8mm Forum: My First Notched Film

»	8mm Forum » 9.5mm Forum » My First Notched Film

UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!

Author

Topic: My First Notched Film

Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 28, 2012 12:34 PM

I recently received a wonderful gift from the UK - a notched 9.5mm film! I have had my Pathe Baby for many years now, but I have never before posessed a notched title, so I was anxious to see how it would work out on my projector. Well I was amazed! The Baby projector handled the notched titles beautifully, without any hesitation or jumping. The whole mechanism is supremely clever and works like a charm. In fact I spent most of the film looking at the projector and marvelling at what it was doing, with that fascinating click and clack every time a title popped up.
I really now understand the benefit of the notch titles for the early low wattage projectors.

--------------------
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

| IP: Logged

Dino Everette
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1535
From: Long Beach, CA USA
Registered: Dec 2008

posted August 02, 2012 06:04 PM

Paul
so glad to see you have finally had the chance to see the true magic of the baby! [Big Grin]

--------------------
"You're too Far Out Miss Lawrence"

| IP: Logged

Winbert Hutahaean
Film God

Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted August 04, 2012 09:47 PM

I cannot understand what is notched film. Can you elaborate for me please what did they do to the film and why it is impirtant for low wattage projectors.

--------------------
Winbert

| IP: Logged

Dino Everette
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1535
From: Long Beach, CA USA
Registered: Dec 2008

posted August 05, 2012 01:57 AM

Winbert, the notched films were the original 9.5mm releases for the Pathe baby projectors.. They had a unique notch in the film that occurred 2 frames before each title... The notch would release a small lever on the projector that would stop the forward movement for a short period of time...Longer titles would have 2 notches so that when the projector started back up it would then stop again. The period of stoppage was designed to be long enough to read the title but not so long as to burn the frame of film....Likewise, the low wattage of the lamp was necessary to avoid burning the frame....

If you watch this little video I made awhile back you can how the projector stops and starts.
Pathe Baby G2

--------------------
"You're too Far Out Miss Lawrence"

| IP: Logged

Winbert Hutahaean
Film God

Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted August 06, 2012 08:07 AM

ThanksnDino.

So basically for the frames with notch they will act as slide film for few seconds instead of movie, right ?

--------------------
Winbert

| IP: Logged

Winbert Hutahaean
Film God

Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted August 06, 2012 08:07 AM

ThanksnDino.

So basically for the frames with notch they will act as slide film for few seconds instead of movie, right ?

--------------------
Winbert

| IP: Logged

Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted August 06, 2012 11:54 AM

That's right Winbert, it acts just like a slide, but the projector motor (or hand cranking) never stops, just the claw mechanism is tripped by the notch. You never see the notch because the frame next to the notch is the one that is held in the gate aperture. It is all incredibly clever and works like a charm. One can imagine that 60ft teaching or documentary films really benefitted from this feature.

--------------------
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

| IP: Logged

Clinton Hunt
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 845
From: Waharoa,North Island,New Zealand
Registered: May 2010

posted August 07, 2012 07:11 PM

I have a number of notched films that i play on my spectro, which isn't setup for this feature, the titles are unreadable due to only 2 frames but still ok. I did buy a felix on ebay that is notched, unfortunately every notched-title must've been stopped on a lamp too bright as they are shrunk and the perforated holes are damaged, i decided to cut all these 2 frame sections out to allow it to play.Luckily it was still enjoyable to watch without titles.
Shame i had to but needs-must!
Keep collecting all types as maybe one day it maybe really hard to buy these 9.5mm films!
Cheers,
Clinton

--------------------
Cheers from me in New Zealand :-)

| IP: Logged

Dino Everette
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1535
From: Long Beach, CA USA
Registered: Dec 2008

posted August 07, 2012 11:27 PM

Clinton the warped titles could have been caused by a LUX projector since they confused people by offering 2 x bulbs for them... The high powered bulb was supposed to be run only with films employing running titles but inevitably people tried to get a brighter picture on their notched titled films and wound up cooking them...

--------------------
"You're too Far Out Miss Lawrence"

| IP: Logged

All times are Central

Printer-friendly view of this topic

UBB.classic^TM 6.3.1.2