Herbie Pabst

I use Nikon lenses on my u16 NPR with a Nikon to c-mount adapter and have had no problems.

Ultra16 is in between R16 and S16 resolution. It also matters which type of transfer you do, telecine or scanning. As far as I know Cinelicious is the only place that has a U16 gate for their scanner and they do, or did do, U16 "UpRes" to 1080p telecine. Cinelab only can do "UpRes" telecine for U16. They said they were getting a new scanner that can handle U16 sometime this year at reasonable pricing, for scanning. The whole point to converting to U16 is so you can use R16 lenses with the U16 gate and have a wider gate. I have found that not all R16 lenses cover the U16 gate. I do not regret converting to U16 and having the brightening done to my camera. I'm hoping Cinelab gets their U16 capable scanner soon I'd like to give that a try, also curious how much they will be charging.

PPS. I didn't want to break the pin that's why I went with adding the plastic block on the door.

I own an Eclair NPR and I've had scratches similar to yours. NPR mags have feed guides(during loading). They move into place when the take-up door is off. When you put the door back on, the door pushes against a chrome pin that move the guides out of the way of the film. You have to make sure that the door is pushing the chrome pin and not riding over the pin. When the cover rides over the pin the guides do not retract and will scratch the film much the way yours is scratched. When closing the take-up door it's very important to slide the cover against the pin and all the way forward, then push down and lock the door. If the pin has been push down you will need to pull the pin up(my pins didn't move up) or what I did was cut a small piece of plastic and crazy glued it to the door so the pin could be actuate by the door. I used a small piece of Corian counter-top material, I install kitchens as my day job. Bernie O. really liked that one, a carpenter fixing a film camera. Hope this helps. PS. Don't run scratch film with take-up door off, for the above reason.

I have two Ultra16 Cameras and looking back, the main reason I converted them was so I could use R16 Lenses with the wider frame but not all R16 lenses cover the U16 frame.

I just received 400 ft of 16mm ORWO B&W from ORWO North America. Cinelab is setup to process ORWO film. Here is the link. http://www.orwona.com

Cinelab, MA, USA (Cinelab.com) Ultra16 telecine.

I have a late model NPR (English made circa 1980, U16). Serviced and converted by Bernie O.,it runs like a champ. But I'm not a hi volume shooter so I don't have the experience of running the camera everyday. But I'm very happy with it. Plus I got it at a great price.

Try Cinelab in MA. cinelab.com

I've gotten short-ends from these guys. http://www.reelgoodfilm.com Here is an example of some Kodak 500t I got from them. Shot with an Eclair NPR Ultra16, converted by Bernie.

I think it all depends on how much money you have to spend. The folks here are at all different levels and budgets. I for one am a Zero-budget filmmaker. Which basically means I have no budget but I fund my film making with money I should not be spending for film making i.e. food, car, gas, mortgage money etc... Folks with large budgets can sit down with a colorist and pay to have them listens to your needs. But all I want is to have what I shot transferred at the highest quality I can afford. If it's under or over exposed I need to see it so I can learn from it. "Give me what I shot". Places like Cinelicious, which do great work I might add, are the "Abbey Road" of film transfer. They are not setup for an experimenter like me who shoots a couple hundred feet. So you end up paying for 20 minutes transfer time(one hour studio time) to transfer 5 minutes of film. People with budgets and larger projects don't have a problem with this, it's us little people who are having the hard time and succumb to the idea of shooting with a DSLR. I'm still loading film when I can. I suggest, shop around and find the best bang for your buck. Best of luck to you!

I think it looks good too and certainly better than up-res telecine. This was my first job done by ScanYourFilm and it went very well, they were very helpful. They have done a second job for me and it's currently in route back to me. Another 200 feet of 7219 this time F16 cropped to 16x9 HD1080p.

