Heikki Repo

Yes, unfortunately most are either dead or retired (long ago). But it's a very useful website for technical stuff!

As far as I know, he still does. Couple of years ago it cost around $1600. The main issue for many is that 1) you have to wait months (because he's very busy) and 2) you have to ship the whole camera to him because an extra screw for mounting is installed. Or so I have understood it :)

He does, but the website hasn't been updated in years so there are only those old type of SD taps mentioned.

And ah ha! IMDB lists one movie by Cinecan Productions from the early 90s, directed by Mark Sobel. Might that be the right Mark?

This is something I have wondered about as well. Reading his web pages (https://web.archive.org/web/20040413012457/http://members.aol.com/super16acl/menu.htm ) you can find this address: Cinecan Productions, PO Box 8700, Universal City, CA 91618.

Unfortunately I'm not knowledgeable enough to answer those questions! My project hasn't really progressed that much as making the parts necessary for attaching the sensor to the camera would pretty much require a 3D printer... ?

I haven't seen that before! The issue of magazines falling is related to two different things: the magazine teeth being worn out and what's even more critical, the locking mechanism itself being too flexible (the button bends a locking metal sheet - if it's too flexible, prepare for a disaster or use some extra locking!). My main ACL had the issue previously, I have had mags fall off with destructive results. However, my other ACLs didn't have this issue, the mechanism is very stiff and secure. I then replaced the actual bending locking part from one of those with the more problematic one. Since that's an ACL 1, it's going to be used with 200ft mags (lesser risk of the mag falling due to its weight) whereas now my main ACL mags stay super secure without any clothespin wedged between!

The issue with such conversion is the size of the MFT mount. One would need to machine the ACL front quite a lot in order to fit a MFT mount. I can send you a photo of the front without the c-mount.

It's not really Aapo's case, the footage is mine and I have that particular ACL right there on my desk ? I can send you the footage Gregg if you want to inspect it too.

No, this is on one of the ACLs I have serviced. Still haven't had time to finish tests on the newly converted one...

That issue was on my first S16 modified ACL. Easy to find when you know what to look for.

The backlit sunlight flicker is a different issue compared to the one we discussed Aapo - it's a feature present on all ACLs due to the way the mirror works in this camera. It's not a bug. The flicker that's present in the footage I sent to Aapo on the other hand is present on every other frame regardless of the lighting situation. That one is due to very slight higher friction in the movement and has been generally noted by Visual Products to be the difficult to solve cause of flicker in some ACLs. In order to solve that one one has to be able to make the movement smooth without any bumps in friction.

I don't use this plate for 15mm rods - instead I have the rod bridge base from Les Bosher that goes between my ACL "1.5" and this plate. I have been planning to use 19mm rods for adding a V-mount battery in the back though.

I have the same product as Dirk and I'm also very happy with it! (Heavy Eclair ACL kit closer to 10 kg on it)

Here's a challenge to everyone on this board: go support these projects financially if you really love film. This is just a side job and a hobby for me but I have bought three ACL motors from Aapo.

Helsinki (Finland) has CT scanners, but they are very friendly and cooperative with film shooters and hand inspect film when requested at CT scanner lines (there are still some older scanners at some places in the airport too).

I have been thinking of buying this, but noticed then that there was this single star review: "Ordered this twice, both times item was missing key part: "BREAKAWAY CABLE: 45cm lenght regulated DC 12V/5A/50W cable, with Flaying End"" Whoops... If someone has a good V-mount adapter with 12V regulated output to recommend, please chime in!

I had this Summer the joy of shooting a short ecclesial "commercial". I didn't have much crew in addition to me, children and young adults who are in the film were my team, assisting with tape measure and the follow focus. Our church Summer guide pushed a wheelchair for the dolly shots. Shot on Vision3 500T, S16 converted Eclair ACL, Optar Illumina lenses. For lighting I used a Jinbei 200W LED and three small portable LED panels, mainly for highlights. Two shooting days in the church and some b-shots from the table. Film was processed through scanned by Mutascan in 2K and later super scaled to 4K for better grain online. We moved pretty fast since on both shooting days in the church we had only about 5-6 hours including lunch break. Would love to hear your comments and feedback for improvement in the future - bear in mind the crew size and the shoelace sized budget though ?

I have had my lenses collimated by Elokuvakonepaja in Finland. However, for more indepth servicing/repair I think someone like https://rodensjo.se/MOHR-Lenstech/ can most likely help you. Unfortunately I don't have experience of them myself.

It was shot on different film formats - not only super-8.

Yes, I agree. Shooting on 16mm is financially a much better deal especially if one can use 400ft loads. Super-8 makes most sense if 1) no such camera is available for a low price and 2) the film is shot with a skeleton crew. With super-8 less resources needs to be spent on pulling focus or loading film, allowing for a tighter shooting schedule. If it's all natural light and 50D in broad daylight in a sunny state and the script revolves around a small cast, I can well see how the strengths of the format can be utilized quite efficiently. However, with the current reliability issues of S-8 cartridges it's not a good idea. When they are solved it might make sense again.

Apparently Logmar company is going to rent their brand new super-8 camera, see https://www.logmar.dk/

No, they say it was shot on Canon 514XLS.

One super-8 feature is in post production currently and is going to be released later this year, "Dead community guild":

Hi Cailin, There's this for sale in Germany, would probably check quite many boxes: https://www.kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/eclair-acl-ii-mit-videotap-und-lcd-motor-display-18-90-t2-lens/2482475825-245-19159?fbclid=IwAR016JkiS9dExkHlIwE-sFnHKFdhZg7oxxtjG2V0fbAF7SAnCRCT611rIGs As you can see, it features a video tap made by AZ Spectrum. One ACL owner I know is currently getting an HD tap there as well.