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EYEMO USERS STEP FORWARD!


Dan Salzmann

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I've got 2 Eyemos, one a 71Q spider turret and the other was modified by Steve's Cine Service in Canada - Nikon mount, reflex, video tap, quartz motor.

Anyone else have an Eyemo modifid by Steve?

Also would love to talk about lens issues with older eyemos - ie experiences with Cookes, B&H, Angenieux, etc.

Also any ideas about a compact follow focus rig for Nikon lenses on this camera?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I own an Eyemo, the spider turret model that accepts the 400ft mag. I have the zoom finder for it, which gives me a very small image (I modified it to a 1.85 matte with tape - that was absolute hell to accomplish).

 

I don't frankly enjoy shooting with it, it's a chore - I'd choose my Arri IIc for handheld work in practically all instances (just today I stole a shot from a school campus exterior with my Arri - dodging campus security in the process). I only use the Eyemo out of dire necessity, like my Arriflex is in repair or something. Adding the 400ft mag and mounting a stock B&H electric motor on it to me is the kiss of death. It feels like you've mounted some big power tool on a tripod, not a camera.

 

Before I got it I thought it would be like a Bolex, but it's got about twice the metal in it, plus it's much more clunky and hard to balance for handheld shooting. It doesn't have that smooth Swiss engineering (not to mention the nice leather cover if we're to talk aesthetics - but those things peel off anyway). I don't envy the news operators that shot with it. If I had nothing better to do with my time I'd make a plastic shell and replace the metal shell with it, so it would weigh much less. In all fairness I never tried the single port reflex variety, some of which have built in electric motors. But those babies are expensive. There's one very expensive MP camera outfit in Texas that has ritually been putting out a reflex Eyemo on ebay - for four thousand dollars as a minimal price (I called them up once and they told me they use Ebay as an advertizing space to get attention).

 

The Eyemo was really the first handheld motion picture camera (at least that I'm aware of), and it's a wonder in a way. But it would have been a much better camera if it was designed in the sixties, by a company like Bolex or Cinema Products (I was never a fan of B&H's equipment design). Then again, it would never have made it to crash camera status in that case either - it would probably cost three times the price. That said, I think that Eyemos are overpriced for what they are. The 16mm version of that camera sells for one third if not one fourth the price, and the only difference in many cases is the film gauge.

 

I've used Bausch and Lomb and Bell and Howell (General Scientific Corp) lenses on it. They're okay, but I like my Cooke Ser II's better (sans the flare they're prone to).

 

Here's me with mine (for some reason it doesn't display the graphic, just cut and paste the URL)

 

meweyemo.jpg

 

- G.

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  • 10 months later...

- thought I would chime in to this old thread- I've got three eyemos, but none of them have the spider turret or mag mounts. I have a nice angenieux lens in an Eyemo mount, I think it's a 28, if memory serves. One of the three has "MGM" spray painted on the side. The oldest is a black bomb-spotting one with a case full of fixed infinity-focus lenses with yellow filters. I had a canon lens mount put on it. The last time I used one was several years ago to shoot some home movies of a flood- as I was winding up the spring, it snapped, which shot the winding key backward and practically broke my thumb.

 

I have friends who have shot animation with them, no capping shutter required. Martin Hill was telling me that at one point the army hired Mitchell to design a replacement for the Eyemo, but what they delivered was too awkward and cumbersome for combat use. He's got one of the prototypes.

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Guest NCSProducts
I've got 2 Eyemos, one a 71Q spider turret and the other was modified by Steve's Cine Service in Canada - Nikon mount, reflex, video tap, quartz motor.

Anyone else have an Eyemo modifid by Steve?

Most Eyemo owners seem to love the camera. http://eyemo35.com/

I have four (!) of them, but haven't gotten around to shooting any 35mm yet.

 

Adding a sync motor to it greatly increases its utility! :)

Eyemo Sync+Single Frame+Time Lapse motor The motor plugs right in.

 

- Dom Alt

NCS Products, New York

Motors for Eyemo and more!

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  • 4 years later...

Four Eyemo? Wow! Can you tell me more about it and if by any chance interested in getting rid of one of them? I'm looking for real portable 35mm movie camera for my personal uses...

 

Most Eyemo owners seem to love the camera. http://eyemo35.com/

I have four (!) of them, but haven't gotten around to shooting any 35mm yet.

 

Adding a sync motor to it greatly increases its utility! :)

Eyemo Sync+Single Frame+Time Lapse motor The motor plugs right in.

 

- Dom Alt

NCS Products, New York

Motors for Eyemo and more!

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Hi

 

If there ARE any Eyemo users left out there, check out you-know-what-Bay for good deals on 25mm f4.5 Eymax lenses right now. Someone back east apparently must have run into a big cache of NOS lenses, they are selling for under $10. (search for "Eymax" they have them labeled as "Filmo" lenses-actually the box says filmo too, but these are eyemo mounts). The two I got are like new.

 

So really, anyone still shooting with theirs? I've been hand-cranking mine this summer for a friend's silent short!

