Gregg MacPherson

I meant to say also...re the lenses. My suggestion would be to sell the lenses separately. If someone was buying the camera as a start to build up from, they would probably be more interested without the lenses. My ideas about the CLA did not include the lenses. Note that AZ Spectrum is not that far away, and Andrzej has the expertise to repair those motors. You could send him an email with a pic of the motor housing with the missing inching knob and ask if he has any thoughts. Tell him that the camera is going to a CLA at VP. Keep the email short and he will probably reply straight back.

Hey Tom, You did the right thing contacting Visual Products, I assume Paul Scaglione. Their hourly rate is fairly high, but Paul is quite fast, a CLA on that may only be a couple of hours. It looks like a camera that has had little use, so if it has not been run dry or otherwise abused then it may just need CLA with few or no repairs. If it hasn't had service for over 20 years, it's overdue and the uncertainties will lower the value. Paul's CLA will remedy that. VP will have batteries/power supply so if you wanted to avoid that expense, it will make little difference to the new owner, little difference to the sale price if it has a fresh inspection and CLA from Paul. If you think a battery will make a difference, then you can organise something inexpensive. The Les B conversion with the improvised ground glass lowers the value compared to the VP conversion. The unusual motor housing with no inching knob lowers the value in my eyes. I like to be able to easily inch the camera by hand. It probably has mirror parking. You must remember from when you used it. That may be something that can be fixed. Ask Paul when you hand over the camera. After Paul's CLA and assessment one might make a guess on the value. The lack of Arri-S/B and PL mounts lower the value. Not having useful magazine sets lowers the value. Not having a set of onboard battery packs or a usable battery kit lowers the value, but my opinion is that it's not that important. Not having a video tap lowers the value. These increments lowering the value all sound negative, but after Paul's CLA and hopefully inching knob repair this camera could be a good beginning point for someone to build up a kit. Low mileage, late model camera and excellent view finder. Gregg

Aaron, Assuming that the equipment is OK...... It's a good idea to control the loop sizes, and the position of the perf in the film gate, and the position of the claw. The mirror parking will leave the claw always in the same place. The manual mirror motor, you will have a routine that leaves the mirror and claw almost the same. When loading, while setting the loops, shift a perf in the gate so it's just below the claw. The claw will catch it every time, quiet starts and you will keep your ideal loop sizes. Like Dom says, manual inching to engage the claw is best. Make it part of your protocol. Get some clean scrap film to practice loading. You can run the loop tests/scratch test with the door off. Adjust your loading protocols as above and check that your method works. Then you can pull mags as often as you need without any concern over the loops. If you have any doubt about your mag or method, after mounting a fresh mag on the camera just pull the door and run a few frames. Have fun.

Really interesting work Aapo. How is shoulder mounting with the common view finders? There must be more space to include a shaped shoulder pad.

Well deserved David.

Thanks Dom, this is going to be a good reference thread. Duncan, The generic Arri-B/S to TS adapter in my prev pic above......Lens inserts to the flange, then twist a few degrees 'till it locks with a click. The metal button that releases the bayo lock also retracts the little tabs that hold the groove in the Arri-S mount. If the lens orientation feels off to the operator or focus puller maybe it's OK to rotate the rear of the adapter. The machining one assumes is perfect and there will be 4x90deg increment positions.

This is the common (generic) Arri-B/S to TS adapter I've had and seen photos of. Best I can do for now. It's cut from the pic on the cinemarketplace that I pointed to. The bayonet locks. It has a metal release button on the far side. When Sam Riley resurfaces he might take some better pics for us. One of the common industrial lens projectors uses the same adapters, I'm fairly sure. So that is a source of info, and maybe used adapters, so anyones guess on the supply and demand there.

