Gregg MacPherson

I was a bit slack on solving that problem and reporting back. There are some ideas arising that may be usefull for camera users who are technically minded. My new tests were done in warmer temperatures. I think the camera is almost new and set up with close tolerances and these factors may have been a small contributor to the previous result (failing to run at sync at 75fps). For the new test I made a couple of changes but unfortunately I didn't test the changes individually so can't confirm which was the most significant. Firstly, I checked the potentiometers that adjust the motor drivers. The paint spot seal was cracked and one of the pots had (been) rotated a tiny amount, judging this just by the brocken paint being out of register. So I tried to put the pots back as they were when they were spoted with paint. Also I had a look (@24fps) at the variation in noise and amperage while making small adjustments to the pots. Changes in noise were noticable but small, changes in amperage were very small. Second, I took the motor off, checked the alignment to the rubber drive block carefully and remounted it. Carefully rensioned all the screws about the same. Third. I used the on off switches on the body rather than the handgrip (later I tested 75fps with the handgrip switch and it still was OK) I used the very short onboard battery cable and used a less than full 1.9Ah NiCd battery starting at 12.7V no load voltage. RESULTS: Ran fine at 75fps with lots of stops and starts for 180' , the length of the test roll. The sync light showed a nice quick start up. I then checked the no load bat voltage, was 12.34V. Ran another 180' the same way, all good, maybe the sync light showing a slightly longer start up. No load voltage then was 12.26V. Could have continued with more tests with this battery. I ran a test with a battery that had a no load V=12V and I could not get speed @75fps. CONCLUSIONS AND IDEAS: Don't know what the dominant factor is out of temperature, tight mechanism, motor alignment, motor driver pot adjustment. I owe some thanks to the AZ Spectrum man for his ideas. Not sure if I will make a higher voltage battery for high speed as per his recomendation. I may just make a jumper cable so I can double tha capacity of my normal batteries. Switching to NiMhi will be a great move also. I read recently in the Eclair list in the Topica forum someones experience with high speed with ACL II with the latest motor. He said that voltage had to be over 12V. If anyone has any of the following that they can share please contact me: - Owner manual for ACL II - Circut diagrams for ACL II. - Workshop service/repair manuals for ACL I or ACL II Cheers, Gregg <viz@xtra.co.nz>

I hoped I could watch that here in New Zealand but couldn't unfortunately.

I like ACL's. There are some bargains on eBay. Some people put the likely price on their camera or even over price it and wait for someone to see it. Others just put a very low starting price and accept whatever happens over the few days. This is an example. Actually an ACL II S16, but no 400' mags and I don't think it had a S16 zoom. Sold for $798. http://www.ebay.com/itm/250925415443?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649 You need to know when a camera last had a proffessional lube and check over. Where are you located? Access to servicing expertise could be a deciding factor in buying or not buying a camera. Cheers, Gregg

There have been som truely inspiring efforts in DIY telecine. Have a look at these threads http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=36613&pid=353410&st=60entry353410 and can't find the other thread but it's called "So I built a DIY scanner" Cheers, Gregg.

Hey Jason, I'm pretty sure that the battery bracket screws onto the ACL I and II the same way. My guess is that the hole pattern is the same but I'm not 100 percent on that. To mount the bracket, two screws on the camera body are replaced with longer ones. To me this battery mount puts stress on a weak part of the camera, basically stresses the screws. I saw a photo of one camera that used velcrose to attach the battery to the magazine so it wouldn't move around and stress those screws. If you can borrow the Eclair battery brackets you could replicate them fairly easily if you want to stay compatible. The part on the camera is from flat stock and the part on the battery is from angle stock. The two exposed screws on the bracket on the battery that slot into the bracket on the camera could be improvised with normal screws and short pieces of tube. If want to do this but haven't got an original to work from I could send photos or some dimensions. I used to quite like the separate battery, just on a shoulder strap. The camera is lighter, but the small Jaeger power connection used to get a hard time. I recently got an ACL II with a Canon XLR4 connection (and on board battery). With the ACL II base, big Kinoptic finder and latest motor it's getting heavier. I was thinking of making an integrated hand holding rig: handles, shoulder pad and battery attachment behind that. Never got around to it yet. Are you using NiCd, NiMhi or gell cells? Cheers, Gregg

