Clive Tobin

Wrong on just about all guesses. The 16mm 50 foot magazines require double perf film, single perf will NOT work. Loading it into the mags is a pain. There is no longer a good selection of film made in double perf. Unless the original poster wants to spend hours of drudgery in total darkness trying to load the tricky film path inside mags, assuming they can even find any empty ones, instead of shooting film, you should save the lenses, use the camera as a paperweight, and buy a spool loading camera instead. Mis-loaded mags will jam and lose loops, resulting in useless footage. You cannot tell yourself if the mag has been abused and will give soft focus on everything. The frameline can shift between one mag and the next, needing a projector framing adjustment when showing the film.

I posted the pin connections yesterday on another thread.

With the 7-pin Tuchel: Pin 5 is + (might be red) Pin 2 is -- (might be blue) Pins 1. 3 and 4 go to relay contacts so you can select externally between "12v dc during clapper" and "pilot interrupted during clapper." (Pin 3 is switched -- and ground, 1 & 4 are relay contacts.) Pins 6 and 7 are pilot (might be white and green-yellow) (Pin 6 often grounded) With the 6-pin Tuchel: Pins 1 & 2 are + Pins 4 & 5 are -- Pin 3 pilot ground Pin 6 pilot signal after clapper (Used with the old Nagra III SLO resolver to make a start beep while there was no pilot signal, while playing back the tape.)

Most still camera lenses made by reputable brands give excellent results on a movie camera. They use only the center part of the full image circle where the resolution is the highest. To use the FD lenses, besides the mount adapter you need the Manual Diaphragm Adapter which is a little plastic piece worth about 3 cents selling for $4.95 that enables you to actually change the aperture setting while the lens is not really on an FD camera body. Otherwise it remains at full aperture. There should be no problem with aperture settings, except perhaps on zoom lenses where the aperture changes with the zoom setting, which is normally compensated by the TTL (through the lens) metering on the still camera.

We still have a few of the TMC Tobin Milliframe Controller without counter. There are not many left. We are out of the TMC2 and TMC2-LCD models with footage counter (there was never a model that would count meters.) I believe that Media Logic and Haflexx are defunct. I don't know about Cinematography Electronics. The market pretty much died when people figured out they could film from plasma and LCD monitors without needing special speeds.

Sorry, I am not an expert on all possible cameras and don't know the answer. I have taken Kodak cameras and slide projectors apart when they quit working to investigate why.

An essential item for your motion picture museum: A new never-recorded roll of 1/4" audio tape with 16mm perforations. This was made to be used with the Westrex Perfotape recorder. Now up on Ebay as Item 140087397037 .

The XL33 is one of the notorious Kodak cameras that has a rubbery plastic (or plastic-y rubber) gear on the motor that turns to powder with age. This same defective material afflicts the slide change linkage on early model Carousel slide projectors. The only Kodak super-8 cameras that are safe to buy are the original M2 and M4 (and maybe other lower M number, maybe 6 and 8?) ones from 1965, and maybe the first Hawkeye Instamatic, which have Nylon or Delrin gears throughout and are likely to run forever.

We still have a limited supply of TMC Tobin Milliframe Controllers that permit you to set a speed in .001 FPS (which I have dubbed "milliframe") increments, plus a phase button. When these are gone, they are gone. http://www.tobincinemasystems.com/page17.html

You will get much better image quality with most lenses if you reverse the lens for extreme magnification. In other words, the end that would normally face the film will face the subject. Otherwise all of the optical corrections in the lens will be defeated and the image may look like you used the bottom of a Coke bottle.

No way of telling without a test. It depends entirely on how accurately your particular governor is set. You might be interested in our TSCt Tobin Speed Checker. It has 7 crystal speeds including 24, and you can tell right away whether the speed is accurate or not. You could use it to adjust the governor contacts on your motor for near zero drift compared to crystal speed. We just made up a final small batch of these by popular request. The TSCt can be admired at http://www.tobincinemasystems.com/page9.html .

