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Repair K3 or go more professional (Eclair ACL)


Willem Jansen

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Seems like it'd be easier to just get a camera with a mirrorless shutter, which are pretty ubiquitous these days. but, i digress...

Nope. On all the big shows I have worked on, the stills photographer always had a blimped DSLR. They all shoot Canon or Nikon. Perhaps the specs on a mirrored shutter cam fits their needs better.

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But as said before, blimping a K3 may be too much work for what you get, only two and a half minutes. I would look into other methods for sync sound. Like record an audio only take immediately after the film take. Roll audio for both, but do an audio only take with your camera wrapped in a sound blanket. If you can, have the camera far aways as possible.

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Years ago I made a blimp for my super8 camera that worked great. It was easy to make, parts are available from your average electronics store, and I used a run switch to run the camera. for that camera I used a makeup case, but for a k3 just use a bigger case. The reason I used a case was so that when I needed to change a cart, I could just open the side, swap carts and re-seal the case. Easy.

 

http://www.mishkin.yolasite.com/super8-camera-blimp.php

 

If you did'nt want to use a box, just buy some heavy duty zippers, and make it out of material with the same sound deadening materials.

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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.

 

Some cameras just aren't made for fixing...to find a part for a K3 someone would have to take apart another K3 so why not save a couple hundred dollars and buy THAT K3 for $200? Then maybe you'll get lucky and find one that doesn't break. I got lucky on my first one and it was great.

 

Repairing a K3 could be a minimum of $250 from a decent repair person and only if they could find parts.

 

I have about 12 Canon AF310XL Super 8 cameras that I've purchased over the years for $10-$50 each and I hand them out at events I'm covering to attendees to get really cool "home movie" footage. They have old plastic gears and at least one fails at every event. I have a pile of 4 or 5 dead ones but it's just not practical to repair them when I can buy another for less than $50.

 

Also keep in mind that once you step up to a pro level camera you'll need a good camera tech to send it to for maintenance once a year depending on how much you use it. Think of them more like a fine Swiss clock that you're constantly shaking and rattling rather than a solid state camera that will live forever if you don't drop it. So add about $300/year to your cost calculations for a clean & lube.

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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.

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A couple of years ago my K3 crashed on the ground because a foot of the tripod did not fix well and is slowly back. Result: it is not even scratched, it's like new. I don't know what would have happened to other more complex cameras... It works well and for what I have to do is excellent, the only thing that bother me are the "leaks" of light that can be seen in the films shooting with this camera, which I think are a constant of K3 (for reflex of light inside the lens and body of the camera) and not due to the crash at ground.
Anyone have "leaks" with K3too?

If it were broken, I would buy it again, and not repair it.

Edited by Luigi Castellitto
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Cameras like the K3, ACL or Scoopic are great. They let you run & gun and capture things that would be really hard with an SR...they really are wonderful home movie cameras and can supplement a big camera shoot well in some circumstances. Especially in music video performance shoots. I recently hauled an SR 2 all around town for a music video and was really happy with the footage but I was thinking it would have been so much easier with a Scoopic.

 

The issues you run into are steadiness, sync and general reliability. Can you make a feature with one? I guess you could try but not sure if you'd want to try... but for what they do they really are wonderful and can be amazingly sharp with the right lens, lighting and exposure.

 

The question of whether or not to move to an ACL or SR is kind of confusing; they are totally different cameras for different situations. If you do move to one of those cameras I'd definitely keep the K3 and you may find you'll use that more often for the type of shooting you do.

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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.

Edited by Willem Jansen
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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.

 

Why does it matter that the technician is in NL? There's repair guys all over Europe. I use Bernie O'Doherty in New York, he's probably farther from me than Les Bosher in England would be to you.

 

Eclairs are great, I doubt very much you'd need "parts" after a guy like Bernie brings it up to standards. Aatons are okay but they're not usually cheap.

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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.

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I called the Edwin (from Etkon) who was going to repair my K3 .....

 

Etkon may service ACLs. The old note I had saved was the name of Andres. Just use the contacts you have and ask...I think it is a good thing if you have access to a service tech who is nearby. He needs a good look at a camera the first time around, then routine maintenance should be less expensive. Continuity of attention by a qualified tech is the best way. Shipping a camera to various techs at various locations is a recipie to spend more money.

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Aatons are great cameras. In the past there were debates as to whether an Aaton was as sturdy as an Arri. If they are, you can't tell. As an Aaton owner, I would say that Aatons are not fragile in any way. Arri SRs are fantastic cameras, so are Aatons plus Aatons have the one up on a SR by being much more hand held friendly like a K-3. Save up for one of those and if you are on a lower end budget, get one with an Aaton mount. It will give you the ability to use lots of great, cheaper lenses.

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Although I may be the only person in here these days using a Pentaflex, I reckon they might be a good alternative, if one wants more than a K3 and less than Arri, Aaton or similar.

 

I have found using one to be very good, aside from the shutter timing I am yet to fix, I am loving mine. They are built well, so far pretty darn reliable, easy to service, very nice lenses are easily available and cheap, the camera runs off 12volt bike battery, hell, I even found a cheap kit in Ukraine:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Pentaflex-16mm-Carl-Zeiss-Jena-movie-camera-for-parts-or-to-be-restored/122936059080?hash=item1c9f8f64c8:g:BIgAAOSw2GlXGmrp

 

I think an old saying is well placed here: Buying an old camera cheap may soon cost in servicing and fixing similar to a modern one that needs less servicing and fixing. If you are happy to keep a camera that is potentially 40 to 60 years old in service, then try to accept the high costs of employing another person to keep the camera running.

 

I am happy to work with older stuff, and maybe when I feel ready to justify the cost I'll go and buy an old Arriflex, sexy damn camera!

 

Below is a link to some work I did on my Pentaflex, there're ugly and heavy, but easy to work on...

http://canon-s8-repair.yolasite.com/pentaflex-16.php

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Rule of thumb seems to be in the U.S. Arri parts are more available, including with the odd part still available from Arri NY (I had an Arri SR1 motherboard repaired about 5 years ago there).

 

Aaton/Eclair parts seem to be more available in Europe.

 

Every city in the U.S. had Arri camera rental houses at one point. Still quite a few rental houses around the U.S. will dust off an SR3 for you if you ask nicely.

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