Victor Cine model 5

[Jorge Garcia]

I have a Victor Cine 16 mm camera. Does anyone know where i can have it tuned up. It winds properly and runs fine. The only problem is the take-up reel doesn't seem to be working properly. It seems loose.

Any help or advice if I could fix it would be appreciated.

[Charlie Peich]

Greetings Jorge,

Ask your questions to the members of this Yahoo Group:

 

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CineCamera/info

 

 

The moderator is very knowledgeable with Alexander Victor and his cine equipment, he owns several cameras like yours.

 

Victor History:

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/scua/msc/tomsc200/msc153/smpte.htm

 

Charlie

[Dom Jaeger]

Hi Jorge,

 

it's most likely the spring belt, which you should be able to see connecting to the take-up spindle:

 

 

If it's broken or stretched, you need to remove the spring motor housing to replace it. Victors are very simple, just 4 screws hold that housing on - 2 at the front just behind the turret (you need to unscrew the little reflex viewing eyepiece to be able to undo one screw), and 2 at the back just in front of the leather strap bracket screws. Then the whole side unit comes off. Undo the screw holding the brass take-up drive gear and you can remove the belt:

 

 

I don't know where you'd find a new spring belt really, your best chance is probably to ask someone on ebay who sells projector belts if they have a spring belt with an unstretched diameter of about 30mm.

 

Someone who repairs Bolexes would be able to service a Victor if you want to spend money getting it spruced up.

 

After all that advice though, I actually wouldn't recommend a Victor camera for filming. First off you'll need to find double-perfed film because the drive sprocket has teeth on the opposite side to the pull-down claw. Secondly, the gate design on Victors is terrible, almost guaranteed to produce unsteady footage. And thirdly they are not as reliable as something like a Bolex or a Filmo, and might easily break down once you start using them. I don't think it's worth wasting film stock unless you really like the idea of using such an ancient machine. (The camera itself won't give you a vintage look, if that's what you're hoping, that's all in the film stock and lenses and processing. These days you can pick up much newer 16mm camera bodies for peanuts.

[Dom Jaeger]

I forgot to mention a very important step - if you take off the spring motor housing, make sure the spring is fully wound down first!

[Zac Fettig]

http://www.mcmaster.com/#coil-spring-round-belts/=szmqbf

 

You can get spring belts from McMaster.