Author
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Topic: That annoying scratch!!!
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted May 08, 2008 05:54 PM
Tom, (on his comments concerning his copy of Police Academy 2), brought up an annoying problem that we have all ran into ...
A perfectly good projector, that we can usually trust to never scratch our films, and yet, out of nowhere, there's a nasty scratch on a well beloved print of ours ...
... and we can't seem to find a single reason for the damned projector to scratch!!
How about you guys?
Are there any single main areas where a projector will scratch a print, nine times out of ten?
I have had a few very reliable, never die projectors that for some reason, leave scratches and upon looking at the whole film path, I can't for the life of me find out where the damned thing is scratching.
One thing that has just occurred to me is ...
Could it potentially be the film being pulled to tight or snapped about?
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted May 08, 2008 07:50 PM
Kevin,
You had a good point which for the life of me, escaped me.
The scratch doesn't appear the first time through, but it does the second time through, so it's most certainly AFTER it passes the film gate (apeture?), either that, or right there at the film gate.
Hmmmm!
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted May 15, 2008 06:01 PM
Well I have to say that I have never had a single scratch from any of my Eumig projectors. Yes, the 700 and 800 series sound heads are inaccessible for cleaning without some diassembly of the head assembly, which is definately possible but a little time consuming to do on a regular basis. A quick blast from a pressurized air can,down the sound head chute, after every reel will probably prevent 90% of the oxide build-up. The 900 series Eumig's all have a new design soundhead which is readily and totally accesible for cleaning, between reels if necesary. Both my Elmo GS1200'S are resposible for putting some pretty deep scratches on several of my films. They require constant cleaning and attention to reduce the chances of scratch generation. The Eumig's, by contrast, do not seem to be nearly so fussy, and are therefore much more relaxing to use.
-------------------- 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
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted May 15, 2008 06:52 PM
I must agree with Paul on this one, as I have never had a scratch problem with my Eumig 926. It is incredibly gentle with films.
One factor, however, has to be the film stock, I believe, AND how OLD he stock is. I just bought some "film renew" for this very purpose, as I have heard that it is VERY good for lubrication.
I have had absolutely brand new classic era castle film color prints, (one of which I talked about before a Woodpecker cartoon entitled "Termites From mars, a classic!), and the very first time, my Eumig left a nasty scratch all the way through, but it has never scratched any of my Derann prints. Other 30 or more year old prints have also scratched very easily, which is why I bought that film-renew. I won't watch a single older print until I have treated with that stuff!
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted May 15, 2008 09:18 PM
Tom,
I'm not sure if I'll part with it, but I'm seriously considering ebaying my one remaining 35MM cartoon, a 1943 classic era Woody Woodpecker, "The Dizzy Acrobat" and it has very good color. It has some wear, but rare enough. I love those original Universal 1940's logo's, with the shimmering revolving stars and logo!
I bet it would fetch a pretty good price, as there are quite a few of the 1960's and early 70's Woody's that appear on ebay on 35MM, but rarely the classic era 1940's!
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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