8mm Forum: Introductions

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Posted by Johnny Starr (Member # 403) on June 22, 2005, 10:36 AM:

Hello all,

I've just joined this forum and wanted to thank the posters at this place for the great assistance that they've given me already by providing the great stock of information that I've waded through whilst waiting for my membership to be activated.

There's lots of clever tips and tricks on this forum and it seems you bods certainly know your projectors!

A bit about me:

I come from a DIY video projector background. By that I mean I've banged away with overhead projectors, condenser lenses, LCD projection panels, nicking the LCD from old TFT monitors, etc, in order to display movies on the wall through PC and digital tuner cards. I love the hobby and ain't giving it up. The quality of picture I can get from bodging together bits of string and doublesided sticky tape for £100 beats most of the low end LCD projectors on the market today.

However ... I've found that I've also developed a rather nostalgic fondness for old movies; mostly non-commercial amateur Super8 films that give a great historical record of the 1960/70's. Also, some of those old Hollywood movies seem to be much more enjoyable when watched on an old Walton, colour, sound film than through DVD on a digital projector. I can't put my finger on why that is.

I found the traditional box of Super8 reels that my dad kept in the loft and an old Eumig jobbie that had been languishing in the garage and got hooked.

I delved into eBay for some cheap and cheerful projectors a while back and ended up with a Royal Sound model (a Giocca, Italy thing) and a Cinerex 727. These work and put a picture on the wall but they don't seem too clever and I'm worried about scratching film so wont put the proper, precious stuff through them.

So, I'm looking to upgrade a little and get something nicer that I can trust and that also has decent sound quality.

I've been vering down the Eumig route following a lot of mentions on this site. I don't want to spend silly money but I want something that does the job.

The Eumig 824 sonomatic seems to be rated as having good sound; can anybody tell me what that rectangular mousemat sized box with white backlight and buttons and numbers around the edges does? It comes with the projector but I've only seen pictures and have no idea what it does.

Also, there doesn't seem to be much chat here about Agfa projectors. From doing a little bit of background research elsewhere it seems that the majority of the internals are the same as some Bauer projectors with just an Agfa badge on. Can anybody confirm this and are they any good?

I've waffled on far too long for my initial posting so I'll cut it here.

And thank's again for all the top notch posts that you guys have put out so that new converts like me can start to get clued up.

Johnny.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on June 22, 2005, 10:58 AM:

Welcome Johnny, (no relation to Freddy Starr i trust [Big Grin]

)
Lots of good blokes and info on here,
As for an upgrade, if you can get a eumig sonmatic they are very good quality machines and reasonably priced. My Brother has the 822 sonomatic and is well pleased. I myself am an Elmo man with 1200HD or two, if you were looking for a good upgrade without spending a fortune i think (apart from the Eumig range) either an Elmo ST600 or if you want bigger spool size capacity perhaps and ST800 though the price hikes up a bit more. I did try a Bell and Howell 8mm machine back along as well as a chinnon but i found these makes were not so good to the films. As far as Eumigs & Elmo's go (my own experience only) they are more common in use and are certainly kind to the films so long as the entire film path is kept clean. I also belive the Sanyo is a very good projector. As amatter of fact if you check the websites for Derann films, Paul Foster and Perrys Movies they generally always have something reasonable on offer and unlike e-bay, your pretty much certain its going to work fine. [Wink]

I'm sure others can tell you about other machines that are also very good and reliable.

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on June 22, 2005, 01:38 PM:

Johnny,

Hello and welcome to the forum. It's great to hear from someone who appreciates different types of media projection.
For a short period, Agfa's projectors were made by Silma in Turin, Italy. Silma was a subsidiary of Bauer at that point, so yes, there are some similarities in the workings. The Agfa Sonector LS appears to be a close relative of Bauer's T190 series.

Doug

Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on June 22, 2005, 03:08 PM:

Hello Johny and welcome to the forum! [Smile]

They are a very positive bunch on here and always happy to help in any way they can. But I think you know that already [Wink]

.

