Nathan Milford

Oscar, We covered it here a while back. Just to give you an idea. Abel doesn't deal in them anymore. Perhaps some thing have changed at the factory. - nathan

Although we have the capacity to service older lenses like the Ang. 12-120 I'm sure Du-All Camera might be able to service the lens in a shorter period of time. They're great guys there. - nathan

Righto. I have the Wheeler book somewhere around my workbench. You can take a gander at it when you stop by. - nate

This has come up before here. Wheeler's other books deal with general cinematography or standard def.

Call Girvan at Abel. He's our electronics guy and could no doubt help you. You can shoot him an e-mail (girvan@) and he might get it this weekend otherwise call him after 10 am eastern on Monday. What No-Brand transmitter is it?

I have a PDF for the Arri BL that if you PM me I can get to you. - nathan

Yeah. We've had a feller in from Aaton in the shop for some training so I've been occupied with that and I've had a flurry of personal stuff to deal with. Give me a ring during business hours and I should be able to answer your questions. - nathan

172.8 degrees makes the shutter speed 1/50th of a second at 24fps. This allows you to film 24fps in countries with a 50hz power system and also shoot PAL monitors with a minimized rollbar. 90 degrees essentially halves the amount of light hitting the film (90 is half of 180) so you will need to open up a stop. Essentially it will decrease motion blur and motion will seem less smooth. The XTRprod with an 11-position shutter can go all the way down to 15 degrees.

Negative. I've seen fully functional 1000' coaxial mags for the 16BL and M that resemble 35BL mags but actually have screw out doors like Mitchel Mags on either side. I didn't know they would trash the 16BL though. The ones I've worked with must have been modified.

It is a common Arri 16BL with a 1000' (or 1200' maybe) coaxial magazine.

I own both. Use the Zeiss.

Removing the shutter would give you smeary images as you need to block light from the film while it is advanced. Otherwise a shutter angle like 280 would give you a 1/31s exposure which would increase motion blur quite a bit. Shoot some tests and see if you like it.

Pete, We sell a bunch of SDX-900's to individual DP's so I am sure Ian in our L.A. Office may be able to point you in the direction of one of our clients. Our L.A. number is: (888) 700-4416 Ask for Ian McCausland and tell him Nathan from the NY office sent you. Regards, nathan

I know quite a few DPs who own SDX900's and actually more who own Varicams (basically because we sell them and I service them). They do quite well. It'd be rude for me to ask them exactly how well, but a few of them have disclosed. On the film side it's a bit different I've noticed. Different culture and history and jobs. Making your money back with loan intrest isn't as easy. I would love to own an XTRprod just for aesthetic value (beautiful hunk of metal and design), but that isn't exactly practical. *shrugs*

Its a great camera though it has its ups and downs. It's not quite the XTRprod of the 35mm world, and I think JP sacrificed sound a bit to find a more 'beautiful' movement, but it is still a workhorse, light and has a low power draw. It's not the quietest, but the difference can be negligable in most situations. If you'd like to know more talk to Jordan at our LA office, he is sort of evolving into our main 35-III guy. I'd really like to see them make a 35 for more generasl use. Heck I'd also like them to find a way into the video/HD market. *shrugs* regards, nathan

http://tig.colorist.org/mailman/listinfo/tig Telecine Internet Group.

Good luck finding a blimp housing for newer zooms. In my humble opinion the Arri 16BL is a pig. Get an Eclair NPR or better yet an ACL or save a bit and get an Arri SR or an Aaton 54LTR. These are more elegant and user-friendly cameras which come in S16 and are more easily convertable. - nathan

The claw pulls down two perferations instead of four, thus halving the traditional 35mm frame. You use normal spherical lenses and extract 2.40 (or whetever you want) from the negative. The advantage is that you don't need to use light hungry, heavy anamorphic lenses and you half your need for raw stock. The disadvantage is you have to add the extra step of making an anamorphic, squeezed print from a flat negative. You also are using less negative so you lose some quality there. There is a 2-perf movement for a Mitchell BNC (or NC, I think) on eBay right now. I've heard rumors of it coming back as it has fallen by the wayside.