I don't know if anyone looked at the comments posted by by Leuan in that Guardian article. For me it brings up some ideas that are crucial for considering the differences between film and digital. I didn't yet try to explore the experiments he refers to. Some experiments were made measuring brain wave activity for pople watching film vs digital motion pictures. Film watchers had higher alpha waves. These waves are normaly associuated with subjective experience, like meditation, maybe some contemplative experience. I think there was some speculation about the function of the alternation between the complete projected film frame and the black screen with the closed shutter. Do we fall into a subjective state, transcend, between the film frames? To me this is analogous to how experience itself can be described. It's all in the gap. Digital watchers, showed an increase in beta waves, the waves associated with active experience objective experience. These styles of experience, the objective vs subjective, may not be simultaneously compatible. So my imediate thought was that digital media as an unstoppable modern trend is part of the movement to a more objective and particular world. It's a wold where subtlety, subjectivity and wholenes are harder to find. It's a world populated by increasingly discrete and separated looking things, that have an increasingly hard time finding connection or relationship or a comfortable sense of context or belonging. The fact that this modern trend is expressed everywhere or is unstoppable does not mean that it is in every sense good. So will some artists enjoy the then exstinct film medium. I think so. Maybe I can suggest that artists are of two kinds. There are those who sense or anticipate the coming changes in the world, and even if those changes are destructive, offer a facinating portal or intuit insights into the future qualities of experience. There is another kind of artist, at least in theory, who's function is to remind us of our nature, whether it's emotional, spiritual, or basic sense of identity as human beings. As the wave of digital overwhelms us, those working in the film industry have to adapt and survive. But I'm hoping that some artist will use this medium indefinately. Cheers Gregg.

Hey Boris, I can't remember what the SR extension consists of. Did it have it's own diopter adjustment and eye piece? Maybe it's easier to just get an Arri or Aaton camera instead. The ACL II with the big Kinoptik finder is about as heavy as an SR. Cheers Gregg.

Hey Boris, Thanks for that. I was curious about all this when I saw a TMC-2 cheap on eBay. Cheers Gregg

Years ago I nearly bought a non reflex CP16. The gate had some tiny balls that sat in the film sprockets for regestration. I did a regestration test, shooting some parrallel lines, then rewinding the film, rotating the lines about 5 degrees and reshooting. The two sets of lines weren't stable together, so just intuitively, that was a fail. Good excuse not to buy the camera. Gregg

Does anyone know if any of the Tobin Milliframe Controllers can controlll frame rates on an ACL II with Thomson crystal controlled variable speed motor. The camera base has a six pin socket on the right hand side that is supposed to be for "external control" Thanks for any ideas. Gregg.

I quite enjoyed watching that. I'll let the others critique the photography. As a piece of film making. They are quite big ideas in there, free will vs determinism, the implications on the emotional and psychological state of someone who is about to kill, the ambiguous identity of the messenger. But all that internal idea and emotion is not visually expressed. Imagine for example that the girls ideas are not spoken as dialogue and the visuals attempt to show the internal emtional states. It would be interesting to see the extreme emotions, or an explosion of images that expressed the ideas. Does time have to be so linear and metronomic. Can't it be fractured? Maybe the girl didn't open the door untill the end. Maybe the killing had already happened, but we didn't know that untill the end. Cheers Gregg

Scroll down about 6 screens through the comments to see the first post by Leuan where he talks about the different brainwaves (alpha vs beta) observed in people watching film vs digital.

Has anyone used or had a good look at a Proaim matte box MB-900B. They are a really cheap price, normally about US$400 - 500. Have some good design features that look like being a study on the big brands, but I'm guessing they will have some defects in the build quality or materials. The only opinion I heard on these sofar was from an engineer on the DVXuser forum. He really liked it for the price, but some or all of the lock knobs have plastic heads. For those who don't know it, it's a swing away with one 4x4 and two 4x5.65 holders. Maybe is being replaced by a new model. http://www.proaimshop.com/pas/product.php?productid=17604&cat=255&page=1 If you've used one but don't want anyone to know you can PM me (smiling). Cheers Gregg

I have the big orientable Kinoptic ACL view finder. I was wondering if it was possible to modify this to take an extension VF. This may mean making the extension as well or just modifying an Arri etc, some of which are really cheap now. Ignoring the mechanical design issues, can one just extend the tube in front of the eye piece and add another element? If the extension was about 220mm then what elemnt(s) do we need to add, roughly where. Has anyone done this? Can one modify an Arri extension or an Aaton one? Cheers Gregg

I got an amazing deal on some almost new looking 4x4 filters. They're all Tiffen, Schneider, glass sandwich. I noticed that a couple of the Tiffen ones had what looks like delamination of the centre layer starting from the edges in a few places. Does anyone know what causes that? Is it solvents? Does it spread? The Schneider ones have some sealant on the edges but the Tiffen ones look like they don't. Is it worth sealing those edges? I have some expertise with epoxy. Could easily do it. Thanks for any ideas, Gregg.

I really enjoyed your trailer. I like the idea that such a didactic piece of poetry/philosphy is so formally appealing in the images. The trailer being all close ups while we know the film is all wide is also very intriguing. Trailers are often much more formally free or interesting than the films themselves. I'm hoping that is not true of "A Song of Praise". On the level of content, it made me want to argue philosophy with the writer. I couldn't yet tell whether he was writing things he only partially percieved. Quite provocative. That's good. Cheers Gregg.

