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Most of cine projectors found in my local marketplace would be either trash/damaged beyond repair, or still functional but way overpriced ones (or overpriced trash ones
). In other words it's very unlikely to find a good working projector at reasonable price.
But there's always an exception, like this time.β
Saw this rather hi-end Fujicascope SD-20 projector in my local Facebook Marketplace for a while. But the initial asking price is a whopping 300$ - wayyyyyyy beyond my scope.
So I didn't pay much interest and passed on. A couple of weeks later it popped up again with a more realistic price about 150$. So I just gave it a shot and contacted the seller.
Turned out that it's a Japanese model which will accept 100v ac input only whereas my country mains is 220v ac. So I used that as an excuse for further discount. After some INTENSE negotiations we finally settled down at 100$ include shipping. Quite a good deal...if it still works. A few days later this gigantic box eventually landed onto the front door.β
Yes, the seller DID use the original deteriorating box for shipping.π³ Thank goodness it still arrived in one piece.
Upon opening it up I was greeted with full set of accessories. Everything originally included was presented, including a short demonstration film for this projector - more about this later. Had I already mention a seemingly brand-new never-used vinyl dust cover?
Then the main star of the day, drumroll please...β
Tada, the most gigantic Super8 projector I've ever own.
With the front cover off the entire film path seems spotlessly clean. No marking on the pinch roller. No signs of wear on the film gate's lateral guide. Even the lamp seems to be the original factory-installed ones. This must be a really a very low hour projector.
To this point I'm so tempted to drag my step-down transformer out to plug it right away. Fortunately my sanity insist on opening the rear cover first and have a look to assure that there's no "surprise" inside.πβ
And here's the rear cover off view. Apart from the completely perished main motor belt (which is totally understandable and to be expected) everything else is still intact. Virtually no dust/dirt to be found - quite a good sign to me. A moment later I managed to find a useable replacement belt from my parts box.
Everything seems ready now. Time to power it up...see if there'll be any magic smoke to come out?β
Powering up, motor on. And yes, everything is working!
Bright, sharp and steady image plus crisp & clear sound. And yes it's in STEREO playback too (via line level output only however
its inbuilt amplifier is strictly mono).
What that really hook me to this projector is this quartz-locked speed control system. When enabled it will run at EXACTLY 18.00 or 24.00 fps. Although originally intended for sound recording/editing/dubbing which is of no use now, but probably still very useful for my film scanning service.
I already had established my diy frame-by-frame super8 film scanning setup with excellent result...for silent films. Now I can use this projector to capture audio from super8 sound films with extremely accurate speed. That should make the audio matching with image in subsequent editing a breeze then.
Remember the short demo film mentioned earlier? Tried scanning this film with my frame-by-frame setup as per usual, then use this very projector to capture the audio, and finally match them up in the final output. Here's the result...
https://youtu.be/nYnQ9lPT7As
Although no lip-sync shot presented and relatively short, I'm still pretty sure that it will work fine up to 1,200 ft of film - the maximum reel size that it can hold.
I'm now very pleased with this decision. This is surely going to be my main workhorse for years to come.πβ
(PS only if someone is brave enough to have an Elmo GS1200 to trade in...π€£)
). In other words it's very unlikely to find a good working projector at reasonable price.But there's always an exception, like this time.β
Saw this rather hi-end Fujicascope SD-20 projector in my local Facebook Marketplace for a while. But the initial asking price is a whopping 300$ - wayyyyyyy beyond my scope.
So I didn't pay much interest and passed on. A couple of weeks later it popped up again with a more realistic price about 150$. So I just gave it a shot and contacted the seller.Turned out that it's a Japanese model which will accept 100v ac input only whereas my country mains is 220v ac. So I used that as an excuse for further discount. After some INTENSE negotiations we finally settled down at 100$ include shipping. Quite a good deal...if it still works. A few days later this gigantic box eventually landed onto the front door.β
Yes, the seller DID use the original deteriorating box for shipping.π³ Thank goodness it still arrived in one piece.
Upon opening it up I was greeted with full set of accessories. Everything originally included was presented, including a short demonstration film for this projector - more about this later. Had I already mention a seemingly brand-new never-used vinyl dust cover?
Then the main star of the day, drumroll please...β
Tada, the most gigantic Super8 projector I've ever own.
With the front cover off the entire film path seems spotlessly clean. No marking on the pinch roller. No signs of wear on the film gate's lateral guide. Even the lamp seems to be the original factory-installed ones. This must be a really a very low hour projector.
To this point I'm so tempted to drag my step-down transformer out to plug it right away. Fortunately my sanity insist on opening the rear cover first and have a look to assure that there's no "surprise" inside.πβ
And here's the rear cover off view. Apart from the completely perished main motor belt (which is totally understandable and to be expected) everything else is still intact. Virtually no dust/dirt to be found - quite a good sign to me. A moment later I managed to find a useable replacement belt from my parts box.
Everything seems ready now. Time to power it up...see if there'll be any magic smoke to come out?β
Powering up, motor on. And yes, everything is working!
Bright, sharp and steady image plus crisp & clear sound. And yes it's in STEREO playback too (via line level output only however its inbuilt amplifier is strictly mono).What that really hook me to this projector is this quartz-locked speed control system. When enabled it will run at EXACTLY 18.00 or 24.00 fps. Although originally intended for sound recording/editing/dubbing which is of no use now, but probably still very useful for my film scanning service.
I already had established my diy frame-by-frame super8 film scanning setup with excellent result...for silent films. Now I can use this projector to capture audio from super8 sound films with extremely accurate speed. That should make the audio matching with image in subsequent editing a breeze then.
Remember the short demo film mentioned earlier? Tried scanning this film with my frame-by-frame setup as per usual, then use this very projector to capture the audio, and finally match them up in the final output. Here's the result...
https://youtu.be/nYnQ9lPT7As
Although no lip-sync shot presented and relatively short, I'm still pretty sure that it will work fine up to 1,200 ft of film - the maximum reel size that it can hold.
I'm now very pleased with this decision. This is surely going to be my main workhorse for years to come.πβ
(PS only if someone is brave enough to have an Elmo GS1200 to trade in...π€£)
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