Tweet
So what it boils down to is all the best projectors, well certainly 8mm came from Europe 😁 which for those across the pond who didn't do geography or own a globe, is different from the UK 🤔😂😁
-
-
Regarding Europe (not the UK), I feel that pre-war Agfa and Eumig were excellent. Later, Eumig went down the drain with its Pola-Vision experiment.
But no doubt, Japan beat them all, even the later Bell & Howell 16mm sound projectors were made there. And, there were also Eiki and Elmo.Comment
-
In addition to the U.K. listing made by Maurice, there was Cornet 9.5, the Houghton Butcher Ensign range, 8mm, 16mm and 9.5mm. Also the Peerless Triplico , a “beater” intermittent machine in all three gauges! Incidentally they also produced one of the early 16mm sound machines, the Wundertone. I was given the remains of one of these some years ago. It had been somewhat vandalised, optics and electronics. I had to dump it because the casing was destroyed by woodworm and it was no longer worth keeping for display and restoration was not financially viable. Ken Finch.😏Comment
-
My 9.5mm camera is a Coronet.
At school during the war the headmaster gave winter shows on Friday afternoons using a 16mm S.P. Wundatone, SP standing for Sales Producers Equipments Ltd. Its unique feature was that it had a Maltese Cross movement housed in an oil bath. Unfortunately, the firm disappeared before the war, and later as the Maltese Cross film movenent got worn there were no replacements available. So the projector had quite a short life.Comment
-
I had a Dekko 9mm projector. It had a 50w lamp and a lens like a marble. It was dimmer than the little Pathescopr Ace which had a much brighter and sharper picture.Comment
-
-
Polaroid made an instant 8mm thing for about 3-1/2 minutes in the late 70s as I recall. US?Comment
-
Polavision was a joint concept by Polaroid in the USA and Eumig in Austria. The brilliant scientist Dr Land at Polaroid, who was the pioneer of Polaroid instant photography, was obsessed with creating an instant movie system, which he finally acheived after years of research. And, knowing Eumigs enviable reputation for brilliant cine engineering design and production, Polaroid sort out and convinced Eumig to design and produce the Polavision camera and TV- like projector. All the technical goals were achieved by both companies after a huge joint investment. Market forces ( competing with the ubiquitous and far superior super 8 Kodachrome reversal film and standard projection, and the advent of magnetic tape video cameras and players) doomed the whole project. Both Polaroid and Eumig lost a fortune, Polaroid barely surviving, and Eumig going bankrupt.
Anyone here on this forum could have told them what would happen.
I'm sure the whole affair is a case study in marketing folly.
Equally matched by the disasterous Pathe 4.75mm Duplex widescreen ( a real stretch calling it that} split 9.5mm system.Last edited by Paul Adsett; June 06, 2023, 05:38 PM.Comment
-
I remember seeing the ad for it as a kid and thought it was kinda cool—but only if you could also project it. But then… sound on film, both picture and sound editing, yadda yadda yadda. So… It’s a shame. My first super 8 projector was a Eumig S 802. I always had a fondness for their equipment.Comment
-
Yes the additive colour process used made it hard/impossible to get a big bright picture. A bit like instaant small gauge Dufaycolour.Comment
-
Another 16mm sound film projector I have just remembered that has not been mentioned made in the u k was the Sofil. It was made by Southern Film Services who also made sound conversion equipment for silent projectors. It was for small group showings and smaller than the 1600ft spools. There are details of it on the late Graham Newnhams website in the Sound conversion topic and a picture taken from a 1950 advert in the old A.C W. magazine. I have a vague memory that someone told me they were used for some of the displays in the museum of the moving image that used to be on the South Bank in London which closed for redevelopment but never re opened. Ken Finch.😊Comment
-
Yes, it was sad when MOMI closed. I believe the BFI had big plans for relocating in the Southbank redevelopment that didn't happen as planned. I think they said many of the displays were run off laserdiscs and the playback equipment was wearing, out with reduced attendance not giving enough money to change everything.Comment
-
USA
Bell & Howell, 16 mm and 8 mm
Eastman-Kodak, 16 mm and 8 mm
Keystone, 16 mm, 9½, and 8 mm
Revere, 16 mm and 8 mm
Universal, 8 mm
Stewart-Warner, 16 mm and 8 mm
Ampro, 16 mm and 8 mm
DeVry, 16 mm
Victor, 28½ mm, 16 mm
Standard, 16 mm
Movie-Mite, 16 mm
Mansfield, 8 mm
Duograph
Excel
Fairchild
Graflex-Singer
Lindström
Natco
QRS
RCA
Tower, Sears-Roebuck, made by Bell & Howell
Westinghouse
Ansco
Argus
Brumberger, made by Mamiya
Calvin
DeJur
Hudson
Kalart
Maurer
Montgomery Ward
MPO
Richmond
Technicolor
Wittnauer
Wollensak
UK
Aldis (-Rank)
Boots = Rexina, 8 mm
Dekko, 9½ mm and 8 mm
Ensign
Hanimex = Specto
Kodak, London; 16 mm and 8 mm
Pathéscope, 16 mm and 8 mm
Rolls = Specto
Specto, 9½ mm, 16 mm, 8 mm
AEI
Bell & Howell - Gaumont British, 16 and 8
British Thomson-Houston, 16 mm
Hunter
Campro
BMC
Coronet
Midas
Peerless
Toys left outComment
-
Thanks Simon for compiling them.Originally posted by Simon Wyss View Post
Other than B&H and Kodak other brands sound obscure. They are not sought after by today's collector.Comment
Comment