Reading the ACL 1.5 manual, Eclair had a 4Ah battery for cameras that ran a lot a higher speeds. It had a different casing, connectors and charger. I had thought of hooking a couple of the 1.9Ah batteries up in parallel. I'll give it a go. But I'm getting the idea that with the tweaking for noise this camera has a higher than average current draw at high speeds. I think Andrew's idea of using a 15.6V battery sounds good. Looking forward to switching to NiMhi when I can afford it. Cheers Gregg

This may be useful so I'll report on progress with this. From the previous owner I got that Visual Products had serviced the camera about 2 yeras ago, when they optimised the clearnces for minimum camera noise, with the current draw being higher but still "within limits". I don't yet know what those limits are. Andrew Zorawski at AZ Spectrum had upgraded the motor electronics previously so I sent him a detailed email. I got really good ideas back from him. I didn't ask him yet if I could paste his reply here, so I'll summarise: - Recommends for 75 fps a battery of at least 4Ah and up to 15.6V, a cable no longer than 1.5m. - The proper current for the 74fps motor just with the camera body (no magazine) with 12V battery is: 24fps - 0.8A 50fps - 1.8A 75fps - 2.7A - If you already have good batteries, make sure the motor is well positioned on the camera. By slightly loosening 3 fixing screws, run the camera at 24fps and gently push the motor and check if the current is decreasing in some positions. Sometimes the motor is too firmly pressed against one side. If this happens please put a spacer on the one side; important is correct coupling between the motor and the camera by a rubber disk. - Can try to put no more than one drop of oil ( can be auto oil 40/30) on the motor's bearing (on the camera side). - Can try to adjust the motor drivers by two potentiometers at speed 24fps. Potentiometers are located at the bottom rear of the motor electronics box. Turn these a small amount to minimise current and motor noise. Remember to note the origional position so changes can be undone. - If these things don't help then the problem is with the camera body or magazines. Cheers Gregg.

I think with Eclair it depends a bit on location. If you have a service guy not too far away that affects the decision. Parts are a problem, I mean availability of new parts, but is this a problem also for the earlier Aatons? Cheers Gregg

I have an ACL II with the latest electronic base and latest Thomson chrystal controlled motor. All in as new condition. I ran some tests with scrap film and this brought up some questions about the supply voltage needed at high speeds. With 1.9ah NiCad batteries discharged to 12.9V I can run at 50fps, but we don't get to speed at 75. My guess is it's somewhere between 50 and 75fps. The sync light stays on. The loaded battery voltage at 50/75 fps was 11.5/11 V. So I tested with a 12V car battery. This battery had 12.35V and then 14.16V with the engine running (alternator charging). On its own, 12.35V the battery would not run 75fps, but at 14.16V it did fine. The current draw at 24/50/75 fps was 1.6/5.7/7.6 amps. I didn't try the NiCads freshly charged yet. - Does anyone know what the current is supposed to be at different speeds? My ACL I was supposed to have about 1amp at 24 fps. - Are people using special batteries for higher camera speeds? The (ACL 1.5) user manual talks about higher capacity batteries being useful if doing a lot of high speed, but it's still a "12V" battery. If we go to a high capacity high discharge NiMhi then I think we can maybe solve the supply problem. But I want to see if the current I measured is ok. Any ideas anyone? Cheers Gregg.

Do you already know about the AZ Spectrum ones? About $1600 new. http://www.az-spectrum.com/nprvideo.html If it has to be dirt cheap then maybe you can rig a small CCD camera on the eye piece. There was an ACL that sold recently on eBay that had one of those. I should have asked the guy to share the basic specs for this forum. Re the multiple postings for this topic. They don't like that. Cheers Gregg

It may be that CP cameras are the best value for money but I never liked those cameras. There are some real bargans coming on eBay for Eclair ACL very recently. Eclair ACL 16mm camera package (sold US$468) http://global.ebay.com/Eclair-ACL-16mm-camera-package/170688011030/item Eclair ACL II 16mm camera kit - no reserve (sold 620 pound about US$1000) http://global.ebay.com/Eclair-ACL-II-16mm-camera-kit---no-reserve/180707508303/item I think that having access to a service techniciuan is an important factor in what you buy. If you can't easily get a checkup and lube you are adding to the risk that your camera will go downhill, maybe even fail. This is true for any camera I think. Cheers Gregg

Trying to attach the picture.

I have a couple of English 400' mags that have sat for a while and the take up sprocket has become quite stiff. Feels stiff when moving it with the magazine inching knob. I have parts drawings for the French but not the English mags. The French mags have a roll pin fixing the brass drive gear onto the take up sprocket shaft. Can't see one on the English version. If anyone has worked on this part of an English mag, am I right that the take up sprocket shaft assembly needs to be romoved to lubricate or replace the bearing? The brass gear needs to come off, yes? But how? I'm trying to attach one or two photos after removing the oblique drive shaft and the footage counter. The small aluminum gears were pressed on, but came off really easily. The top one drives a toothed belt for the footage counter. Having trouble with the attachment function, may try another post. Thanks for any ideas. Gregg.

I thought that was really nice. I think of it as a film rather than a music video. Well done Daniel and Anna. I like the genuine feeling of the emotional theme, and the images have a sense of the genuine also. I liked the finely textured interior shots that were framed by areas of black. I really liked the Anna in the snow images. I did wonder if maybe the start of the film was a bit bit loose formally. And maybe the meaning of the black makeup needs to be more developed. Were the fogged edges for real? Cheers Gregg.