by Kilfitt. Later 16mm Schneiders (16 and 25) apparently fit, like the post-'67 10mm, but I don't know the serial numbers, or whether they're f/2, f/1.4 or f/1.5 versions. Anything in Arri Bayonet mount should fit. Other old lenses by the likes of Meyer, Kilfitt, Astro-Berlin, Kinoptik etc that you might find in Arri Standard mount will most likely be 35mm format lenses which should all clear an SR mirror. Cinema Products Ultra T lenses (by Kowa) will fit but the 9mm vignettes on S16. The Kinoptik Tegea f/1.8 5.7mm fits an SR and just covers S16, the Angenieux 5.9 fits but vignettes (unless you get a modified one). You're fine with more modern S16mm lenses like Zeiss Super Speeds and Ultra 16s, Cooke SK4s, Illuminas etc.
  19. Dom Jaeger
    Hi Ross, it fits the early Bauer standard 8mm cameras: Bauer 8, 88 and 88C.
  20. Dom Jaeger
    Very nice set-up Moises. I tried using a mobile phone camera through the eyepiece for my home-made 8mm steady-rig a couple of years ago. I remember posting the suggestion in a thread about S8 steadicams. The biggest issue I found was keeping the phone camera position exactly aligned, a few bumps to the rig and I lost the picture and had to realign things. So the method of securing it has to be quite firm. But when it stayed put it worked surprisingly well. Rails out the back with a magic arm holding the phone is a good solution, but not something everyone has access to. Perhaps one of those phone casings that allow a telephoto attachment could be modified to simply clamp around the eyepiece diopter? The other issue I had was the phone camera switching off after a while, unless I had it recording. Maybe there's a setting you can choose on some smart phones to avoid that.
  21. Dom Jaeger
    It depends on the stop, and whether the back-focus of the particular lens is still correctly set. Normally a fixed-focus wide angle like that has the back-focus set so that the lens focuses close to the hyperfocal distance (about 10 feet) to give the maximum depth of field. I don't have the depth of field table but wide open your minimum is probably around 5 feet, getting closer as you stop down. If the back-focus is slightly out it will shift the depth of field range either closer or further away. It actually also depends on your circle of confusion figure, which is simply a way of determining when something could be considered 'out of focus', ie how critical focus will be when the final image is viewed. A video destined for youtube for example needs a far less critical CoC than something that will be projected on a large screen. If you come across a depth of field table for the Angenieux 10mm it will most likely use the traditional CoC figure for 16mm format of 0.0005" or 0.015mm. Check out http://www.dofmaster.com/cinematography.html In a pinch, simply unscrewing the lens a quarter turn (or more properly shimming it out a little) will shift the minimum focus closer.
  22. Dom Jaeger
    Even though the octameter was introduced around 1950, your camera may still have originally been fitted with the older tri-focal viewfinder. Unfortunately the mounting attachments are different. On the left is a lid for the tri-focal finder, on the right one for an octameter. If yours is like the one on the left, you'll need to source a new door. One of the pitfalls with Bolexes is the many different models and modifications that accumulated (and sometimes overlapped) over the decades of production. It's often much simpler to buy a complete camera than to get a stripped one and then source the appropriate accessories. I should perhaps have mentioned this before, but if you intend shooting with this camera I would really recommend taking it to a Bolex specialist for at least a check-over. They should also be able to help with the accessories.
  23. Dom Jaeger
    I stumbled across this company recently that has a vast range of vintage broadcast equipment for hire, some of it operational, but again UK based: http://www.golden-agetv.co.uk/equipment.php?TypeID=1
  24. Dom Jaeger
    Hope you didn't pay too much for the manual, you could probably find a replacement camera with a manual included on ebay for very little money. A quick search found this one (albeit with a faulty zoom) for 10 pounds: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canon-318M-Auto-Zoom-Super-8-Cine-Camera-With-Instructions-FAULTY-ZOOM-/230958956378?pt=UK_Photography_VintageCameras_SM&hash=item35c639ff5a A lot of S8 cameras have screws hidden under the decals or leatherette. You can peel them off using a bit of acetone to soften the adhesive and then glue them back on later with epoxy.
  25. Dom Jaeger
    Hi Mike, our camera originally belonged to a Dutch producer who owned a film studio in Holland, his cinematographer son brought it out to Australia in the 50s and eventually gifted it to the rental house owner. It was a working B cam up until the 70s. No-one knows how it first ended up in Holland. The original Arri factory in Turkenstrasse was bombed during the war, so their records may not be complete. Digging up information about 30s or war-era German manufacturing is often difficult, especially if it was tainted with Nazi connections. Unfortunately the best German engineering of the time was usually conscripted to the cause. The first effective lens coating technique invented by Zeiss was for several years deemed a war secret! As well as early Arri history I'm very interested to find out more about the Zeiss Ikon Movikon 16 and Siemens cameras which (being the best) seem to have been the 16mm cameras of choice for the Nazi regime, but once again information is scarce.
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