As regards a trade up in projectors, I am very much a fan of the later Sankyo range of projectors. The 700, 702 and 800 are all very good, well made and nicely thought out machines. They perform well and tend to be very kind to your precious films which is a major consideration.

Mike [Cool]

Posted by Michael Clark (Member # 369) on June 22, 2005, 03:27 PM:

Welcome to the Forums Johnny. Always good to see a new face! [Smile]

Posted by Tony Milman (Member # 7) on June 22, 2005, 04:14 PM:

Johnny,

Welcome. Like Mike I regard the sankyo range as being very good. The Agfa brand in 16mm projectors is indeed a Bauer in disguise so I guess the same could be true of 8mm.

The Elmo range is certainly one to be considered but as you say Eumigs are well built though I think the Elmo or Sankyo is a little more gentle

As for the forum, I would say don't be scared by Mike, his sinister pictureis pure marketing for his stalls at the BFCC!!!

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on June 22, 2005, 04:51 PM:

Great to have you on board Jonny, welcome and enjoy [Smile]

Kev.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on June 22, 2005, 06:41 PM:

Hi Johnny,
Regarding your question on the Eumig 820 Sonomatic. The little rectangular box with the numbers is a frame counter. It counts every single frame of the film being projected, so if you are doing recordings on the magnetic sound track on the film, you can use the frame counter to indicate when to start and stop recording. The buttons around the counter are the 'Sonomatic' feature. This is an automated recording feature on this projector which you can set to automatically switch on and off the record/erase heads at preset values of the frame counter- very useful if you are doing voice over music recording. I've had my Sonomatic for 20 years and it still runs like new. It is extremely kind to film, and has never scratched a single frame (unlike Elmo's!). It is built like a tank- a beautifully designed projector with superb production quality. Highly recommended.

Posted by Johnny Starr (Member # 403) on June 23, 2005, 05:27 AM:

Chaps, I'm overwhelmed. I thought that this much encouragement and warm, welcoming spirit to a complete stranger was something that was reserved for new attendees of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting! I was wrong - unless, of course, this forum is just a front for an AA type project! [Wink]

Many suggestions and useful tips, your missives did contain.

I've stumbled on a few Noris' in my travels too and they seem to be quite kindly thought of amongst these parts; anybody had any dealings with the 342? It's a stereo model and looks to have more knobs to twiddle than you know what to do with! (although in my experience, more knobs on something usually means more chance of something buggering up).

Again, thanks to all who replied; I hope that after I start getting a bit of experience with this lark I'll be able to chuck in my tuppence worth too.

Cheers,
JS

Posted by David Roberts (Member # 197) on June 25, 2005, 08:00 AM:

Ive tried 4 Norris machines in recent years and they all had one big defect,they often project an unsteady picture!
I think this may be a result of their having a fast claw pull down and now the machines are old they dont wear well.
This is a shame because in other respects they had many great deign points and I would still be using them now if the picture was steady.
As it stands though,id have to say,avoid this make at all cost!

Posted by Jan Bister (Member # 332) on June 25, 2005, 09:05 AM:

Sadly, I think I have to agree. "I think?" Well, a long long time ago my parents owned a silent super-8 projector, a Porst FP 100. It was only recently that I realized a striking resemblance between that Porst and some of Noris' offerings - right down to the sprocket wheels and film path design.
As for the Porst, it would misthread our film very often and eat it up... We were clueless then, of course, and I was but a wee little child, so my parents kept having it repaired, only for the problem to still persist.
(Then, one day, my Mom tripped over the power cord and the projector fell off its stand and crashed onto the floor. That was its (un)timely demise, and I got my Bauer T450 shortly later since by that time I had completely caught fire on doing animated super-8 films of my own.)
And I do remember one thing - the Porst only had a single claw and not even a loop restorer to go with it so even when it did work, the slightest sprocket damage meant chattering sounds and rolling pictures! Argh!!

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