Fuji a Sound 8

[John Burgess]

Hi, have this lovely Fujica Sound Standard 8mm mag sound machine. I have never seen one before purchasing this a few years ago, lovely solid build quality excellent tube amp sound quality. There were no instructions with it and wondered if any members are familiar with the threading of this machine, it is a 3 sprocket machine and although I use it often cannot seem to get the sound separation spot on. I suspect Maurice may come forward !
John

[Maurice Leakey]

John
The standard 8 magnetic sound separation is 56 frames in advance.
That is, picture to sound-head.


Maurice

[John Burgess]

Maurice, I knew you would reply, thanks for the 56 frame reminder. I was aware of this, the amount of rollers both sprung and fixed meant there were so many different options for threading. I have just this afternoon resolved the problem. Using white leader with a mark directly in the gate aperture, then tried the different lacing option until the 56 frame mark was on the sound head, job done. I wonder if any other member own one of these projectors. They really perform so well , I am going to change the lamp shortly it’s a 21-5 v 150 watt, they don’t last 5 minutes and are v costly. Thanks again Maurice.

[Joseph Banfield]

If your lamps are not lasting longer than 5 minutes, you've probably got a bad lamp socket or oxidized pins on the lamp itself. That is definately not a normal lamp life by any stretch of the imagination.

And I agree that tube amps have that really great sound. I use a Eumig Mark S for standard 8mm with a tube amp and love the warm, solid sound that I don't get with later transistorized models, especially with an external speaker.

Also the real beauty of standard 8mm sound film is that sound chatter is not even possible, which is something that can not be said regarding Super8 sound unless you have a machine that has a smoothing roller before the film enters the sound head.

And as Shorty has pointed out many times, a standard 8mm print, especially Blackhawk releases, often look better than their later Super 8 prints. Given the choice of two identical prints by the same company, I lean towards the standard 8mm version!

[Lee Mannering]

John think I have one of those boxed in the archive. Can you remind me of the model number?
itll be buried behind 30 Eumigs so give me time to find it

[John Burgess]

Thank you Joseph for your reply. When I said 5 minutes it was a figure of speech, I probably should have said only a few hours ,
i think life expectancy of these lamps is about 15 hrs, not long really when you consider their price they command at present.
Lee , my machine is labelled Fujica 8 sound, I don't think they had a very large production run as I had never seen one prior to my purchase. I am thinking of fitting a 21volt 150 watt quartz lamp which should work fine ,albeit the Fujica runs at 21.5volts I don't think the .5 volt difference will be a problem. Let me know what you think. I also have a pair of 2000 ft arms to fit enabling me to show my features uninterupted. What a great hobby we share , always a little mod or tweak to improve the show. Keep calm, keep projecting and keep safe!
John

[Brian Fretwell]

I was told that running a lamp at 90% voltage increases its life by 50% so it won't do any harm. Checking your actual mains voltage and the transformer tap (if it has one) is on the same voltage would be a good move.

[Lee Mannering]

John. Checked archive and its the Siebu Sound one I have made in Tokyo which I forgot I actually had, 2 many projectiles.

Brian. The opposite with Eumig sound projectors when Movie Maker magazine tech team published you could set your UK volts to 230 on the transformer gaining a bit more light from them. All of my 30 odd Eumigs are set at that since dot really zero problems.

[Dominique De Bast]

Projectors usually left the manufactures on a higher position than the voltage of the land the machine was supposed to be used (for example it was set on 230 v or 240 if the domestic supply was 220 v). Now that the voltage in Europe has moved from 220 v to 230, I assume the projectors provide a little bit more light than before. Lee, do you get 230 v or 240 v at your home ?

[Lee Mannering]

Our mains is 240 but back in the 70s they said a Eumig sound protector could be run at 230v ac. No problems doing that and yes a bit more light is gained. This was a easy to do in the 70's, then I started converting to 2 blade shutters and finally HID xenpow lamps all in the strive for more light.

Incidentally I put my HID Eumig next to my HID Elmo gs1200 and measured screen illumination is pretty much the same with f1.2 lenses in. Not bad for a teeny Eumig 810D light weight.

[Dominique De Bast]

Thanks, Lee. I may try to set a projector on 220 v to gain some light

[Shane C. Collins]

I have my Bolex 18-5L Super set to 110 volts and it gives a much brighter image on screen. The 75 watt Osram HLX looks more like 150 watts. I believe we are 120 volts here in the US?

[Brian Fretwell]

I have read that you are actually 240v but supplied through a centre tapped transformer so that you have half the house getting 120v from one tap and the other 120v from the other and that some distribution boards can actually give 240v across the both taps so very high power appliances to limit the current drawn. So in a normal house all sockets will show 120v.

Power supply systems are never simple are they?