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Author
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Topic: A huge thank you to Kevin Clark
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Tom Photiou
Film God
Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003
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posted March 21, 2018 03:25 PM
Here is something you don’t get every day.
I made an enquiry to fellow member Kevin Clark, this was regarding a Sankor 25mm lens I purchased around a year ago elsewhere to get a large image for our 16mm from a short throw.
I tried it and at the time, (being a bit green behind the ears as far as 16mm is concerned), and I thought the image was a tad darker but put it down to having the image made bigger/losing some light and/or quality. The image was also quite grainy, A few films later I was not at all impressed by this lens that many people raved about. I opted for a 38mm primed lens and a zoom converter purchased from Clyde on this forum. Halfway there now, the image still only 2/3rds filled the screen but it produces an excellent image and is perfect for the scope films.
Two weeks ago I looked again at the 25mm lens which was just sat on a shelf and i put a torch through the back and took a better look. It just didn’t look right, it looked like an icy surface, I was worried it was either filthy or had some fungus.
A conversation to Kevin resulted in me sending it to him to take a look, it was very bad news, not only was it fungus, but part of the lens was a bit loose resulting in a rattle if you shook it, worse still, Kevin explained that the glass appeared to have been cleaned as it wasn’t actually dirty, just badly damaged by the fungus and this was not something that could be fixed.
This was part of Kevin’s Findings,
“Sadly there is nothing that can be done about the fungus damaged element - this comprises of two small lenses in a black plastic mount - they are glued into these during manufacture - the side we need to get to is on the sealed inside hence no fix possible. However - in my opinion the fungus has 'bitten' so hard into the glass even it were possible to open it the glass would not respond to cleaning or treatment.
I've attached two photos - one that shows the combined fungus damaged element stripped out of the lens so you can clearly see the fungus grazes in the glass and one that shows that element next to another from the lens, on a white piece of card, so you can see the difference in clarity between the two, same camera, same lighting, same angle, two very different looking pieces of glass”.
However, Kevin also explained that he had a lens which is made up of a fitting that should fit the Elf we have, the lens itself being from a super 8 Silma projector, a Schneider F1.2 15.5mm to 28mm zoom lens, which in theory shouldn't work with 16mm due to vignetting, but in practice it works perfectly, all through the zoom range. It gives a huge picture at the 15.5mm end, and just about the same size as my 1" lens at the 28mm end of the range.
With all of this in mind my lens being sent to Mr Clark, and Kevin’s findings and returning of my lens plus the made up item was all done within four days, including the weekend. What an absolute star, this is a huge thank you to Kevin; we need a medal icon on here. Thanks to Kevin I can, at last, project a huge sharp, bright image with my Eiki. This is where forums and the internet do come into there own. What an absolute star.
Here is the problem Lens from the Sankor 25mm
Here is the lens that Kevin put together and is now in my Eiki,
As you see it looks a little lost but this is a small guy that packs a huge punch onto a big screen from just 11 feet away.
Cheers Kevin ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Here is a couple of screenshots taken tonight, do not be fooled for what you see on the screen is pin sharp and very bright.
[ June 07, 2019, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: Tom Photiou ]
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Adrian Winchester
Film God
Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted March 22, 2018 12:23 AM
This is an interesting, if surprising, success story, and I'm impressed by the edge to edge sharpness, which is very much in contrast to a lens in a sleeve I tried in my early days of using 16mm. I've never heard of a short throw zoom lens for 16mm, except for the custom one that you're clearly benefiting from! I suppose another benefit is that you could use this lens with a scope lens in front of it, using a normal scope lens holder, which wouldn't normally be possible. Eiki extension bars exist for positioning a scope lens in front of a conventional zoom lens, but I know from experience that buying the right one for a particular projector can take many years (as they are so scarce) and can cost a frighteningly large amount!
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Adrian Winchester
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Kevin Clark
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 978
From: Bapchild, Kent, UK
Registered: May 2004
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posted March 22, 2018 06:21 PM
This is great to hear you are happy Tom and thank you to others for your kind comments too - I have come to the conclusion the longer barrel Schneider Super 8 lenses usually found in Bauer, Braun Visacuatics and Silma projectors (in this case a S233) are the best ones to use. The rear end of their optics have a wider area of vision than other lenses, so the whole 16mm frame can be seen without edge distortion, but even allowing for this I expected at least some vignetting at the largest picture size setting on the zoom range but there was none at all. Also it is nice and bright, sharp and contrasty, all I need to do now is find a box full of them somewhere for future upgrades!
This one came from a beyond repair transit damaged Silma - the heads and gate went to a Bauer enthusiast friend, I kept the lens which is now with Tom, and some of the rollers are in the 'come in handy' box, so it was nearly all put to good use.
Just a shame the Elf / Eiki 25mm lens was so bad the fungus had bitten into the inaccessible inner two lens element as shown - thankfully this experience has not turned Tom off 16mm but it would have been understandable if it did as he paid a lot of money for a poor quality lens on this occasion.
Kevin
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