8mm Forum: Dual or NOT to Dual?

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Topic: Dual or NOT to Dual?

Brad Kimball
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1171
From: Highland Mills, NY USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted June 27, 2004 01:10 AM

Phil Johnson (states on his site) that he does/will not sell or suggest using a DUAL 8 machine. Is it better to buy both a Standard AND a Super 8 machine or can anyone recommend a good DUAL make/model? I have a number of silents in both formats that I would like to view without putting more wear and tear on my Super 8 SOUND units.

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Chris Quinn
Master Film Handler

Posts: 372
From: England, Bedfordshire.
Registered: Nov 2003

posted June 27, 2004 03:34 AM

Hi Brad,
I think a good dual make is the Eumig machines, but i'm with Phil on this, i think it would be far better to buy a dedicated standard 8 machine.
I believe the dual machines do have problems due to the fact they have to have built in compromises, i don't think i would consider running any of my precious films on one of these machines no matter how good they coped with the switch over between the two formats, Just my opinion but if you do decide to buy one i would run some tests before running any of your favourite films through, and beware as they do tend to chew film.

Chris.

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The other half thinks i'm up to something. Shes right of course.

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Tom Photiou
Film God

Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003

posted June 27, 2004 03:42 AM

Hello there. My Brother has always used Eumig duel gauge projectors and with the exception a speed problem he has never had any problems with them. Because these machines are very cheap now,usually between 100-£200 we got two, one is an 822Sonomatic and one is an 810D. we keep one on Standard 8 and the other on super 8mm And both are mainly used to view our own Home movies. We do have around 30 Std 8 movies and we started on this gauge way back, I have never known these projectors to ever damage our films in any way at all and they are very quite and smooth running machines. These projectors do use slipping clutcthes which do need to kept clean with a pure alcahol cleaner.
The sonomatics (822 and 824) are a very nice machine but a little rare these days but the 702 and the 810 series are fine and do appear on many lists from Derann, Paul Foster and Perrys very freqently.
I suppose a proffesional film projectioist would reccomend staying with a 100% std 8 machine but i cant really see what the problem is, unless you have 100's of films. As i said because of how cheap these are now why not get two and keep one on STD and one on super?
Our feature print of Winchester73 on STD is one of the finest quality prints in our 300 strong collection,
Hope this helps. [Wink]

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Maurizio Di Cintio
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 977
From: Ortona, Italy
Registered: Jan 2004

posted June 27, 2004 12:22 PM

Hi guys!
I have owned and heavily (mis-/ab-)used an Eumig Mark S 804 D (dual gauge) and as I see it, the only drawback with this machine is the compromise in the shape of the claw and the point it is set to strike the sprocket: it is very thin and thanks to this, it can engage each hole in the tiny area shared by both gauges. In fact the claw is the only element you don't have to change when switching from one gauge to the other. This makes it a very unforgiving machine when it comes to splices: they must be absolutely precise, or the loop will be lost. But this won't damage the films in any way, nay when I edit I take advantage of this "feature" to check that each splice is state-of-the-art, because I know if they pass through the 804 flawlessly, they will pass through ANY projector. What I wouldn't do with the 800 Series from Eumig is to run the film in reverse as this might scratch the back. Also these machines automatically enlarge the lower loop to 54 frames to keep the sync of sound Reg 8 films.

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Maurizio

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Gary Crawford
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 979
From: Manassas, VA. USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 01, 2004 03:10 PM

I've had many dual 8 Eumigs...and never had a bit of trouble with any of them ....except the old old 709 which , for some reason scratched my films terribly. My newer Sonic 824's and 810d's have been great. Have noticed no splice problems. I use them strictly for standard 8, leaving the super 8 to the elmo st1200hd or one of the other elmos. That's the main reason I sometimes bid on dual eumigs on ebay.....need to have a spare or three on hand. Some of my standard 8 stuff is clearer and more nicely printed than their super 8 counterparts.

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