Willem Jansen

Had a talk with Bernie yesterday. I've since then closed the gelatine holder with tape and the C Mount plate on the front of camera, but it didn't help any unfortunately. I also have to remove the C Mount plate to see if there are any gaps between the rim and edge of the plate. Or that it was screwed in tight enough. But since I already taped it off before and nothing changed, I'm waiting with that. I'm kind of running out of options. I've been looking through the viewfinder most of the times to see what's going on. There's this tiny light shining at the bottom. When I turn the inching knob, I can see the claw moving in that little light from left to right(!) I'm starting to wonder if that's maybe it. But at the same time, maybe it's supposed to be there and am I looking completely at the wrong thing. Right now, my guess is, is that it's a reflection coming from something that I haven't figured out yet. The ground glass, maybe? Bernie and I have another telephone call planned later today as we both want me to figure it out myself and try to fix it. He's of great help so far and I hope we get there. But the opinions or ideas from folks here is also still greatly appreciated.

ACL 2

This may be it. Or at least one of them: Anyone who thinks the same? When I looked through the viewfinder and layed my finger on it, the leak seemed to disappear. But this could also me my finger blocking the light... :rolleyes:

Yeah, I just shined some bright light into the camera and looked through the viewfinder. There's a small light leak at the bottom, but have no idea and thus far figured out where it exactly breaks in (the viewfinder or somewhere else?)

Well, the sun was behind us and I used a lightmeter for correct exposure. So I can't imagine that it's the mattebox. Also, it's visible throughout the whole footage. Including shots where I did some handheld where the lighting was a lot less brighter than in the screenshot I posted here. But for the most part I'm guessing since I have no clue what the hell it is. If anyone knows please let me know.

The link is no good. Here's the screenshot:

I've just received the first footage I'd shot with my Eclair. To my surprise, there's a weird bar (clearly visible in the upper middle) throughout the whole footage. It looks like some sort of reflection. I've posted a screenshot underneath the text. I shot in natural light and the sun was behind us. I used a lightmeter and as far as I know, I did everything right. I often went two stops further but in the shots where I used the lightmeter, the bar is there also. The camera had been serviced by Bernie a while before, so I can't imagine anything wrong inside the camera. Could anyone help me further? https://postimg.cc/image/ewxy5ypnb/

I usually attach the handgrip to the side of the camera body but it doesn't really work for me. My ACL came without the little handgrip support and I was wondering if someone here knows a place/website where I can get one of these? Or maybe someone has a spare? Thanks! Here's a photo:

My new camera weighs about 9 pounds and I've been looking at some tripods. I don't have any knowledge in what to look for. Can anyone tell me what to look for in one and recommend some quality, but at the same time, affordable tripods? I know that everyone wants the best quality without paying a lot of money. But filmmaking is not my normal day job and so I will be using the tripod just so every now and then when I have a new project.

The camera package is at Bernie's place. He will replace the Jaeger input with a XLR and add a cable, battery and charger. Shout out to him and his wife Julie. Great communication and I'm very happy he can fix this for me.

Okay, thanks. Btw, I noticed that the needle of the exposure meter doesn't move at all when I manually turn the aperture control ring. It seems like it doesn't work anymore. Is there another way I could manually control the aperture?

Thanks for the information, Mark! I'll be shooting 24fps. I don't know what type of film I'm gonna use, except that it's Vision3. I wanna shoot it in a forest in the summer, so any suggestions would be great.

I have a Canon 814 AZ Electronic for a couple of years now. And I'm thinking about shooting a short film with it. Funny enough I found out it had a skylight filter (58 R1,5 1x) on it the whole time :rolleyes: The thing is, I went outside (it's really sunny here today) and the exposure meter immediately indicated overexposure. Should I add a ND filter? Or is there something else I can do to get it to drop a bit? The skylight filter has a "58mm" thread, but the camera's zoom lens says "60mm". If I would buy a ND filter, should I get one with a 58mm thread size or 60mm?

Is it possible to use a different charger? Besides the adapter he also couldn't find the original charger...

Also, this is how he said he used to attach the battery pack to the camera: - with the included battery pack to the Jaeger input. - with a 4pin XLR to Jaeger adaptor (now missing, as detailed). He has lost the 4pin XLR to Jaeger adapter over the years. (Sorry for the double post, I couldn't edit my previous post all of the sudden)

Well, The camera has yet to arrive. The previous owner said the batteries needed to be removed and has already done that for me. The only way to attach the battery pack to the camera is through the cable that goes into the Jaeger input. But because it has corrossion on it, I better first replace it right?

I already thought it would cost some money. Do you think the conversation would cost a lot, though? And would somebody like Bernie be able to do it?

I recently bought a ACL (1.5) and it has the Jaeger input on the body for the battery. The original battery needs to be re-celled and I'm wondering if this is the best thing to do or, which is my other option: to get a separate 12v NIMH battery and attach it to the camera's magazine. This seems to be the more efficient option as far as my research goes. But then I still need a cable or adapter, right? I honestly never heard of the brand Jaeger before... Does anyone have more knowledge about this?

Yeah, a member from this forum also got his Eclair serviced by them, not that long ago. Exactly.

Maybe you're right, I haven't decided on this yet. I'm not gonna buy a camera anytime soon. One of the reasons I like the technician to be in NL is because of the shipping costs. Shipping it overseas to Bernie is twice the price I'll have to pay compared with shipping it here. And then combine that with the costs of getting it checked. And as far as what I've read here, the camera needs to be cleaned and lubed every once in a while. Look, I don't wanna sound greedy. The Eclair has made a really great impression on me. I just don't wanna go through the same experience as with the K3's. But also, I haven't checked all the places in Europe where I could go to. So I'll do that first.

I called the Edwin (from Etkon) who was going to repair my K3 and, after he explained what was wrong with it, decided to leave it as it is. I don't know how to tell this all in English. But simply said, it's better to save up money for a better camera. He wasn't really fond of the K3 to say the least. He said that the Eclair is a great camera, but it's quite old and parts are scarce (at least in the Netherlands). The same goes for the Arri SR's. Besides that, it is an excellent camera. He suggested me to go for an Aaton (LTR). I think everyone here knows what makes it a good camera. But for me, it's also really important to have a repair guy that has parts for it and is based in the Netherlands. Which he does.

I sent out the camera to a company in Amsterdam called Etkon who have a repair and rental department. Somebody on this forum got his Eclair ACL repaired by them. They're factory trained by Arri, Aaton, Panavision, Zeiss etc. They said that the problem I have with my K3 is that the ground glass needs a little adjustment. So no new parts/K3 necessary. If this works out, I'll have a camera tech I can rely on. Which would be really great because it would save me quite some money on shipping+maintenance costs.

And that's why I bought the K3 and not an ACL or Arri SR2/3. I thought of myself not being ready to own a camera like those (especially an Arri SR2/3) at the time. If I buy a new one, that'll be my third... and who knows if that one will work properly... I rather get this one fixed and shoot my upcoming short film with it and in the meantime save money for a better camera.

I'm thinking about making a DIY blimp for my K3. Putting it in a sleeve of a coat doesn't really work for me. Anyone with tips?

Exciting stuff!