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Author Topic: SIMPLEX X-L: Perfuct Focus? Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 05-21-2009 06:03 PM                     Thanks Steve! By ultras do you mean Cinelux ultra MC and is that better than super kiptars? Thanks John for the spaces Thanks Louis I shook the lens and hear no rattle and can't get it to come apart in the middle.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 05-21-2009 06:49 PM                     Cinelux is a Schneider trade name. Up until about 1982, Schneider was the importer of ISCO lenses...some even mused that ISCO stood for International Schneider COrporation. When Schneider went their separate way, they took the Cinelux name with them. If you have lenses from the mid '80s, you will see that they milled the Cinelux name off of the "ID" ring and they just were called Ultras. Schneider brought out their own Cinelux Ultras at that point (confusing?). The color was different with Schneider clinking to the "Fools Gold") color while ISCO kept their 14K gold color...up until the Ultra-Star line when their gold darkened (about 20K) and the Ultra-Stars also had a light-blue stripe on them (which was mimicked by SANKOR to deceive). In any event, the co-existance of Schneider ISCO and I believe the owner of each company were brothers or otherwise related. The 105mm - 150mm line...they have more than a passing resemblance to each other and I suspect are identical designs though definitely made in different plants. In the movie heiarchy...the root level is the name, then "Super" is attached to it...and finally Ultra is the top-tier. You can see this in the Lume-X line, the Panavision line and others. So an Ultra would beat a "super" Note, when one is combining lenses for say anamorphics or magnifiers...then the attachment may have been designed based on a different prime lens design...as a result, I've seen where older primes out did newer primes if the magnifier/anamorphic was also designed in yester-year. Steve  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 05-21-2009 08:08 PM                        They were once the same company. They were split in the 1980s and became competitors. ISCO bankrupted several/many times until the German government gave up trying to save it. Schneider purchased ISCO, reuniting the two companies in the last year or two. (ISCO sold below cost of production.) Louis  |  IP: Logged Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 05-22-2009 11:18 PM                     I just bought a ISCO ULTRA MC 35/70mm 110mm on e-bay which appears newer than my 105mm ISCO. It was only 60 bucks so i thought it would be worth a try cause i feel the primes i have are less than steller. I have a great Schneider 100mm , the picture is far to big but is stunning when i tried it (even without a curved gate) so i wish to get something closer to that. I just put a brand new Osram 2500 bulb in place and have this ever so subtle shadow in the center of the screen flat or scope? This is new , the old bulb was starting to flicker but what is this? My lamp alignment status is 4 corners dark evenly so i am stumped, again it is subtle ,its more like the sides are a bit brighter than normal but could this be a new type of Osram design or am i just cursed? The good news is by making flat and scope agree side to side and up and down my lens to gate alignment has never been better!  |  IP: Logged Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 06-05-2009 01:16 PM                     I just put my new ISCO Ultra MC 110mm 35/70mm lens in and it does make scope look quite a bit sharper than the other 105mm prime lenses i have! Still trying to get flat & scope to agree precisely which brings up a question. If you get them to agree does it mean you are square to the film plane as a rule of physics? Or does it mean you have the same optical center but not perpendicular alignment as a rule?  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-29-2009 05:38 PM                     Hi Jarret, Any resolution to this problem?  |  IP: Logged Jarret Chessell Master Film Handler Posts: 288 From: London, Ontario, Canada Registered: Jan 2009 posted 07-29-2009 09:00 PM                     I wouldn't quite say resolved, however, it is very minimal now. Changing the prime lens over to the 110mm ISCO Ultra did improve things greatly. A few other things did help. Installing a curved gate seemed to make it less noticeable. It would also seem that the more you can make your flat and scope barrels agree the less blurring you see. One other thing that seemed to help was playing with the gate trap (making sure it's all cleaned out and adjusted correctly). I suspect it was caused by a few things being out of wack, we would like to get the lamp house aligned correctly, but getting it any better seems near impossible with our equipment and the tools available. I would like to mention we are being very critical of the quality. (we went from okay to great after starting this thread). When looking at other screens at other locations running completely different equipment I can see some of the same phenomenon appearing....  |  IP: Logged Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 11-02-2009 01:42 AM                     Would anyone happen to know if the Super Lumex requires heat filter glass when using a 2500 watt bulb? If too much heat hits the film , what effect on focus should be apparent? I have a curved gate upgrade on this Simplex xl,ISCO Ultrastar HD 70mm for flat,110 ISCO prime for scope with Ultrastar HD anamorphic. If i sharpen all 4 corners + top and bottom of the screen evenly and completely, the middle will be softer. The reverse is also true and with both formats. I have no turret. I see this with RP40 and detect it on films all the time, mainly credits. I spend hours a week after close playing and adjusting and slowly losing my mind! I can't get a laser or the Lumex align kit but i do have the 4 corners dark evenly when zooming the lamp in to far then i back off. Yes the light blur is still present but small. The picture is also mostly dam great but i am frankly obsessed with the goal of perfection.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 11-02-2009 03:03 AM                     quote: Victor Liorentas detect it on films all the time, mainly credits. Course there, you're dealing with opposites of the spectrum - solid black and solid white. The black is definitely going to absorb more of the heat of the bulb, and about the only trick on this one so the lettering isn't so jittery, is to back the bulb off until the total field of light on the blank screen slightly darkens. A simple rule of thumb on fine bulb focus is (with scope lens and aperture, motor running and no film in machine..and do this quick..): shoot the light on the screen, focus down til you see the four corners on the screen starting to go dark and you got tonnage of bright light everywhere else on the screen. Then focus up 'til the four corners brighten up and the field of light "just" starts to go dim on the screen. This will get you in the ballpark area of a good bulb focus.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 11-02-2009 01:29 PM                        The "4 corner method" works great. From what you have said, it sounds like you have lamp alignment correct. You may find that (esp. on the curved gate) the shoes are not quite parallel. Many older XL's have bent rods on the gate shoe mounts. Do not try to bend them back. I have shimmed Many Many curved gates using bit of Pepsi/beer cans. It should be possible to get perfect focus if the lens is centered on the picture centerline. The shims work great. If you guess wrong, then you have twice the problem. Move to the other side and you are almost there. Louis  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-02-2009 02:16 PM                     We use the Schneider gate alignment tool. Lets one measure lens to film plane very accurately and ensure all is uniform. For lamp alignment...make sure the working distance is correct from reflector to aperture. We use a combination of a Laser (to ensure a bulls-eye between lens and reflector center and the Kinoton light projector to ensure the reflector is precisely pointing back to the lens/film. You'd be amazed at how much better the light gets when you really get it centered right (also the film gate area runs cooler as the light leaves the system rather than bouncing about). Steve  |  IP: Logged Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 11-02-2009 06:54 PM                     Louis, do you mean shimming with bits of metal around the rods? Yes Steve, those tools would come in very handy!What do they cost?  |  IP: Logged Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 11-03-2009 12:13 AM                     Tonight i tried slipping a piece of port glass between the lamp and projector. I noticed the light loss but also noticed the middle of the screen relax and come right into focus!? I need to try it more when i have time but i wonder if i should just drop the amperage down a bit, i am at 95 amps.  |  IP: Logged Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 11-06-2009 04:38 PM                     I tried shimming with Sprite can pieces and wow what a huge difference! The picture is wider as well,i only noticed the extra width cause it is hitting my main curtain a tad. I have found lowering my amperage 1 step has improved light output, perhaps it was to much for the rectifrier Less light blur also!  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-06-2009 09:56 PM                     I use a similar thing... digital depth gauge and precision ground lens bushing. This is the exact same way allo professional movie camera flange focal distance is measured and adjusted.  |  IP: Logged

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