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Telecine result of my 1st try at 9.5mm colour filming,Normandy Beach & Pegasus Bridge

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  • Telecine result of my 1st try at 9.5mm colour filming,Normandy Beach & Pegasus Bridge

    My grandfather's 1930's Pathe B camera was given to me by my father in 2010. I immediately bought a charger of colour film from Roy Salmons of Photoworld in Llandudno, Wales, and took the camera on a family trip to visit some of the key World War 2 sites in northern France.

    We shot the 30 feet of film on Normandy Beach and Pegasus Bridge, and a couple of other sites briefly too.

    Roy developed the film on our return but it was very dark, and there was a strong blue cast to the whole film. I projected it and filmed it but the result was hard to watch and the disappointment led to my abandoning 9.5mm filming for the next 9 years, and I only got back into it a couple of weeks ago after buying the Ferrania B&W stock mentioned in a previous post on the archived forum.

    Looking in the attic a couple of days ago, I found the original film, and with my new but very basic telecine skills (Lego frame holder, Nikon camera with Macro lens, strong backlight , piece of wire to advance the film) I was able to photograph each individual frame (around 1200 frames) then correct the levels and colours of all the images in Batch Processing in Photoshop, put all the resulting images into Power Director, add a stabilising filter and produce a movie.

    Here's the result. There are some still frames taken from the film at the end too. With just 30 feet of film at around 16 frames per second the whole thing is less than a minute long.
    Amazing to think the camera is at least 80 years old and hadn't been touched before for at 50 least years.

    There's a better telecine transfer waiting to be made but this is plenty good enough for now and I'm really pleased with the results, despite the faults. Dad passed away 5 years ago so this is even more precious now. He's the one in the shorts and white socks of course! The others are my uncle, brother, cousin and brother in law. I'm the one in the white shirt at the end.
    Sorry for the poor camera work, the camera took some getting used too.
    One puzzle: the frame moves across over the film, so that, at the end, the sprocket holes are no longer central but over to one side of the images. Using the camera this week, I notice the same thing to a lesser extent. The inside of the camera seems completely rigid, and since the claws are engaging with the sprocket holes, I can't see how this could happen. I can only imagine that the rectangular frame "hole" facing the lens is moving, but that seems to be part of the whole structure of the front of the camera so I don't see how it could move. Any thoughts welcome. I'll try to insert the film directly using the new feature here. Thanks for looking.


  • #2
    I cannot view the telecine video for some reason

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    • #3
      It works for me.

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      • #4
        Got it now! I thought just clicking on it would open it up, and that did not work. By right clicking on it and then clicking on OPEN in the scroll down menu it works fine.

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        • #5
          Hi guys. That's interesting Paul, it appears on my computer (and tablet and phone) as an embedded video with the Play symbol in the centre. I click that and it plays straightaway.
          Iain

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          • #6
            It seems the film could slip sideways in the channel, the wide perforation holes allowing for such. Check whether there is a folded-up sheet metal or a leaf spring missing or bent dead. A good photo of the gate would help to pin down the problem. As a professional cinema equipment repairman I should be gladly helping. In any case, if you’d like to improve on the gear, I could name a few cameras and projectors that offer more.

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            • #7
              Thank you Simon, I'll take a proper look and try to photograph it close up too. I'd like to get it working reliably as it was my grandfather's. I'd like to know which better models to look out for too though. There's a lot of inormation out there about different makes and models of 9.5mm cameras and lenses but very little about which ones actually produced good results!

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              • #8
                A family heritage

                About cameras. First of all you could add an automatic one, automatic meant spring driven at the time. There were spring drive attachments to the Pathé Baby, CAMO made in Geneva and one from Continsouza. True gems of 9.5mm film cameras were made, let me name the Facine and the Paillard-Bolex H-9 both of 1935 or the GIC-ETM P 9.5 of 1947. In the twenties Niezoldi & Krämer made a number of models, designated Ciné-Nizo.

                The better products accept various lenses with the Bell & Howell A, B or C mount (all based on the same thread, UN 1"-32), and have a good finder, i. e. one that lets you compensate parallax. Among the late spring driven cameras, the Beaulieu R 9.5 has a TTL reflex finder. A more modest but robust make is the GIC 9.5 with a single C-mount thread. A rather rare object is the Argus made by Thames, London, follow link. Other British models are Campro, Coronet, Dekko, Midas or Miller. With projectors things get weird, you have an immense choice of former equipment for sale now from attics to antique shops.

                Personally I favour spool cameras although I know about the advantages of chargers.

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                • #9
                  That's great Simon, thank you .I'll start Googling those now!

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                  • #10
                    Thanks, Iain. It's intersting to notice that "small" cartriges models cameras are more popular in the UK than the 50/100 ft (15/30 mt) ones. French ninefivers tend to prefer Ligonie, Beaulieu and Pathé cameras. Before Color City discontinued the filmstock (since 35 mm unperfored films are not available at the moment), the good Velvia (Fuji) was used. I personnaly had Ektachrome 16 mm filmstock reperfored to 9.5 and I know another ninefiver (in France) who did the same thing. Of course, this is not cheap at all so I'm glad to read you found less expensive solutions to shoot in 9.5, which is of course what keeps the gauge alive.

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                    • #11
                      Thank you Dominique. I must admit I'm enjoying shooting short 25 to 30 foot lengths of film at the moment,(results here soon...) as it forces me to really think before "pulling the trigger" and it means my stock will last so much longer! I hate losing the first 6 inches in the take up end of the spool though. Once I can load the cameras in the dark I can save all the unshot film and do something interesting with it, eg use it in still cameras to give a panoramic perforated effect.
                      Iain

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                      • #12
                        Simon: Ciné-Nizo: You recommended it so I bought it .... When researching your suggestions today, a Nizo came up on eBay and it's now mine :-) . Seller says the motor runs but he can't promise it's fully working. I'll find out in 2 days . It seems to be a rare make, so I'm happy. The wife: not so much.
                        Iain

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                        • #13
                          That went fast. Nizo was more common in Germany naturally. Model 9½ F has a behind-the-film reflex finder that allows to most accurately frame and focus. Maybe you want a British made projector, a post-war Specto or an EMEL Bi-film, if you can find one.

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                          • #14
                            Great, it's the model F I have. Ah reading your message again, "that went fast" suggests perhaps you were watching in on ebay already. Thank goodness we didn't bid against each other. I got it for the opening bid of £29.99 which is a good price I suspect, if it works

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                            • #15
                              Certainly a good price (but as you said if it World). A 9,5 Beaulieu camera would costs several hundreds euros, now.

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