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Topic: Focus Problems

Rick Long
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 759
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-17-1999 01:54 PM

Why not give Gord McLeod a call? He stocks FilmGuard.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-19-1999 01:15 PM

I can attest to the FilmGuard. I have a a straight gate proj. (Simplex XL) An with some of the prints I get the, inside of the projector USED to look like a tain wreck. Now, all I do is wipe out the oil that drips and go!

PS: I heard that the company that makes Simplex projectors was trying to make a digital video projector but they had to give up. It seems that they couldn't figure out how to make the things leak oil!

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-20-1999 08:39 AM

Actually they couldn't figure out how to make digital powder. Apperantly they did understand that the pictures is just bits

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-20-1999 03:06 PM

L.O.L.

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Bruce McGee
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1776
From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular.
Registered: Aug 1999

posted 10-20-1999 03:32 PM

You guys have lost it.

What are the chances that his print of "The Sixth Sense" was slit improperly? Couldn't the film be slghtly wide? I've seen some early Estar base films that were too wide to go through the gate of a 16mm telecine. I remember the noise when the intermittant died. (Eastman unit) Awful.

Or is 35mm different in ways that I am yet to understand?

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 10-22-1999 10:10 AM

Normally, a straight gate only starts to cause shedding if it is worn. Typically, as the film forms the upper loop, it will cause a cup to wear in the pads, runners...this will in turn scrape the film which in turn causes dust....the rest you are painfully aware.

Century had two styes of straight gates for the C (or CC, in your case, presuming you actually do have the double shutter)...the older one is pretty crappy the later style did better in my opinion. The older gate had fingers at the top of force the film into the lateral guide rollers. the later ones had the runner go higher up.

Steve

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-22-1999 04:02 PM

Typically, I could keep the dust down in my Simplex-XL by applying a generous amount of XE-Kote to the film-bearing surfaces of the projector. That and a good cleaning every night would keep dust down to acceptable levels.

It's funny but a dirty projector tends to 'run dirty'. Keeping it clean makes it 'run clean'. If I clean it/them well every day for a week, I can skip a day and you'd hardly notice any dirt the next day. The reverse does not seem to hold true. If you leave them dirty all week then clean them one day, it looks like you didn't clean.

But... That's pretty much a thing of the past now....

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-22-1999 04:09 PM

Randy - interesting observation! When I was running Centurys, I cleaned them between every reel, so no more than 6000' feet of film would run through the machine between cleanings. I _never_ had dust or shedding problems with color film, although the Eastman B&W ESTAR-base stock caused no end of problems (though the acetate-base B&W Eastman stock was fine).

As for focus drift--my experence seems to be that some films stay in perfect focus with no adjustments required and some have serious focus drift problems within a given reel. Generally, it seems to be either all or nothing--i.e. if one reel has focus drift problems, then all reels usually have the same problem. I think that some of this has to do with the way that the film has been stored; Kit Parker prints usually have serious focus drift problems, while lab-new prints are much better. I also have a theory that the gate, film, and lens will expand over time as they are heated by the lamphouse, and thus the sensitivity of the particular stock to heat is also an issue.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-27-1999 11:35 PM

When I finish running my Simplex for the night, first thing I do is go outside and have a smoke. When the machine is hot, you can't undo the gate. It's so hot the screws expand. It's not until the proj, has cooled for about 15 minutes that you can undo the little 'thumbscrews'.

Usually, by the time I finish my smoke and talking with the customers, it's cool enough.

Yes, I get to talk with customers... It's a college 'film series'. All the 'professor types' love giving you feedback about the show. Besides, you get some pretty interesting "Back in MY day..." stories.

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