The death of super 8 projectors in the UK

[Phillip Campey]

From September the Uk government are banning the sale and use of Halogen bulbs, can LED bulbs be used in super 8 projectors or is this the beginning of the end for super 8?

[Bill Parsons]

I personally have not found a way to focus the light from an led lamp onto the small film frame to give a nice bright picture, maybe someone else has.
Does this ban include the specialist lamps as used in projectors?

[Simon McConway]

I may be wrong, but I think low-voltage lamps may not be included in the ban, as I know some of these lamps (or similar low voltage types) are used for medical and dentistry applications.

[Lee Mannering]

All the info is up here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/e...cleaner-future


They started it EU style in 2018 so we did know it was a comin. I started changing my lighting for video production work just before lockup as I was still using Halogen heads a expensive update and completely useless with what was business shut down grr. Gradually seeing some sort of media norm now but terrible for small business.

As far as the end of Projectors its very unlikely as options are on offer which will keep the machines in full motion. My day to day S8 and 9.5mm machines are now HID converted with long lamp life and I'm guessing most will be stocking up on original lamps to keep the turning over. By the time I run out of Halogen lamps for my remaining original machines they will be digging the hole.

Was kinda hoping after our EU exit they would give up on the banning idea as air pollution is pretty severe. All will have noticed during lock up how empty the roads were and how wildlife has thrived telling us something?

Oh and they are also banning the lamp holders for them as well.

[Tom Photiou]

Seriously, what is banning halogen lamp bulbs really going to do. All the trash that ship put in the ocean recently has done more damage than all the halogen lanps will in years. Do gooders yet again.

[Nick Regan]

While working in the entertainment lighting industry a few years ago, we had some physically small moving head lights that projected an intense beam of focussed light through various rotating colour and gobo wheels and a focus lens. These were designed for use in nightclubs and theatres stages etc.

These utilised a flat circular led that used 24 volts and produced a white light around a colour temperature of 32k or daylight. I think it may be possible, in fact quite simple to adapt these quite easily to fit a standard projector.

The LED is about the size of 2 x 1P coins stuck on top of each other and has a small tag on each side and sits flat.

I cannot remember the official names for these LED s but I do remember you could light a cigarette at 20 paces from them as we used to say.

I have one of these lights in the attic I will get it down and pull the LED and try it in an old machine and see what the results are.

I will post photos when I got it down if anyone is interested?

Nick

[Martin Davey]

Thats quite a depressing article/ post. Looking at the gov website, I wonder if this would include us from what I have pasted here, seeing as some lamps are advertised for photographic/ display use?
'Exemptions will be in place for lamps designed and marketed specifically for scene-lighting use in film studios, TV studios, and photographic studios, or for stage-lighting use in theatres or other entertainment events.'
It would mean the end of film on both S8 and 16mm for me once the bulbs are gone. I don't intend to deal with vintage tungsten lamps or xenon bulbs, when Halogen bulbs did the job well, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

[Steve Klare]

I know for a fact that EFR is used in microscopes. I was at work and I saw a cartload of equipment there for a new Lab they were installing. There was a familiar looking box on it. I checked it out: Osram EFR. This probably explains why they are still so cheap.

I think the need for a focused light source in a microscope is at the very least what ours are. I doubt anybody wants to stop scientific and medical analysis, so either there will be an exception or there will be an LED substitute that works.

-and I just checked: EFP is also sold by a microscope supply house.

If you get nabbed at Airport Security with a hundred of each, show a concerned face and say "It's for Science!"

[Osi Osgood]

I would assume that one could order them from overseas, right?

[John Armer]

I think the need for a focused light source in a microscope is at the very least what ours are. I doubt anybody wants to stop scientific and medical analysis, so either there will be an exception or there will be an LED substitute that works.

I'm surprised that an LED substitute has still not been developed. I wonder if one is in the works - with good colour and brightness- that runs LED-cool. That would be something.

[Nick Regan]

While working in the entertainment lighting industry a few years ago, we had some physically small moving head lights that projected an intense beam of focussed light through various rotating colour and gobo wheels and a focus lens. These were designed for use in nightclubs and theatres stages etc.

These utilised a flat circular led that used 24 volts and produced a white light around a colour temperature of 32k or daylight. I think it may be possible, in fact quite simple to adapt these quite easily to fit a standard projector.

The LED is about the size of 2 x 1P coins stuck on top of each other and has a small tag on each side and sits flat.

I cannot remember the official names for these LED s but I do remember you could light a cigarette at 20 paces from them as we used to say.

I have one of these lights in the attic I will get it down and pull the LED and try it in an old machine and see what the results are.

I will post photos when I got it down if anyone is interested?

Nick

John, I think there may be.

Photo 1 24v 20w LED In situ Red Wire - opposite end to Lens



Phot 2 LED Removed and on Heatsink



Photo 3 LED Only with 1 pence piece



The next step to go back to manufacturer for a spec sheet on the LED and devise some form of moveable holder to fit LED to Projector lamp casing.

Pease watch this space.

Nick

[Bill Phelps]

I agree with Tom.😊

[Steve Lee]

I have tried this some time back on my 16mm machine. The picture below is a 200W LED cob witch produces about 20,000 lm,
it will light up my entire village, but is no good for projection. In order to get the wattage of the output they are made up with multiple mini leds molded together to produce one light source. As the light is only coming from one direction, not like a filament lamp source, it is impossible to place this inside a reflective mirror to focus the light to a point.
Using the condenser lens on the led cob calluses even more problems! The led need to be placed about 30-40cm behind the filmgate to focus it. Using a condenser lens behind the gate means the projectors objective lens end up focusing the rows of mini led's on the screen behind the picture!
As I found out at great expense that it was just a waste of time and money. I ended up restoring it back to xenon.

[Nick Regan]

I was wondering about that, but had not got that far, the LED I was looking at does not actually have its own lens but was designed to fire through 4 different lenses in the original unit. I was going to try this one stage at a time to see what results I got (Too much time on my hands) as a bit of a learning curve. Looks like that's working already.

[Maurice Leakey]

Here is a company called Medlamps with their ad for the ELC lamp at a reasonable price.
As they are called Medlamps it might mean that the ELC (at least) might not disappear from sale.
I hope.
Osram HLX 64653 ELC A1/259 24v 250w GX5,3 - Medlamps