8mm Forum: Proud owner of 'new' Elmo ST-180

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Topic: Proud owner of 'new' Elmo ST-180

Adrian Winchester
Film God

Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004

posted June 29, 2010 08:56 AM

I've just received one of these won on eBay. It's practically 'like new' - the seller said he bought it for a film-making project that he never go round to. It cost me £100, which I thought was a bargain and I'm surprised no one else bid up to the reserve. I recall members here saying that the projector has one or two refinements that make it a little different to other similar Elmos, so I'll look forward to finding out.

The seller said he paid about £500 and it sounded like he got it in the early 1990s. That's late for an Elmo, but if I remember rightly, the ST-180 may well have been the very last 'normal' Super 8 projector sold new in the UK. Can any members that bought a new one remember when they got it?

The accessories are not quite complete and I wondered if anyone with a full set relating to this projector could confirm what's missing? I've got the mains lead, Instruction Manual, 600' reel, microphone, earpiece, and the flat plastic brush. I'd imagine that originally there would have also been the small metal 'looped' brush, cotton buds and perhaps a small plastic microphone stand. Not sure about a connecting lead.

I hadn't realised, before seeing the Instruction Manual, that the ST-180 also was available in a magnetic-optical model. Considering how few package movies were available with optical sound, I'm surprised how many different projectors had this facility.

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Adrian Winchester

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Graham Ritchie
Film God

Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006

posted June 29, 2010 02:12 PM

Hi Adrian
My parents bought one brand new from a shop in Paisley Scotland for just under 200 pound back in 1982. The suggested retail price price when it came out was 201 pound I am a bit surprised that anyone would pay 500 for one.

Movie Maker did an excellent test report on this 2-track projector in the October 1983 magazine.

It might pay to inspect the belts as they can disintergrate over time.

I made a bracket to hold the Scope lens [Smile]

The Elmo ST-180 is a nice little projector.

Graham. [Smile]

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Adrian Winchester
Film God

Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004

posted June 29, 2010 09:34 PM

Hi Graham,
Thanks for your post, and it was fascinating to see the original promotional leaflet. I may have the 1983 Movie Maker with the test report, so I'll take a look.
I've just found a 1987 cine magazine with a dealer offering the projector for £330, so I think it's credible that they might have been in the region of £500 by the time production ended in the early 1990s. This is partly because of inflation but also because the 1987 GS1200 price was significantly less that the final price being charged a couple of years later.

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Adrian Winchester

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