This is 200 ft. of Kodak 7219 500T from Christmas 2010. Shot on my Eclair NPR U16. Lens was a S16 Switar 10mm. This is a U16 negative scanned(Spirit Datacine) in a S16 gate. I like to call it "Fat 16mm or F16" It's a 3x2 aspect ratio and wider than R16. You also have a bit more negative with F16 when cropping to 16x9. The uploaded file is 1080x720 and was resized from 1620x1080 that was cropped from the 1920x1080 full aperture scan of the negative. Film processed by: Cinelab.com Spirit Datacine scanning by : ScanYourFilm.com

I think R16 cropped is very effective. In my mind it's a beautiful format to tell a story. (see Tim's Rant) I have a K3 and an Eclair NPR both U16 they take fabulous shots. Rob (Cinelab) is part of my work flow and the good news is that at Cinelab R16, U16 and S16 cost the same to transfer to HD. What I like the most about shooting 16mm are the colors I get from ProResHQ transfers. It's the highest color quality image I can create. All my other cameras are either DV, HDV, Hi8, S-VHS etc... I am a filmmaker who uses his lunch money to fund his films. I can buy more DV tape than film with lunch money and do often but film is my best. I don't eat much when I fire up the 16's. I spend most of my time writing trying to come up with something watchable. Also been down the equipment head trip road thinking that's what's missing. The funniest thing is when I come home from work and my kids are watching something that was shot 4:3 and they have it stretched to 16:9. By habit I go over to the TV and put it back to 4:3 and they start screaming "it looks like crap" and tell me to put it back the way it was. Stretch is so flattering for the actors, it looks like they've been eating french-fries and brown gravy for three months. And I'm worried about a little grain?

I have two U16 Cameras, a K3 and an Eclair NPR. I think it has to do with the fact that most of the cameras that would be converted are the smaller 100 foot reel cameras. They're the cameras that students and weekend shooters would be using and experimenting with. The cost to shoot 100 feet of R16, U16 and S16 is pretty much the same and most labs still think "HD" is something special. HD is the standard now in my opinion. If you shoot over 400 feet the prices are not that bad but still high at some labs. But under 400 feet you're subject to minimums that make shooting a 100 feet very expensive. The best price total I can find to buy film, process and transfer of 100 feet color negative to HD (hard drive) is $230.00 plus round trip shipping. This price is for up-res telecine not scanning. Scanning would be $610.00 for 100 feet R16, U16 or S16. Not much experimenting going on at these prices. The point I'm trying to make is there is not much U16 HD examples on the internet. So folks don't know much about it.

My NPR has none of the above mentioned problems.

I have an Eclair NPR and a K3 both converted to Ultra16 by Super16inc.com. You could call Bernie for his current prices for conversions. I didn't convert my K3 to super16 because it has a bayonet mount and don't have the money for S16 conversion and lenses for the NPR. The original K3 zoom vignettes a bit on the wide end, but I also have a 12.5mm prime that covers the U16 gate. The Zoom on the NPR also doesn't cover the U16 gate at the wide end and I have a 10mm Switar S16 prime that does. Point being is that not all R16 lenses cover the U16 gate but many do. I also use Nikon primes on the NPR which cover the U16 gate. If I have to pull the U16 in post due to vignetting then it seem to me that the resulting image is not much different than R16 cropped to 16:9. To make a long story short don't write off R16 and/or cropped R16 to 16:9. I like that I have options with R16 and U16 in the same camera. I'm having so much fun with these cameras. I also like to get prints, not just telecine. I recently had a short end of 7219 and I shot Christmas morning and had it printed. We watch it last week and it was such a blast to project it, my family loved it. I use Cinelab for R16 prints and U16 telecine and they do a great job.