Not true. B&H Filmo cameras up through models D and DA would only shoot double perf. The DL and DR will, as far as I know, all accept single perf. To quote from my Identifying Your Bolex article on my website: Single perf or double perf? Beginning with serial 76471, the Bolex H-16 cameras would accept either single perforated (one edge) or double perforated (both edges) film. Prior to this, the cameras required double perf. The older cameras could be factory converted to "sound sprockets" or else this could be done by a repairman using a file. Bolex didn't have to throw away any left over double sided 16mm sprockets, they could use them up in the H-8 8mm cameras, where they engage every second perforation pair, which is more than adequate. 8mm film has exactly twice as many holes per foot as 16mm.

This makes absolutely no sense at all. I have never heard of a film manufacturer furnishing single perf that was wound the wrong way on the camera spool. Were you maybe mounting the spool the wrong way, so you had the dark side of the film towards the lens? By the way, Kodak used to make camera spools with a square hole one side and round on the other, so the spool could not be put on wrong. I think they stopped doing this in the 50s.

They now (in the USA at least) have a Report This Listing link at the bottom of the listing page. It goes to a multiple-choice area where you can click on what you think is wrong or fraudulent, and it automatically fills in the listing number.

CD: 20-20,000 Hz, s/n claimed to be 80-90-? dB but has quantization noise instead of the soft hiss of analog. Very low level signals can be distorted. Overload results in hard clipping. 1/4" analog tape: depends on equipment and speed, 30-16,000 Hz, 50-60 dB. Overload gives less objectionable distortion, reducing the extreme waveform spikes of speech or singing to make it sound louder on average. 35mm Academy mono optical track: 45-8,000 Hz, 48 dB. Normally recorded at a high level so there is frequent or even constant clipping distortion, which is made somewhat less objectionable by the Academy high frequency playback rolloff, offset by boosting highs in the mix. 35mm Dolby Stereo optical track: 30-12,000 Hz maybe more, depends on projector sound optics, 48 dB. Slight occasional clipping, nowhere near that of the old mono tracks, is considered acceptable.

Don't forget the Tobin Video Transfer TVT machines. We have sold about 130 of them worldwide so far. The current models do frame by frame scanning in real time, so the transfer should cost about 1/4 as much if the operator is trying to earn the same hourly rate. The $3800 machine cost is peanuts to a facility that is doing a lot of transfer work. Of course, if you are going to use a hobbyist who doesn't care about how much he makes per hour, a computer dependent method might cost about the same. If a prospective customer will contact me off-list with his location, I can see if any of our equipment purchasers are near to you. We are so busy building machines that we are not currently doing transfers ourselves. A Rank or similar machine is overkill for home movies, though necessary if you are currently filming on negative film.

Most projectors are sort of flat (maybe -6 dB) from 100 to 5000 Hz. Figure the s/n is about 40 dB. If the audio will be heard through a projector that is clattering away in the same room as the audience, make any important audio be within a very narrow volume range. Volume compression of speech is recommended. Don't boost frequencies below 100 or above 5000 to try to overcome projector limitations as this really won't help and it will just reduce the volume. 16 optical is not really hi-fi but it can sound pleasant like a good AM table radio. Avoid trying to use a Poulenc Pipe Organ Concerto for background music. :-)

I remember reading, I think in a Kodak publication, that Kodak has installed the "world's most advanced emulsion coating equipment" in China. Besides, China is an awful long way to send huge master rolls from the USA for slitting and perforating etc. Perhaps they have now stopped doing this in Mexico?

Does your Bell & Howell 8mm or super-8 projector have a broken screw in the reel spindle? If so, the reel and spindle will keep falling off the projector and spill your film on the floor. Also since the attaching screw also adjusts the pull of the film, the film will take up slack and spill on the floor anyway even if the spindle doesn't fall out of the reel arm. Background: The B&H machines are pretty much bulletproof except for one major fatal flaw: the flimsy and brittle plastic screw that holds the reel spindle in place, and adjusts the pull on the film. Yank on the film reel too hard to remove it, and the plastic screw snaps off, leaving the threaded end down in a hole where it is impossible to get it out. Also the special spacer washer usually gets lost in your carpet. Many projectors sold on Ebay have a broken reel spindle attaching and adjusting screw, maybe even two, even if the seller doesn't admit it in the listing. Here is the solution: We provide two reel spindles, two special spacers, and two brand new tough stainless steel screws in a hard to find thread size and length. The reel spindles and spacers are used and in good serviceable condition, and the spindle does not have the remains of a plastic screw stuck inside, so it is an easy fix. Simple instructions are furnished. You just need household items for installation including a No.1 Phillips screwdriver. Kits are available for both regular 8mm and super-8 projectors. Also there are replacement lenses, if yours is lost, or if you want to upgrade to a zoom or replace a foggy zoom. Items are listed on the USA Ebay site under seller clivetobin .