Starting with an 54LTR is a much better place than the 7LTR like the original poster is looking into. It's a very different world and it's where Aaton seriously starts competing with the early SR1. ARRI had been making cameras for darn near half a century when Aaton and Jean-Pierre started making 7LTRs. It is my guess that JP was more interested in making a camera for revolutionary film making than standardizing manufacuting. The SR came out and ARRI already know how to pound out a camera thus why the SRs are fairly regular. At this point in history Aatons had many subtle and a few not so subtle design changes imposed on them every few cameras before they hit the 54LTR and things began settling down. The 54LTRs saw a more stable design and manufacutring process so that the majority of the 54LTR serial number range has a pretty standard set of parts. By the time you get to the XTRs and the prods the differences are only a teflon washer here or there (ignoring generalation differences like Aatonite and removable fibre screens). The 54LTR is where to start when looking for an Aaton, otherwise get an old SR. A school chum of mine (I should finish that darn degree shoudn't I) got something in the 600 (7LTR) range. Beautiful camera, but it needs an overhaul BADLY and is in danger of seizing up. His options are also limited as far as non-wildly-custom upgrades. - nathan

Howdy, The problem with purchasing an Aaton with such a low serial number (body and for mags) is that there may not be spare parts avaliable so if some of those odd kibbles and bits inside the camera fails it may be a hugely expensive enterprise upgrading a whole camera subsystem. Aaton does not make new parts, nor do they support older cameras so if it requires some serious work we cannot send it into the factory. For example some older mags have a drive belt and sprockets with large knobby teeth. If that belt snaps (c'mon the cameras is like 30 years old) we need to replace the sprockets and the gear under the spindle to fit a new style drive belt with smaller teeth. You really wouldn't be able to upgrade your motor, even if there was a spare avaliable. The reasons early Aatons could only reach 32fps was not due to the motor. Current draw would rise because of small design issues in the kibbles and bits inside of the camera. 7LTRs (properly serviced) sometimes can pull over an amp at 12v (with no mag or film) where a 54LTR (again properly serviced) will draw as low as half an amp and even the most neglected of XTRprods will draw 400 milliamps or less. This is all due to efficiency of design and also manufacutring tolerances have gotten more fine over the last thirty years. Your camera probably comes with CM style magazines. If you have a choice avoid the (very early) style of magazine where the take-up doors come off (these are also the type with the knobby drive belt, which is sometimes hidden under a panel unlike modern mags). The mags are hard to prevent light leaks on as they usually don't have rubber step gaskets on the seams nor do they have light baffles up by the sprockets on the takeups side. The CM styles (in Aaton parlance C = Regular 16 and M = mechanical drive, as opposed to DX where D = Super 16 and X = Magnetically driven) of mags can be upgraded top DM mags for about $1500 a mag which includes replacing the co-axial roller which transports the film betweem chambers. This upgrade make the film transverse the co-axial emulsion up. Around mag #2500 (not sure exactly) Aaton found out that the new T-Grain emulsions bruised much easier than older emulsions so they flipped the co-axial. This originally wasn't mean't as a Super 16 upgrade, but it sure made a difference. As for fiber screen markings there is only one screen for the LTR if it wasn't meant to be S16 switchable. If thats the case you'll need a late LTR54 sliding fiber screen. I'm not clear what that costs (maybe $500 or more?) nor am I clear what it might cost to upgrade an older LTR to S16, if we even offer that service anymore (new gate? new mount holes?, maybe just replace the lens mount spider?). Also note that that your camera will have a three flange Aaton mount (looks similar to a B4 mount, strangly) so if your lenses are not in Aaton mount will need a $300-400 bayonet-aaton adaptor or you could go one step better and get a PL mount wich might cost $1600-1800. As for adding a video tap you could only use a Top Handle Tap. The top handle and view finder would need to be heavily modified or machined to accomidate this. We know a guy who does this service beautifully and could send it out for such an upgrade if you chose to send the camera in. VERY IMPORTANT: If the seller cannot provide you with a solid service history of the camera you must assume it needs an overhaul. On an older LTR overhauls cost a bit more than for a new XTR prod. It may be between 12-16 hours of labor at $120/hr exluding parts. The older cameras are not as easy to overhaul (just overhauling the motor requires desoldering a few circuit board interconnects!, the prods are much easier). This could be between $1500 and $3000 (depending on parts) and YOU SHOULD NEGOTIATE THE PAYMENT OR DISTRIBUTION OF THE PAYMENT OF THIS COST WITH THE SELLER BEFORE CONFIRMING PURCHASE! A lot of other shops (other than Abel) provide these services, and sometimes at a better price, but many of them do not do a proper complete overhaul in the factory style. Les Bosher in the UK still will do all of the S16 upgrade as might others, but I would suggest (and not because I am an employee, well maybe a little) you get the Overhaul and regular maintenance done at Abel. You should sne dthe camera in every 4 years for an overhaul and every year for a blessing (one or two hours of service) or a light internal cleaning. Please feel free to ask any questions you can also call up Kathy, our service admin, for a service quote. Good luck, the old LTRs are great little cameras if you take care of them. nathan