You are a busy beaver. I'm sure that is not the standard Arri-B/S to TS adapter that was sold (contemporaneously) with the original cameras. I've had one or two and seen a few photos on the web or brochures. It has a plain, simple front face. I can't easily find a good photo, but there is one included in the ACL II kit I previously advertised on the Fleamarket. Not a close up, but you get the idea.. https://cinematography.com/index.php?/forums/topic/91893-eclair-flea-market/page/2/#comments So I don't know who made that one. Looks like a studious piece of work. Gregg.

Hey, well done. A thought on the rewinds...Most old ones had simple gears enclosed that gave quite a high rewind speed. Very useful. Not sure on the ratio, guessing maybe 3 or 4 to 1. You could make all that with your 3D printer maybe. Steel for the shafts and spindles. The gear teeth would be quite coarse.

Meant to add...Keep the PL mounts and screws, may be very useful later, and the lenses are more valuable with PL mounts. If someone is buying the good aftermarket PL mounts to convert, they're almost USD400 each.

I had to figure this out a while ago (screw length on Arri-B vs PL mount). In the end the simplest thinking was best. I measured the screw length from a factory PL mount on a 16mm format lens as 6mm. The screw for Arri-B was I think 5mm long. There isn't much thread engagement length at 6mm for the PL mount, but at about 7mm the screw is bottoming out. If you have 6mm screws, it may not be safe to use them on the Arri-B mounts. The screws are DIN 920 standard, M2 with coarse pitch=0.4mm. They have a 2.8mm diam cheese head, narrower than normal screws. Zeiss were helpful but didn't work out. ACCU in the UK sold us 50 stainless screws for about 25 Pounds, similar shipping. Very hard to find in small quantities. There may be lots of used 5mm screws left over from all the conversions from Arri-B to PL. The people selling you the mounts may have them. If you are searching, the screw spec will look something like DIN 920 M2x5, then maybe something specifying the steel and finish. Trimming the screw length is pretty easy for those with skills, familiar with tiny screws. Good luck.

Heikki, have you been through those web pages and scavenged for useful contacts etc, like on the camera service techs page..The first one I explored seemed a bit problematic, but there were some new names (for me). Steven, those ACL S16 conversion kits, I'm sure were intended for camera techs, not for DIY. (so I think we agree) Gregg

Andrzej is really busy. I had to wait a couple months for him to service two motors. But it's worth saying, he put it in his que and he was on time with the execution. Not bad really for a highly specialised (one man?) business. Re the shipping costs. You can strip down to the bare minimum that he needs

I think I remember Jean-Louis Seguin may have made those before. He may have some Jaeger connectors or an easy source. Anyone good at making up cables could probably make one, though I would choose someone experienced who knows the cameras and the specs well. The 4 pin Jaeger can be trickey if one doesn't have skill or experience. The standard cables with 4 pin Jaeger/Canon XLR4 I have seen in two versions. One with a coiled cable about 400mm long with connectors, and one with a straight cable about 250 long total, for the on board battery. For the length, copy a standard length, or consider it carefully. Andrzej at AZ Spectrum, commenting on current draw and V drop at higher fps, advised to keep cables short. So I guess one should also have adequate copper section area (cable size). The spiral cables are really useful though. I like the idea of the off board battery, and with the XLR4 connector on the camera, really robust, the old concern about stressing up the Jaeger connector is gone. Gregg.

It's good to emphasise the importance of properly fitting screwdrivers. Gunsmith sets are an interesting idea I never thought of. They are a bit expensive here. I used to have a specialist tool shop nearby and I could buy a selection of expensive good quality small size screw drivers. Since then I have found inexpensive, quite good quality sets of hollow ground screw drivers at the budget hardware and auto supply shops. Have a look at the shape of slothead screw drivers online....normal vs hollow ground etc... One problem is that the slothead screws on the ACL often have quite narrow slots , so without the perfect driver set, one sometimes has to use a smaller driver so as to fit the slot. Obviously a driver that fits the slot perfectly and is the width of the screw head is ideal.