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Hi Robert (and any other Eymoleons out there)-

 

Do you happen to drive 400' mags with your Eyemo? The reason I ask is that both mags I've acquired use odd cores, with "outies" instead of "innies" (see picture) so that if you plop a standard 35 core on the spindle, it freewheels. I ended up tapping out the retaining pin in the take-up spindle just slightly so that it would drive a standard Kodak or Fuji core. Is this standard for Eyemo and 2709 mags? How do others deal with it?

 

The other thing I've noticed about 400' mags with the Eyemo is that adding even 250-300' of neg creates quite a bit of drag (no surprise). Asking the spring motor to drive a 400' mag is obviously out of the question, but have you (or anyone else) regularly driven 400' mags with the classic Eyemo ac/dc motor, or the NCS Products single-Frame/Sync motor?

 

I was hand cranking mine and as the take-up side hit 200' or so the pressure needed to drive the mechanism was quite substantial, nothing like the Mitchell which will crank through 400' effortlessly.

 

Also, which motor do you use for timelapse, and are you happy with the frame to frame exposure consistency? Any problems or issues in asking the Eyemo to drive single frame?

 

Thanks for any insight!

 

B&H core (came with mag) is the gray one on the right, standard Fuji on the left.

post-201-1252635756.jpg

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I have two 400' mags but I have not used them yet because I have a 2C as well. I use Dom's NCS TL motor which has been great, consistent exposure and reliable running. The 400' Eyemo mags have those funny cores, I was going to have my machine shop make some pieces to run standard cores. I am actually planning a long-duration timelapse right now, of a Soviet Submarine being cut up for scrap. I am going to make a modification to my NCS motor to give a pulse output on shutter. I am looking for a additional motor to add to the Eyemo mag to do torque takeup on the 400' I would not trust the drive takeoff for long term shooting. I plan to put it all in a box with batteries, a timer and a solar panel.

 

Also when I got my Eyemo I completely disassembled it and rebuilt the mechanism, painted (black wrinkle finish) it and got a newer scientific instrumentation camera front that was practically new. I fitted a Nikkor mount and tuned it up, my camera runs very smooth.

 

-Rob-

post-15580-1252640825.jpg

post-15580-1252640838.jpg

post-15580-1252640847.jpg

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I am looking for a additional motor to add to the Eyemo mag to do torque takeup on the 400' I would not trust the drive takeoff for long term shooting.

 

-Rob-

 

That would be a good move, the pulleys on my mags at least seem to be rather slick, and the belt doesn't bite very well after 250' or so either.

 

That's crazy about the spindles on the mags, people have been using these things for years but I've never heard or read any mention of the non-standard core. Did people have to order "B&H core" film for Eyemos and 2709s I wonder?

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I ended up tapping out the retaining pin in the take-up spindle just slightly so that it would drive a standard Kodak or Fuji core. Is this standard for Eyemo and 2709 mags? How do others deal with it?

 

I made little clip-on adapters. The spindle slots on my mags are open to the hollow interior of the spindle, so I was able to make tightly bent "U" shaped adapters out of thick coat hanger wire. Spring tension and friction hold them to the spindle, and you can pull them out if you want.

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

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That's crazy about the spindles on the mags, people have been using these things for years but I've never heard or read any mention of the non-standard core. Did people have to order "B&H core" film for Eyemos and 2709s I wonder?

 

 

Patrick,

 

Here's what I did with some 200ft mags and 1 400ft mag. I haven't use the 400 footer much (you definitely need a motor to drive it), but the 200 footers are handy with short ends under 200ft. The spring motor on one of my cameras will drive the 200 footer with about 120 - 180 ft of film. Nice for hand holding.

 

The original mag spindles and cores look like this (200 ft mag shown for example):

eyemocore003.jpg

 

That's a cast aluminum core that came from DuPont. It's heavy! Cheaper than plastic?

 

Take the core off and the spindle looks like this:

eyemocore004.jpg

 

What I used was a "Woodruff Key". The slot is 1/8" in the brass spindle. Remember, this is Bell & Howell, everything is in inches, not metric.

 

I found at my local Ace Hardware store, in the parts drawers, was a 1/8 X 5/8" steel Woodruff Key (40 cents-ish):

eyemocore002.jpg

 

These keys fit snuggly in to the slot on the spindle! You may need a pliers to firmly seat them.

eyemocore005.jpg

 

Of the 7 mags I have ( 2 metal 400 footers, 2 wooden 400 footers, 3 near mint brown 200 footers), in only one 400 footer the slot was "sloppy" and the 1/8" key wouldn't stay in. You could always get the next size thicker and file it down. When you go to the hardware store, take the mag and a core with you to make sure it fits.

 

Spindle with key and 2009 core:

eyemocore006.jpg

 

A cheap, simple fix!

 

Charlie

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Thanks John and Charlie! The woodruff key is a great fix-

 

I'm still curious though, was there a time when one had to specify B&H core when ordering film? I've got a kodak sheet from the mid 60's or so and it doesn't give any indication of seperate cores for B&H.

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