The Eumig 709 I purchased from Shane Collins arrived this morning...

[Todd Kitchen]

Very nice unboxing experience.
I swapped out the sprockets/gate for Reg. 8 and viewed some of the vacation movies of the late* Mr. Baier. I own about 2400' of his home movies--4 reels of reg. 8 and 2 of super 8.

As far as I can tell, Mr. Baier's technique for both reg. 8 and Super 8 was to shoot silent, edit (using cement splices), send the film off for striping, then lay down narration along with background music and sometimes even sound effects. He made his own title cards as well. The Super 8 reels have balance stripe but the Reg. 8 reels do not.




The footage is in pretty decent shape (Mr. Baier attached at least 6 feet of leader to both heads and tails of all reels), although the earliest dated reg. 8 reel (1965) looks like it once passed through a projector or editor that caused a slightly distracting pattern of base-side scratches throughout the entire length. The other reels are relatively scratch-free; Mr. Baier obviously corrected the problem at some point.

Thanks to Shane, the Eumig runs perfectly--. It's a little jewel of a machine. Solid construction and engineering. I had to open the back cover to look at how nicely it was maintained/restored.


*Although I don't know for sure at all whether Mr. Baier is still alive, I imagine anyone who took such care making these films wouldn't have allowed them to be sold at auction on ebay to any random buyer with $15 to spend. He would have wanted these films kept in the family. I have done some online searching to try to find out more, but all I know is that he was from Indiana and had a son named Scott who was 11 years old in 1978 and is most likely still alive. I'm sure if I watch more of these reels I'll learn more. On one of the Super 8 reels I watched last month he mentions both his wife and sister's first names.

A word on Mr. Baier's narration: It is obsessively complete. He mentions the exact dates of almost every scene. He lists in detail the highways they took on their trips. He shoots a few seconds of every single historical marker and/or signage that he visits, and holds the shot long enough for the viewer to read the entire text. Classic travelogue style. He has a strong upper midwestern accent--says "Warshington" instead of "Washington." Since I'm from Kansas, I know this accent quite well--it's slowly dying out, but I still can hear my grandma saying "Time to go warsh up for dinner."

[Paul Adsett]

What a shame these films were thrown away by the family! All Mr Baier's labor of love just trashed! Maybe he had these film scanned to disc and the family thought there was no need to preserve the films anymore. Of course we now know that discs have nowhere near the longevity of good film stock such as Kodachrome, and video systems just come and go.

[Todd Kitchen]

Paul Adsett The ebay seller broke up the total quantity films into multiple lots as well. There was a separate lot of 6 400' reels listed at the same time as the reg8/super8 lot that I bought; I put in a max bid of $70 and I got outbid at the last minute. I should have been willing to spend more to keep the collection all together. That may not even have been the entire collection--I have no way of knowing, and it's impossible to find out which buyer won an ebay auction. Mr. Baier shot a lot of film for sure.

Oh, and you and Shane will love this--in one of the Super 8 movies I watched last month, there was a scene of Mr. Baier and his sister in the basement adding narration to a movie--using an Eumig Projector--I'll have to watch it again but I think it's an 802..

[Shane C. Collins]

What a wonderful post Todd! I'm happy to see the 709 made it to you safe and sound, and great to see it running some film. I'm also happy to hear you are satisfied with its restoration. It was a labor of love, and OCD on my part LOL. I tend to get fussy about how well they run, and their appearance as well. It was my pleasure to sell you this fine machine.

Mr Baier sounds like an interesting guy, and it is a shame the family didn't have better respect for his collection. We see this sort of thing all the time online. I am glad you picked these up when you did. At least someone has them in their collection to enjoy!

I have to ask are these gray colored reels Eumig reels? They look like they are but can't tell with them being in motion. I actually have a few in my collection which are 400' reels. But, I moved all my recently shot Super 8 movies over to 600' reels. I wasn't able to find 600' vintage Eumig reels so I bought new ones online...

In case you didn't realize it, I placed a new sticker on the projector's cover, to remind you to always place the inching knob at the 12 'o'clock position when switching the gates. I had one made my 709, and had that extra one made as well.

[Todd Kitchen]

I love the sticker! It's a great way to make sure nobody ever forgets. But I'm probably going to leave it configured as a reg. 8 projector for the time being since for Super 8 I have the 802 I bought last summer and restored this fall.

I got about halfway through one of the 8mm sound films and decided that all those films need a good clean/lube. They were a wee bit cranky threading--acetate leader can shrink just a bit over time. I chewed up about a 6 inches of white leader. It was having trouble getting pushed into the film gate.

Wish there was a way to make this projector full manual thread.

Luckily Mr. Baier didn't scrimp on leader. He used white leader, then black leader, then a countdown sequence, then the camera original.

[Todd Kitchen]

I will tell y'all this: without a balance stripe, the film doesn't snug up in the reel as nice as it should. So the film behavior is a little less nice than the post-striped Super 8. It just feels crankier.