You can swing by any rental house that carries it or sells it and they'll be happy to go over it with you. Abel Cine just happens to sell and rent the camera. You're welcome to swing by and request a quick crash course as long as we're not swamped. - nathan

http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/cate...-217&type=store *shrugs*

I have the original ARRI variable motor as well as the tobin TXM-22 crystal motor. I power them both with 12 volts. You should not try to power the original ARRI constant speed motor at 12volts. I started off with a Du-All battery and one of thier banana to XLR4 pigtails. I have since modified the camera myself to take a 4-pin XLR (much like the Du-All modification, but with some personal extras). I have ditched the Du-All battery and created an adaptor to use DeWalt batteries ($50 bucks in any hardware store and they charge in an hour) much in the style of Doug Underdahl's adaptor for the 16SR. For the most part you can use any 12v source with a decent AH draw. You should also note that if you have magazines, your torque motor(s) may or may not need a modification. Tobin will mod them to handle 12v. Sometimes they don't need it, other times they burn out. Mine just worked *shrugs*. Either way, you should send your camera to the brothers Gal at Du-All and get an overhaul if you cannot get a proper maintenance history of the camera from the previous owner. If you have no history, assume the gears are dry and the current draw is high. You spend that little bit of money and you'll wont have any reason to question the camera in the middle of that money shot. A note if there is no service history (this is to anyone else who plans on buy a camera, online or otherwise): If the money for the camera is held in escrow or even before you offer to buy the thing make sure you can find a way to split the cost of the overhaul, or even better have it built into the price of the camera. If there is no history see if you can have it checked out by a professional before the purchase. Du-All will probably quote you $600 for the overhaul. We (here at AbelCine) will quote you between $1500 and $3000 (depending on the condition, parts needed and model/generation of camera) for an overhaul of an Aaton 16mm camera. The little ARRI is a wonderful little camera. Sounds like a blender, but it gets the job done. Get the tobin crystal motor and some nice glass (you did get an SB, hopefully?) and you should be set for any MOS work, tabletop, sports, nature and music videos. Try not to get your hopes up about a Super 16 modification, though. I've never seen an attractive super 16 modifcation.

It's not the best lens out there, least of all from it's generation. The lens is notoriously soft at the wide end. If you're shooting wide open at 12mm don't expect to get any useable footage. The lens uses springs which tend to go bad over time (as opposed to threading on other lenses) as well as some other construction issues. I have an old 12-120 which is in decent condition. It holds focus thoughout the entire zoom range and the tracking and zoom curve is spectacular, but I think before I purchased it had been in storage for 25 years in a position where the springs were not stressed and the iris leaves were open and resting. But you RARELY find one in that condition. Even my good ang. doesn't hold up to my Zeiss or Cooke zooms of the same generation. It has a distinct look. But most of them you will find have been abused so that distinct look is soft focus >8P I'm being harsh though. I'm the type of guy who would rather shoot with his old cookes and schneiders than a set of master primes... although the S4's are pretty HOT. I saw a 10-150 with a PL mount on it once. I had to giggle.

Make sure to pick up some TVMP adaptors as they usually come with pipe clamps instead of baby-pin recepticals, and get the right bulbs for your application. General information can be found here. Photometric data can be found here. You can actually pick up par cans off of ebay for peanuts. They're only 1000 watts though, not entirely useful in many night exterior situations unless you're planning on throwing them up in the distance to provitde 'random' points of light in a frame.