Gregg MacPherson

Hey Brennan, I may be. I just sent you a PM. Find the messages icon on the upper right.

Alexander, Just look at the cheapest way....thanks. Gregg.

Sold. I'll take those, if you don't mind shipping to New Zealand. I guess we better check what that costs first. Can you? Talk soon, Gregg.

I had this on eBay for about 3 weeks or so and it didn't sell. I forgot about it for a while. This time, before relisting I cleaned the body properly, repainted the red focus marks, put good vinyl labels on the lens cap and took better photos. Someone was selling one for 3000 Pounds (USD3570) so I raised the price, got a bid half an hour after listing. https://www.ebay.com/itm/155427453867

Sam, Did you or someone else mention the A minima. The ACL with 200' mags is very compact and quite light. No funny business with the plastic spools. Though you can run 200' metal spools. Gregg.

Hey Sam. I shot a few rolls of 16mm in McMurdo Antarctica in about 1985 over the spring, summer, autumn with an ACL I. Spring could be sometimes -50degC. Summer may have sometimes been around your 0degC. The camera tech prepped the ACL with winter lubricants, but I don't know what he actually did. I'm guessing the greased bearing surfaces (meaning any loaded contact surface that takes grease), especially the mag feed and take up spindles. He might have winterized the zoom lens also. Bear in mind that my environment was probably a lot colder than yours will be.... I never used on board batteries. I used the spiral stretchy battery cable and kept the batteries under my coat next to my body. I had extra batteries curtesy of the US Naval film dept at McMurdo. Spare batteries and high Ah capacity would be a good idea. Modified battery that goes to the max allowed actual V would help, especially at higher speeds. In the cold weather I didn't wander too far from shelter. The assembled camera, ready to use, was often kept inside my coat to keep it warm. Sometimes the camera just would not get speed, or the zoom barrel felt like the grease had become like used chewing gum, being chiseled off the helix with a stuttering feeling. Depending on your temperatures, you may still need careful planning so that you always have a safe environment (tent, hut etc) not far away so you can prep your gear. Perhaps ways to keep the camera warm? Heater, electric barney? Thinking about the choice of camera. Are you mostly on sticks or hand held? You probably know already the pros and cons of the SR/Aaton/ACL cameras. SR, really robust and compact, but a bit like a heavy brick on your shoulder. LTR/XTR, a bit of a fragile design, relatively, and quite bulky, but good ergonomics. ACL sort of in the middle in both respects. An ACL II with the big bright Kinoptik finder and ergonomic side handle is almost as heavy as an SR. Any of those cameras, properly serviced, can be reliable. If there's a budget and assistants to haul gear you might have a second camera body, just in case. I had a mirror in my viewfinder drop off its epoxy mount in the cold. A visiting TVNZ crew had the same thing happen on their CP camera. We both fixed it real quick, DIY with epoxy. I'll try to find time to respond to some of Tylers ideas about ACLs. Have fun, Gregg.

If moving parts are worn they can be built up. The spray and bake I think is to build up the focus threads. Guessing. Dom might have done this or worked with people that do it, so he may have some insights. I was curious so googled and found... https://www.finishing.com/352/25.shtml The last post is ... "Our Company, ARRI, is the world distributor of Zeiss motion picture lenses. The use of Emralon 330 has been a common practice by Zeiss in the repair of lenses that wear from use. It is sprayed on and then baked. After the coating is hardened, it must be lapped in with the matting part." George Schmidt - Blauvelt, New York What the substance is I didn't keep looking. Electroless nickel plating, which might have application to this problem, I have had done for some parts that needed precise fit into bushes. It was a few days turnaround and $40 min charge. I think they could control the thickness to with a couple microns. Don't know if really thick layers were a problem, but think 10 or 15 microns was ok. The focus thread would have to be removed from the housing. Just thoughts.

Thanks Dom. I'll message you in a little bit. The spray and bake method sounds interesting. My initial thought was that it would be hard to control the build thickness. May be an art to it. Chemical plating, like electroless nickel, is super precise, and cheap. I thought it might be an option, but maybe you need thicker layers, a quicker process.

Doesn't seem so much when you look at the job list from your eBay... WORK PERFORMED: Dis-assembled to access focus section. Cleaned all components. Sprayed and baked threads. Re-lubed focus and iris. De-clicked iris. Tightened and secured B mount. Stripped and re-painted front optics edge paint. Cleaned and aligned optics (best effort). Re-collimated. _________________ Mine just need the focus cleaned and re-greased. Everything else is good. Chatting keeps your item at the top of the Cinemarket page... Gregg.

Hey Edward, I read on your listing the work that Duclos did. I'm really curious what this job cost. I have a couple of lenses that may need similar work. Separately, I didn't realize that MK I sspeeds needed de-clicking. Odd. Another thought. Those familiar will see that it is an Arri-B mount with a PL adapter. Those unfamiliar may assume it is a PL mount. Cheers, Gregg.

Sent you a direct mesage. Gregg.

You could send him a message on eBay and suggest that he notify us of his Eclair items on the Fleamarket/Cinemarketplace. Then we have a link to him and the pics are retained.

I think the best orientation is as seen in the photo. Just need to add a recessed handle in the top and feet for the bottom, the kind that sit just short of the corner. Not the kind that wrap around the corner. With the case oriented as above the feet could safely locate/retain it on the cart. It's a bit top heavy when sitting on the cart like this, so I guess you won't leave it there. Cases were also built like that but with the lid on the side, so with lower centre of mass (CoM). Old cases can be very endearing objects. I salvaged some like this, ex US Navy/Science foundation from the dump at McMurdo, Antarctica (1981). The faces are plywood covered in vinyl.

Sounds like Neglab in Aussi may be the best idea. Re the response from Archives NZ. Based on my phone call (2018) they won't want to process small increments of dailies, but they might batch process. But 20x400' rolls vs 20x100' rolls..? The 100' rolls are 4x less attractive when they are looking for excuses not to take the job. The 16 vs 35mm may be another hurdle. Did they say how often they were currently processing 16mm? Any other issues, perhaps intrinsic to the chemistry, the film stock...? What machines/format was Ian running...?

After fitting a mag the claw is engaged with the inching knob. Its good to be conscious of where the claw is and where the perfs are positioned so you know where it will engage. Allowing the claw to engage in a random position can change the loops. Running the camera before the claw has engaged doesn't feel or sound good. Can't see a reason for doing it. Gregg.