8mm Forum: Upgrade from ST-180, and which one?

This is topic Upgrade from ST-180, and which one? in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Matt Fisher (Member # 1508) on May 04, 2009, 01:09 PM:

Hello, I believe this is my first post, so I'll give just a little intro first. I live in Indianapolis, and have been accumulating projectors and films for about a year now. I have about five or features and a dozen or so shorts in Super 8, standard 8, and 16mm. I think its safe to say that I am hooked! Glad to be here, and the board, through my lurking, has already been a wealth of information.

Anyhoo, I have an ST-180 and an thinking of upgrading to either an ST-1200 or GS-1200, mainly because I'm getting tired of changing reels... It's clear that the GS seems to be the better liked of the two, but, other than the brighter bulb, stereo sound, and pulse sync capability, what are its advantages, if any? I'm not sure I want to pay an extra $600-700 for a brighter bulb, as I don't have any stereo prints and don't know that I would ever use the sync. Thanks for any input!

Posted by Mark Todd (Member # 96) on May 04, 2009, 02:05 PM:

Hi Matt personally I,d live with the reel size, get a 1,1 lens if you don`t have already( more light) and get a two blade shutter put in. Also use a xenophot bulb.

A ST180 with a 2 blade shutter, Xenophot bulb and a 1.1 will at least double the origional light and image quality in real terms.

And if its a nice machine you know runs well I`d give it some thought.

Getting a Elmo ST1200 with OK rubber rollers,( non available now) or a GS not run to death can be a very serious business and I`d reccomend you don`t buy one via the post as a lot too look out for when buying one. A seller simply may not know or won`t mention for the sale.

Best Mark.

Posted by Matt Fisher (Member # 1508) on May 04, 2009, 03:00 PM:

Thanks for the input, Mark! OK, so the bulb question was easily investigated with a little searching, and the fast lens seems pretty self-explanatory. As for the shutter conversion, though, is this something I can do myself? I'm fairly handy with mechanical/electronic things...

Posted by Mark Todd (Member # 96) on May 04, 2009, 03:52 PM:

Well Matt Kev F ( moderator) is your man on here for advice on fitting an Elmo two blade shutter. Apprently not too hard on a 180.

Its setting the timeing all up afterwards I expect you would need more advice on than the actual blade going on.

As you will have seen a Xenophot give you around 120 watts light in real terms, a 2 blade adds around another 40 watts like if you will, then the 1.1 will add anouther 25%/30% on top of that so works out rather well.
Also the colours tend to lift nicely as well.

One thing to watch for on your 180 is that the take up is strong enough or after the second sprocket once 150-200 feet are through the film will lay down and drag/touch in the channel, you can easily modify in the film path to sort that or firm up the take up. A new take up belt works wonders alone.

If you don`t need stereo the 180 is a great machine, all GS1200,s are in to the real finicky stage now with all the electrics.

I met a chap with 4 a few years ago and all 4 of the GS1200`s were casuing hassel and once looked at were soon in trouble again, I expect all a little well used.

Don`t get me wrong they are a beautiful machine when on song and if you can track down a little used one far better. If you ahve a fixer handy that helps, but I`d give serious thought to upgrading the 180 itself.

Best Mark.

Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on May 04, 2009, 04:46 PM:

hey Matt, welcome to the Forum! [Smile]

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