8mm Forum: My First Notched Film

This is topic My First Notched Film in forum 9.5mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on July 28, 2012, 12:34 PM:

I recently received a wonderful gift from the UK - a notched 9.5mm film! I have had my Pathe Baby for many years now, but I have never before posessed a notched title, so I was anxious to see how it would work out on my projector. Well I was amazed! The Baby projector handled the notched titles beautifully, without any hesitation or jumping. The whole mechanism is supremely clever and works like a charm. In fact I spent most of the film looking at the projector and marvelling at what it was doing, with that fascinating click and clack every time a title popped up.
I really now understand the benefit of the notch titles for the early low wattage projectors.

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on August 02, 2012, 06:04 PM:

Paul
so glad to see you have finally had the chance to see the true magic of the baby! [Big Grin]

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on August 04, 2012, 09:47 PM:

I cannot understand what is notched film. Can you elaborate for me please what did they do to the film and why it is impirtant for low wattage projectors.

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on August 05, 2012, 01:57 AM:

Winbert, the notched films were the original 9.5mm releases for the Pathe baby projectors.. They had a unique notch in the film that occurred 2 frames before each title... The notch would release a small lever on the projector that would stop the forward movement for a short period of time...Longer titles would have 2 notches so that when the projector started back up it would then stop again. The period of stoppage was designed to be long enough to read the title but not so long as to burn the frame of film....Likewise, the low wattage of the lamp was necessary to avoid burning the frame....

If you watch this little video I made awhile back you can how the projector stops and starts.
Pathe Baby G2

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on August 06, 2012, 08:07 AM:

ThanksnDino.

So basically for the frames with notch they will act as slide film for few seconds instead of movie, right ?

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on August 06, 2012, 11:54 AM:

That's right Winbert, it acts just like a slide, but the projector motor (or hand cranking) never stops, just the claw mechanism is tripped by the notch. You never see the notch because the frame next to the notch is the one that is held in the gate aperture. It is all incredibly clever and works like a charm. One can imagine that 60ft teaching or documentary films really benefitted from this feature.

Posted by Clinton Hunt (Member # 2072) on August 07, 2012, 07:11 PM:

I have a number of notched films that i play on my spectro, which isn't setup for this feature, the titles are unreadable due to only 2 frames but still ok. I did buy a felix on ebay that is notched, unfortunately every notched-title must've been stopped on a lamp too bright as they are shrunk and the perforated holes are damaged, i decided to cut all these 2 frame sections out to allow it to play.Luckily it was still enjoyable to watch without titles.
Shame i had to but needs-must!
Keep collecting all types as maybe one day it maybe really hard to buy these 9.5mm films!
Cheers,
Clinton

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on August 07, 2012, 11:27 PM:

Clinton the warped titles could have been caused by a LUX projector since they confused people by offering 2 x bulbs for them... The high powered bulb was supposed to be run only with films employing running titles but inevitably people tried to get a brighter picture on their notched titled films and wound up cooking them...

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