[Joseph Banfield]

Very happy to hear that Shane got you set up with the 709 after hearing about your first experience with the other machine you found.

Your Mr. Baier did what looks like excellent titles and even an added sound stripe. He must have been very dedicated to do such excellent work!

[Todd Kitchen]

I'll post pics of the other one to see if anyone has any ideas on how to fix it, but I think it will remain a parts-only machine.

[Shane C. Collins]

Todd, be sure to trim the end of those leader films properly. Eumig recommended various trimming methods. The earliest one I saw was cutting a straight line halfway through a sprocket. So another words you'll have a half sprocket feeding into the mechanism. That's how I have all my films trimmed and never a hiccup when threading. Also when the film gets to the lower loop just below the gate let go of the top sprocket feeder mech. Did most of your films thread ok? A good wipe with some film lubricant should fix this issue if the leader is dry and the film itself. But you already know all this since you've worked with film for many years......

[Todd Kitchen]

Lubing the film helped.
Although I worked with film on and off, it's not necessarily been consistent through the years. From about 2005 to just this year I didn't even turn on a projector. I got back into it when I got the Bell and Howell and started the tube amp restoration. Then I dusted off the Chinon, bought a Minette viewer, and then I went down the rabbit hole of searching for the ultimate super 8 machine. The 709 is really nice and gives me 8mm capability-- I'm thinking of buying the prime lens. The zoom lens that came with it is pretty good but I think it could be just a bit sharper edge to edge.

[Joseph Banfield]

If you are having trouble with leader not loading properly change it out. I've had lots of problems with old white leader and a change always solves the problem for me. It could be shrinkage on that acetate leader. If you don't have any new leader just make some from old film by soaking a 2 foot section of film in some bleach and the emulsion will soon disolve leaving a crystal clear base. Attach that to your film as new leader and the problem will be solved!

[Shane C. Collins]

Lubing the film helped.
Although I worked with film on and off, it's not necessarily been consistent through the years. From about 2005 to just this year I didn't even turn on a projector. I got back into it when I got the Bell and Howell and started the tube amp restoration. Then I dusted off the Chinon, bought a Minette viewer, and then I went down the rabbit hole of searching for the ultimate super 8 machine. The 709 is really nice and gives me 8mm capability-- I'm thinking of buying the prime lens. The zoom lens that came with it is pretty good but I think it could be just a bit sharper edge to edge.

Glad to hear lubing the film helped things out! Also keep those gate plates, and film path clean, and free of debris! The best investment I ever made when it came to projection lenses was buying the Eumig Suprovar 1.0 18-28 mm zoom lens. This lens has some serious glass, and is well constructed. My home movies are much brighter, sharper, and with nice contrast. Of all the lenses I've owned over the years, and I've had many, this is by far the best! It had rave reviews back around 1968 when it was released, and cost about half the price of a new projector. They can be difficult to find, but do come up for sale from time to time. I had to ship one from the UK a few years ago, but it was well worth it! I think it even beats some primes I've had, and that's not an easy feat. I read Eumig invested a lot of research into the development of this lens. They designed it themselves, and produced it in house. Here's a photo of mine for reference. I'm including a few shots of it pasted over another photo, and an ad from Movie Maker magazine about its development. Also the prime we discussed in another thread is a nice upgrade as well. Just don't get the 1.6 not bright, and probably dull.

[Todd Kitchen]

I now have watched all the "Mr. Baier" films and got enough information from his narration to piece together the family history. I did a lot of searching and got nowhere, but after watching all the films twice I noticed that he mentions his wife by name--he refers to her as either "Opie" or "Opal." I also got Mr. Baier's first name--Walter.

I know that they lived in Ft. Wayine, Indiana from the narration.

So with a little bit of googling I found Opal Baier's obituary from 2011. It contained all the information I was searching for.

Walter R. Baier and his wife Opal got married in 1962. In 1967 they had a son, Scotty.

Scotty had Muscular Dystrophy (as did Opal's brother, according to the obit) and died at age 15 in 1983. Walter died in 1999.

Walter was a veteran (either WWII or Korea) and a member of the United Auto Workers Union. There's some great footage in one of the reels from the 1978 UAW strike.

The 400' Baier Super 8 reel from 1978 is definitely the best of the bunch. Mr. Baier had really perfected his sound mixing skills. The camera work and quality of the Kodachrome is outstanding. Scotty is featured prominently. He was 11 years old that year, and in a wheelchair due to M.D.

The earlier, reg. 8 vacation footage is still pretty good but unfortunately is slightly damaged with persistent base side scratches (probably from a projector or film editor) in the same pattern (middle of the frame) throughout all 4 400' reels. The sound isn't as good on the reg. 8 stuff as well.

[Shane C. Collins]

Thanks Todd for giving us an update on Mr. Baier, and his collection! I hope you are still enjoying the 709!