Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Looking for Alignment film for mag stripe 35mm 16mm 8mm movies

This is topic Looking for Alignment film for mag stripe 35mm 16mm 8mm movies in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Stefan Demetrescu (Member # 7080) on 05-02-2014, 02:46 AM:

I am looking for a source of mag stripe audio alignment test film for 35mm, 16mm, and super 8mm movies with magnetic sound (usually a magnetic stripe at the edge of the film). The purpose of such films is to calibrate the magnetic head position (azimuth, etc.) and other electronic adjustments in the magnetic head audio path of film projectors.

Such alignment films usually contain reference tones (e.g. 1KHz, 10KHz, etc.) for amplitude adjustment and head azimuth alignment. They also contain frequency sweeps to allow for characterization of frequency response over the entire spectrum.

It's extremely difficult to adjust projectors without such test films.

Does anyone know of a source for such alignment films?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 05-02-2014, 06:05 AM:

I am unaware of any currently made films nor any stockpiles of it other than personal stock that people have collected. Remember too, existing films are likely on acetate stock and will have suffered some degree of shrinkage too.

Posted by Jerry Axelsson (Member # 3175) on 05-02-2014, 11:37 AM:

I am also looking for various 35mm test films on polyester stock.
Suggestions and tips are appreciated.

Best,

J.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-04-2014, 12:44 PM:

You can try NT Audio in California. They wre making calibration film but not sure they still do. they still do record stero and digital optical sound negatives though.

If the can't help you then about all you can do is find someone or some place with a very well calibrated dubber that can make them for you... Or keep an eye out on Ebay. There are no other real choices any more.

Mark

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 05-04-2014, 03:26 PM:

I thought SMPTE still sold at least RP40 and Buzz Track.

I checked with NT a while back and they were willing to run some if there was a demand so I'm thinking there would be some minimum order involved. Maybe we should form a co-op to get together an order.

Anybody in Europe making any?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 05-05-2014, 06:08 AM:

Note...it was looking for STRIPED test film. For 4-track that makes it particularly difficult since one has to find CS stock that is striped, sounded and dimensionally stable.

That said, if the film is full coat and sounded across the entire width, it should work for level...frequency response will have fringing issues except for 4-track (Cinemascope) where the perfs will be running on the heads.

16mm full coat, on the other hand could be used for center and edge track if it is sounded across its width.

I want to say that Kinoton sourced their calibration films from a company in France. Since Kinoton is liquidating, perhaps they have some they are trying to sell off.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 05-05-2014, 06:25 AM:

I did not save any MAG film. I do have vast quantities of Dolby and SMPTE test films. Especially since Anna retired at SMPTE, it was difficult at best to acquire test films. Therefore I upped the quantity of films purchased.

I also have quite a bit 35mm optical 3150 Hz test film for wow and flutter; not SMPTE, but lower in W&F. Louis

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 06-02-2014, 05:15 PM:

http://www.summertone.com/products/magnetic-test-films