Ebay is still the best place in my experience, otherwise you could spend months going to thrift stores and school district auctions and never find anything. One thing to watch out for is the notorious worm gear problem in Bell & Howell 16mm machines, specifically in the 500, 1500 and 2500 model series. The petroleum grease factory applied leaches plasticizers out of the plastic worm gear, causing it to eventually split and quit working. Replacing it requires total disassembly of the projector and special tools and gauges to put it back together. We buy these projectors to rob parts out of, to build our TVT-16 video transfer machines. We plan on spending $250 or more per machine to replace the worm gear whether it needs it yet or not. This is acceptable to us as otherwise the design is perfectly suited to make telecine equipment. But you might not want to spend the bucks just to get a working projector. Elmo, Eiki, Kodak, Telex and others made machines that do not have a reputation for having a fatal flaw. The 3500 series Bell & Howells are made by Eiki. The Kodak recent models are made by Elmo.

Actually every clockwork Bolex 16mm made after about 1940 will take an electric motor. Up until about 1965 they had an 8-frame shaft which exposes 8 frames per turn. This will accept the old Unimotor wild motor whose speed is controlled by the camera's built-in governor. After about 1966 a single frame shaft was added. This is intended for the MST and ESM motors, as well as others made by other companies such as mine. Our crystal motors for the 1:1 shaft are now discontinued, but we are still selling the TTL Tobin Time Lapse (and animation) motor. There are still some left of our TXM-26B crystal motor, which drives the 8-frame shaft found on all spring wind Bolex cameras.

How many times do we have to slay this old wive's tale before it stays dead? C and RX lenses focus to the exact same film plane distance in air. And the F stop calibrations are the same. The difference is in the optical formula in the RX mount to allow for the dispersion etc. of the glass prism.

20 FPS film will transfer to NTSC video with a simple 3 pulldown, equivalent to using a 3 blade shutter. And a low budget operation can transfer to PAL with a 2-1/2 blade or 5 blade shutter. We could set up our TVT Tobin Video Transfer telecine machines for this if anybody wanted it.

Does your Bell & Howell 8mm or super-8 projector have a broken screw in the reel spindle? If so, the reel and spindle will keep falling off the projector and spill your film on the floor. Also since the attaching screw also adjusts the pull of the film, the film will take up slack and spill on the floor anyway even if the spindle doesn't fall out of the reel arm. Background: The B&H machines are pretty much bulletproof except for one major fatal flaw: the flimsy and brittle plastic screw that holds the reel spindle in place, and adjusts the pull on the film. Yank on the film reel too hard to remove it, and the plastic screw snaps off, leaving the threaded end down in a hole where it is impossible to get it out. Also the special spacer washer usually gets lost in your carpet. Many projectors sold on Ebay have a broken reel spindle attaching and adjusting screw, maybe even two, even if the seller doesn't admit it in the listing. Here is the solution: We provide two reel spindles, two special spacers, and two brand new tough stainless steel screws in a hard to find thread size and length. The reel spindles and spacers are used and in good serviceable condition, and the spindle does not have the remains of a plastic screw stuck inside, so it is an easy fix. Simple instructions are furnished. You just need household items for installation including a No.1 Phillips screwdriver. Kits are available for both regular 8mm and super-8 projectors. Also there are replacement lenses, if yours is lost, or if you want to upgrade to a zoom or replace a foggy zoom. Items are listed on the USA Ebay site under seller clivetobin .

If you can cope with the camera noise a Bolex is a fine camera. I would use one myself if the alternative was to spend a lot of money to rent a quieter model. We do still have some crystal motors for Bolex. Talk your school into buying one or two maybe. The catalog page is at http://www.tobincinemasystems.com/page34.html . I also have some tutorials on the website about double system sound etc. Good luck.