This past spring I found an Eclair 16 NPR, 2 mags, Angenieux 12-120 zoom, crystal sync-motor and matte-box for $713.00 on eBay-UK. I had it serviced, converted to Ultra16 and had the GG laser brightened. I also have a K3 that I paid $140.00 and had it converted to Ultra16 and laser brightened. So yes, the prices are coming down. Been having so much fun with them. I think Kubrick said, "Get a camera and some film and shoot anything at all". No one really cares what it was shot on if the content is strong. I remember that shot from the Vietnam War where a South Vietnamese officer shoots a Vietcong in the head and kills him. I think most of us know the shot. Does it matter what camera/format shot that? I have DSLR and HDV cams and have fun with them too. I recommend having fun.

Here is a short clip from my newly converted Eclair NPR to Ultra16. Processing and transfer done by Cinelab. Conversion by Super16inc. Expired Kodak 7248 100T.

Going after my dreams makes some of the people around me very uncomfortable. Uncomfortable to the point where they have to tell me how stupid my dreams are. What they are telling me is what they tell themselves, it's their fear of doing the right thing for themselves and their own dreams. I encourage you to press forward and realize your dreams. I'm a carpenter by day that's how I make money. Carpentry is one of my creative abilities and have been working for the same company for 30 years which is unheard of in the construction business. My heart is in film making, music, writing and acting. My day job has allowed me some funds to pursue my dreams but I've made very little money from the Arts. It's this lack of money issue that people use to beat me over the head. "If you don't make money why do it?", "There are more important things to spend your money on!", they say. It took me a long time to break free from what other people think and say. I've been making shorts with first a HC1 then two HV20's and a HV40. I have so much fun with these cameras and they make a nice picture. But my heart was always in film. Recently I got a K3 16mm, and an Eclair NPR 16mm. This has brought a flood of comments from my friends that I've lost my mind. Film in the Digital Age?! They have no idea how much fun it is to cut film on my kitchen table. There is always someone who will be willing to dump their negativity and fear on me. I usually smell it coming but sometimes I have a blind side and some new and improved way comes along to dump on me, for example, I converted both my 16mm cameras to Ultra16 you should hear the crap I get for doing that. I tell them all to go screw (with a smile), "I've got to me!" I have a family, wife and two boys, a house, dog, to many cats and lots of bills. I gave my boys the two HV20's and they're loading up youtube with flicks. I set up my 16mm projector and show flicks every once in awhile, we're having fun. I want to shoot a feature but I need a good script so I've been working on that. I still keep the door open that great things can happen if I do the work and remember to "Play", and have fun.

I found Cinelicious.tv a while back. The things they are doing look great. But I live in New Jersey and was hoping that someone closer would get going with U16. I realize I can ship it to them for telecine but they don't process they send it out. So Cinelab looked good because they're one day shipping away and they will be doing everything in house but they're not doing it yet. There are others on the East Coast that said they would be transferring U16 but they have not done it either, at least not as of today. To be honest, I have almost no money to shoot with film I skip lunches to buy film so every cost has an effect. If I can cut out some of the shipping costs and maybe smaller minimum charges I'd be able to get more of my shorts on film. I've been working with HD for the last 4 years and have not been able to get the look that I've been looking for. I shoot one roll of film and there is the look I want. So I have learned that film is were I want to be so hopefully I'll find a way to shoot U16. Super16inc. is a great place. Bernie O. has my cameras running beyond like new!

Yes, you still have R16. I have a K3 and an Eclair NPR both converted by Bernie O.(The Camera God) from Super16inc. I just got my NPR back and have not shot any film yet, but I recently shot 200' of color neg. in the K3. Sent the film to Cinelab and had them print a R16 print. Put it in my projector two nights ago and it looked great! Cinelab did a great job and probably didn't know it was an Ultra16 negative. It would be nice to get Ultra16 prints but I may be the only person on the planet wanting to cut Ultra16. But if I shoot reversal I'll have the Ultra16 frame on the positive. I wonder if Cinelab has an Ultra16 gate for their printer? A few days ago I spoke to someone at Cinelab about Ultra16 telecine/scanning. They said telecine in a few weeks and 2k scanning by the end of the summer.

Very nice footage. Did you use a Mattbox with the Nikon lenses?