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Topic: Brand Leader?
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted January 14, 2004 04:51 PM
If you look thru back issues of ACW or Movie Maker, the thing that really stands out is the very heavy advertising of Eumig projectors, and not much Elmo. Eumig were the first Company in the world to offer an economical 8mm sound projector, with Halogen lighting and auto threading -they were'nt called "The Wizard's of Vienna" by Ivan Watson for nothing. They also had a winning 8mm silent projector (the P8) which revolutionized projector design at the time, in terms of low voltage lighting, reel arm position, and compactness. So I think you could conclude that Eumig pretty well dominated the UK and European markets (and most deservedly so!). It is also clear from this side of the pond, that they also had good penetration into North American markets, particularly Canada. It is interesting that nearly all of the very late Eumig designs such as the 938 and 940 that are being sold on EbAY are by Canadian sources, so maybe these particular models were never imported into the USA.
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Joe Taffis
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1592
From: United States
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted January 14, 2004 05:46 PM
Kodak and Bell&Howell were the most common machines in my area of northeast Pa. in the 1960's thru mid '70's. The first super 8 sound projectors available locally here in the early 1970's were the Kodak Ektasound sync system(one local camera store eagerly gave elaborate, info-mercial style demonstrations hoping to make sales of this awkward and, in my opinion, poor quality system) and then later, the B&H magnetic sound Filmosonic in 1975. The only other brands I remember in the local camera stores were generic models and Chinons in the late '70's(I still have my good old Chinon 7500). Other than in the pages of Super8Filmaker magazine, which, like Paul stated about the other mags, had a lot of Eumig adverts along with Elmo and all the others; I had my first upclose look at an Elmo ST1200 in 1978 at Ron(Red Fox Films)Knorr's house when I went there to buy films. It was set up to run a film and was a VERY impressive sight!, as it was the first time I saw 1200'super8 reels. I thought, this must be the top of the line machine that dealers prefer...definitely a "brand leader" ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Joe Taffis
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted January 15, 2004 02:41 PM
Yes Joe,
I imagine that Bell&Howell and Kodak had most of the US market for 8mm projectors, but I have never been very enthusiastic about either of these companies super 8mm equipment. Certainly, prior to about 1960, Bell and Howell 8mm equipment was superb, with beautifully designed and manufactured standard 8mm projectors such as the 606H/Regent and Filmo's. But around about the advent of Super 8, they started turning out very poorly designed plastic projectors, and I don't think they ever made a good super 8 sound projector (with the exception of the re-labelled Sankyo's). So most of my memories of Bell and Howell equipment is of poor performance and scratches!
Similarly Kodak had a superb S8mm sound projector based on the 16mm Pageant design (I had one of these and it was very good, with 150 watt lighting and 1600ft spool capacity- I kept the superb F1.0 fixed focus Ektar lens off one of these for use on my Eumigs), but soon reverted to cheap plastic projectors such as the horrible Ektasound and Moviedeck designs, and their clunky Ektasound camera.
These of course appealed to the masses, and no doubt thousands were sold at Kmart, Sears, and Mongomery Ward. But if you really wanted quality equipment you had no choice but to buy European (Eumig, Bolex, Beaulieu)or Japanese( Elmo, Sankyo, Chinon) equipment. Too bad, because prior to 1960 B&H and Kodak had world class projectors - among the best equipment you could buy.
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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