Heikki Repo

Well, that Beaulieu R16 is for me a "toy", for shooting those family moments on 16mm film. Arri would be an overkill for that, not to mention the cost of the lenses :) For professional work and making art I already have my S16 Eclair ACL. I think at the moment I'll then shoot with this camera with my glasses on and see if I get away without a light leak. But yes, 4x5" cameras' "viewfinders" are nice. Though, there you have to use a loupe... :)

Reviving this old thread as I can't help but to wonder how to solve this equation: I'm very near sighted (my glasses are about -7) and this camera only has diopter up to -2. I can usually cope with the -5 that most cameras have, but -2 just isn't enough. I bought that same Zenit diopter Sir Alvin mentioned just to find out the same what Sir Alvin did -- the field of view is too narrow. Before I go and buy a SLR correction lens, swim goggles and find my self a bottle cap, does someone have any other suggestions how to solve this problem?

Spot the hole :) This is an old photo, the leak has been repaired.

Should anyone else encounter flicker problems with their ACL, here's some information on one potential cause and how to fix it: https://eclaircameras.wordpress.com/acl-flicker-problem/

I think Aaton 35-III isn't just supported anymore. From their website: "We provide factory level maintenance and support for Aaton Penelope, Xterà and XTR film cameras. We have a large parts inventory on hand in both our NY and LA locations, and our techs can perform all services from scheduled maintenance to camera model upgrades. We also offer a full range of services for Aaton package accessories including S16 and 35mm lenses."

Arriflex Standard.

Sorry, I didn't notice the need for servicing...

Giorgio, there seems to be an Optex converted Super16 Zeiss 10-100 Vario-Sonnar zoom in Aaton mount on Ebay available now from GB.

Giorgio, which mount do you have inside the Aaton mount? The Eclair TS-mount or Cameflex? Could you take a picture of how your camera front looks like? As for adapter that adapts C-mount to Aaton mount -- I don't think there are such adapters. If the TS-mount is still there, you possibly could ask Les Bosher to make a special adapter for you. I'm afraid there is no other solution.

Nope, unfortunately I haven't visited the factory -- if I remember correctly, I haven't even visited St. Petersburg.. But yes, Optars are nice. These lenses are rented out by one of the oldest rental houses in Finland.

Ohh yes. I love my Eclair ACL! I just received over the Internet some twelve minutes of footage from DeJonghe I shot on Tuesday. It came out perfect, despite the fact that this was the first time that... 1) ...I used my PL-mount adapter and some Optar Illuminas 2) ...I took care of the cinematography as well, in addition to directing and producing in a project this size 3) ...maybe not despite, but rather because I had a great team of a 1st AC and a gaffer to take care of pulling focus, gripping and lighting. But now -- if not before -- I have been proved that Eclair ACL is a 16mm camera that ought to be taken seriously. No need to rent that Arri 416. So let's keep the information on Eclair cameras alive and available! :) Thanks Erkan again!

There are several different 16mm Arriflex cameras. Which one is this? Would you mind linking to the auction? Unfortunately it isn't possible to adapt Nikon F lenses for any Arriflex cameras. All mounts (Arri Standard, Bayonet and PL-mount) on Arriflex cameras have longer flange focal distance than Nikon F mount.

Excellent!

Since it seems that my short film wasn't interesting enough for film festivals to get selected, I have decided to make it available on Youtube until the first of October. Maybe someone will enjoy it :) This was shot on Fuji Eterna Vivid 250D with a Super16 modified Eclair ACL.

These ACLs seem to have become rather popular these days, eh? :)

Stranger Things was excellent. Somehow the lighting (and quite probably all the things combined) made me feel really, really nostalgic. The warm afternoon sun and the cold Autumn -- I loved it!

Unfortunately I forgot about the flange focal length issue. CP-mount is apparently very similar to Aaton mount. Apparently "with slight modification any CP camera can accept Aaton mount lenses". Thus its ffd is 40mm. C-mount is 17.526 mm and Micro 4/3 is 19.25 mm. M42 would work, but the choice of wide lenses is rather slim. I couldn't find any OCT19 to M42 adapters and Meteor 5-1 is only 17mm in its widest end. Modifying the lens mount to OCT19 would seem a bit funny, even if it allows one to use cheap Russian cine lenses. Maybe in the end PL-mount is the only real option, were you to modify the mount.

Are there wider Russian m42 primes available? The reason why micro 4/3 would be such a hot choice is that it's almost the modern c-mount of our time: there are wide lenses available for it and with suitable adapters almost every lens can be used with it. You could ask Bernie about the lens mount. And you are correct about just framing for 1.85, modern film stocks are so fine grained that it'll work even if it's not S16.

I think the main question is, do you like it so much that you'd like to use it more? If yes, then the further modifications can be a good idea. I myself have been building an Eclair ACL set. I have had it modified to S16, bought PL adapter and rods for it. All of this while I know that I could rent an Arri 416 with all bells and whistles. However, my rationale behind this decision has been that with my Eclair I can use cheaper lenses and skip the rental house if I'm doing something low budget / solo (our closest camera rental that has 16mm cameras and lenses is a few hundred km from where I live). Now that I have a PL-adapter as well, I try to use this camera for all film based projects I'm dping myself. If I were to choose, I'd have your camera modified to micro 4/3 mount. That way your camera would have a feature not available in higher end cameras. S16 could be done at the same time. But all of this depends on the question: Do you want to use it so much that it is worth the money to modify it? If not, sell it for a small price to someone and give them hints what modifications they could do to it. Don't modify it just to sell it, you won't get your money back.

So, to get started with DS-8, 1) buy a camera (that Quarz is a good one to start with). 2) buy film here https://www.fotoimpex.de/shopen/films/foma-fomapan-iso-21100-r-ds-2x8-mm-10-meter-double-super-8-not-super-8.html 3) shoot the film: Load the daylight spool in the camera, expose, then flip the spool and expose the other half. 4) send it in for processing here: super8.nl -- tell them it's DS-8 Fomapan, they'll know what to do with it... It'll cost you a total of about 28 EUR for film and processing (shipping not included)

I'll post a step-by-step guide later today, now'll watch some Stranger Things :)

That was 28 EUR but for some reason the currency sign went missing. So 28 EUR for one roll of Fomapan film and processing.

Or, if you want to stay with super-8, the cheapest I have found is this (never used it myself): http://kpfilmlab.be/Projecten.htm Prices for film only and processing included.

Well, with Fomapan and DS-8, it costs approx. 28 film + processing for the same or a bit longer amount of film as one cartridge of super-8.

Chris, have you tested your battery pack to find out which of the pins is ground and which 12V? Once you find that out, building new battery packs is rather easy. I recelled myself all of the batteries I received when I bought my camera.