8mm Forum: Super 8mm optical sound results?

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Topic: Super 8mm optical sound results?

Clinton Hunt
Jedi Master Film Handler

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

posted March 04, 2018 07:01 PM

I only own 1 optical sound film on Super 8mm ... Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams on 3 x 600ft reels.I’m not impressed actually,the optical sound was a hit and miss for quality,sometimes it’s clear and other times it’s a bit garbled,I’m not sure if it’s my Elmo projector (threading etc) or the optical soundtrack? The picture is faded to totally red.
Flicking the “loop” knob sometimes helps.
Anyone else have this situation or have any thoughts?

https://youtu.be/OOj7brCnwv8

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Cheers from me in New Zealand :-)

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Andreas Chmielewski
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 233
From: Greifenstein / Germany
Registered: Sep 2010

posted March 05, 2018 06:17 AM

You can make a magnetic stripe on it, i have a adress in Italy. The quality is great! And you can re-recorded new from DVD [Smile]

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Tom Photiou
Film God

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

posted March 05, 2018 06:39 AM

Well, my view is only from my own experiences,
We have had three or four films with optical sound,
Crocodile Dundee, sold as it was censored for general audience,
Spaceballs
A Chaplin short, (The Tramp)
Movitone News reel.
All of them had ok sound but three out of four suffered with bumps and hiss, all had crappy tinny sound, even via our amp they wernt anything special.
I know super 8 optical sound can and does suffer from Hiss pops and bumps but, some Super 8 projectors are better than others for optical sound.
Another collector sent me a very informative email the other day on this subject, here is an extract from that email, I hope he wont mind me using this but this chap is a very knowledgeable collector and a past member from here, in part it reads,

"assuming you are watching optical on Elmo’s no doubt, which are not the best machine to replay optical sound. The ST1200 is slightly better than the GS1200, the Elmo’s for some reason soak up static charge, it used to fascinate me, when rewinding on metal spools, the little blue spark flitting between the spool and the reel arm, Paul van Someren cured his with a paper clip, so a lot of these crackles and pops just could be static, but BOTH these machines pale against the Fumeo, it doesn’t need any ancillary amplification,

So that, for me, explains it, we no longer have any optical films as one the things i cannot stand is buying a film on super 8 which is censored when you can buy the uncensored version on a disc, whats the point in that?

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Maurizio Di Cintio
Jedi Master Film Handler

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

posted March 05, 2018 10:11 AM

Clinton the problem is in the pinch roller: check that it rests on the film/capstan with due torque; you can increase that (if necessary), by tuning the position of the pinch roller green arm and have it moved a little more anti-clockwise when in stop mode; this way the pinch roller will press the film more firmly.
Looking for what is causing this problem might be a little shocking, though: perhaps the plastic the P/R arm is made of, has cracked a little, tipically around the two allen bolts that keep in fastened to its actuating shaft. That would explain why it is no longer excising the necessary torque. But it's possible to mend.

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Maurizio

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Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 07, 2018 11:22 PM

The optical sound performance on both my GS1200'S is extremely poor, almost worthless in fact. Looking at the design of the optical lens mounting, and the way the films optical track does not stay a constant distance from the exciter lamp lens, it almost seems that the optical sound capability of this projector was an afterthought. Which raises the question " what super 8 mag/opt sound projectors got the optical sound design done right"?

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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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Mark Mander
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1236
From: Dunstable ,Bedfordshire.
Registered: Jan 2005

posted March 08, 2018 01:44 AM

Paul,
My GS1200 optical playback is really good as it had a modification a few years back to improve it,I have had four of these machines over the years and all were good optical sound wise,saying all that I have an ST1200D and optical is lovely on it,the ST1200 has as a rule better optical sound quality over it's big brother but it's the luck of the draw with them as from machine to machine they vary(I have 7 ST's) Mark

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Elmo GS1200 1.0 lens
Elmo ST1200HD 1.1 lens
Sankyo 800 1.0 lens
Elmo 16CL
Elf NT1

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Alan Rik
Film God

Posts: 2211
From: New York City, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 08, 2018 01:48 AM

I heard the Fujicascope projectors got the optical sound right. I wish I could tell you...but i haven't been able to find the bulb on my Fujicascope!
My GS1200 optical doesn't sound too great either.

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Mark Mander
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1236
From: Dunstable ,Bedfordshire.
Registered: Jan 2005

posted March 08, 2018 02:05 AM

The Fujicascope SH30 has really great optical sound Alan,my mate has one and it's a nice machine. I had a Sankyo stereo 800 opt/mag and sound was poor on that,a lot of machines got the mag/opt treatment but again with varying results,it's as if they didn't expect it to be used,Mark

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Elmo GS1200 1.0 lens
Elmo ST1200HD 1.1 lens
Sankyo 800 1.0 lens
Elmo 16CL
Elf NT1

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Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 09, 2018 10:10 AM

Well I removed the sound head pressure roller arm and noticed mag-oxide dust on the photo electric cell. So I wiped it off with alcohol and also cleaned the outer lenses of the optical tube assembly. It made a definite improvement in optical sound quality.
Has anybody ever tried re-aligning the optical sound lens assembly to the optical sound track? It looks like a nightmare to me?
How often do you have to replace the exciter lamp?

--------------------
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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Osi Osgood
Film God