Duncan Brown

If you could convince Kodak to make film on 400' daylight spools again, like they used to occasionally, that would be much more useful! Pretty clever mod. Duncan

Not everyone has Facebook, but if you do here's a pretty decent NPR rig with the rarely-seen Alsa XL-24 motor, a nice Angenieux 12-120 zoom, I think the Angenieux finder, a couple of mags, etc, at a pretty decent price ($2400) in Colorado in the US. (Not mine, obviously! Just passing along the info.) https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2542382232590833/ Duncan

He dropped the price to $120 (with no Make Offer option any longer) so I snagged it. No, I have no current need for it. Though in my world you never know when a nice NPR with no viewfinder is going to drop into your lap (it has literally already happened once already), so Always Be Prepared! Duncan

When looking for an Arri-S to c mount adapter, I figured out that while they rarely come up for sale on ebay, they do *eventually* always come up for sale on ebay. For Arri-B to c, though, I finally gave up and just bought a brand new Fotodiox one. It's pretty inexpensive, it works, what more can you ask? (Well in my case I could ask for it to be physically smaller, as it would not fit in the pocket of my NPR when the c mount side of the turret was swung into place! But other than that, it's a dandy piece of gear.) Anyway, just an alternative if nobody here comes up with a good used one for sale. Duncan

Looks like a very well equipped ACL II, but not nearly enough details in the description or pictures (seller is no expert on these things) and clearly has no idea of the prevailing prices on these because that price is beyond dreaming. But maybe he'll come down on price some day, maybe someone could talk him through determining if it's been S16 modified, etc. Located in Chapel Hill, NC https://www.ebay.com/itm/256170890547?hash=item3ba4f99533 Duncan

And let's not forget Gregg's kit a few posts back (if it's still available... which if I had more money, it would not be ? ) Duncan

Just so I have this straight - for NPR, the latest Angenieux is the preferred finder... but for ACL, the latest Kinoptik is the better finder? I know on the ACL, the Angenieux and Kinoptik use different mounts. Is that the same case with the NPR? Or do the two interchange directly in the NPR era? Duncan

That looks to me like they used a whole pile of big bright lights high up in the rafters. I don't think they did much of anything to shape the light - it varies based on the shadows thrown by that weird set, so sometimes several lights are hitting a subject evenly, while other times it's only one or two, with shadows from the rest. Recreating that with just one light would be a challenge. (I've always liked that video, but it sounds like several-years-later Eric Burdon's voice coming out of that baby-faced kid at the time!) Duncan

What is it with these Eclair parts-you-never-see-for-sale-separately all showing up on ebay? This time it's an NPR Kinoptik viewfinder in decent shape (no rubber eyecup) for $200 Buy It Now or Make Offer, located in Masschussetts: https://www.ebay.com/itm/115871609129 Someone grab that before I do, just on priniciple! Duncan

Someone snagged it - hope it was someone here! Duncan

A nice fellow forum member (Tom Frenette) sent me this PDF to post, of a doc he recently purchased and scanned: http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/Arriflex_35IIBC_Repair_Manual.pdf (I need to make sure I'm getting these all up on the internet archive too!) Duncan

(Not my auction) - an Alcan 54, even one as beat up as this one, is a rare sight for sure - someone should grab this and hope that it works better than it looks. https://www.ebay.com/itm/275966651460 (For the historical record, since ebay links die after a few months, it's a battered but complete looking example for $195 Buy It Now, or Make Offer, from a seller in New Jersey) Duncan

I have not found those to be common. In fact I haven't found one at all! Someone sell me one. Duncan

In theory yes. (I don't have a TS-Arri adapter, though I wish I did! I have a lot of Arri-S lenses and an ACL.) Duncan

The Bolex split prism reflex viewing system (unlike, say, the ACL with its mirror/shutter arrangement) can do weird things to light that comes in at shallow angles, like with wide lenses at large apertures. So the RX variations of lenses are designed to compensate for that. There is no need for an RX lens on an ACL, leave those for the Bolex users. Duncan

The ones I've had to reglue have seemed more fibrous/natural than plastic/chemical so I guess there's hope. Duncan

I can now confirm that this clever trick did not occur to Georg Jensen - it stops randomly, just like any other Arri 16S motor. Duncan

Well that would be handy! As I discovered with some Eclair motors this trick depends on you putting the motor on the body with the parts in the right orientation, then it just always puts it back there. I'll have to test my model 504 and see if it does that, if I assemble it properly - hadn't even thought of that, thanks for the heads up! Duncan

I know of no third party trigger handles with the pin up the center. Arri made a trigger handle as a separate piece, where you can use it without either of the braces. You do see those for sale more often (not always for reasonable prices.) And then it's the same base handle parts, but with a longer threaded piece and pin, for being able to reach through the platforms on the two braces and still thread into the camera. Duncan

It sold on ebay (for $1700 for those keeping score at home.) Duncan

I'm guessing you could get pretty much whatever you ask for it (certainly way outside my budget!) I just hope it goes to someone who will shoot with it, rather than someone who wants to put it in a case as a trophy "look at me, I own this super-rare camera." Duncan

There is the simple original one that is a metal bar with a big "C" shape on the end. It's surprisingly usable, despite looking like Tiny Tim's crutch turned sideways. It just kind of works, putting the loads on your body in ways that keep the camera stable without a lot of effort. If you can try one before buying it, I wouldn't rule it out just because it looks so dumb. There is the more complex original one, with a proper padded shoulder brace and a body brace and some articulated pieces in between. That starts to look more like a Steadicam rig, and is similarly over-equipped with adjustments. But quite usable. In both cases the key is to get it all adjusted just right to fit your body and comfort level. Oh, and I recommend in both cases getting the version with the trigger handle - it screws into the tripod socket on the camera to hold it to the bracket, but then also actuates the 16ST shutter control via a pin up through the socket. Unlike the original side trigger switch for the camera this one is "press on to run, let go to stop" - it doesn't lock on. If I get a moment I might post my usual sort of forensic-level photos of both of these, as I own both. Duncan

Does that mean you'll be selling your S16 16ST to the drooling hordes lined up outside your door? ? Duncan

OK I had some time so I documented this a little better. The first picture shows the state I have seen a lot of Angenieux zooms in - crank missing, but screws put back in place. The next two pictures show the screws and crank separately, then the last one shows it all bolted in place. You pull the crank out to engage it with the gear (but it slips on purpose when you get to the end of travel) and push it in to let it dangle freely without any connection to the gear. The screws appear to be M2x4.5mm with a thread pitch of 0.4mm and oval head. I'll be interested to hear if you find it useful. Apparently most people don't, which is why they're never on the lenses. Duncan

On the front of the zoom control (toward the big end of the lens) it has gear teeth on it. The gear teeth on the crank hub mesh with those. The crank unit should have a curve to it that matches the curve of the body of the lens (the fixed barrel) just in front of the zoom control. There should be a set of three holes in kind of a wide triangle configuration, through-holes in the crank unit, and threaded holes in the lens barrel. Those line up, and the screws go through the crank unit and into the lens barrel to cinch them together. I've seen many of those lenses where the screws are in the body even though the crank isn't there. If you're lucky, that's the case with yours. If not, you'll have to figure out the kind of screws needed and source some. If you need help with that, post back here, I can take pictures of some of the screws to show you the head shape, and I have a thread pitch gauge I can use to tell you what the specs are. Duncan