Norisound 310 brighter than Elmo ST1200 ?

[Alan Paterson]

I recently bought an Elmo ST1200 HD off EBay with the Elmo F1.1 lens. It had a sound fault so was returned, but I was also disappointed in the brightness of the image compared to my trusty Norisound 310 with the Schneider Xenovaron F1.1 lens. I had always thought that the 150w bulb in the Elmo would produce a noticeably brighter image than the 100w bulb in the Norisound. Even with the Elmo in Hi mode, the Norisound was brighter. It could have been the bulb in the Elmo was tired, but has anyone else had the opportunity to compare the two?

[Matthieu van der Sluis]

It needs the HLX lamp.
Are both set to the same voltage ?

When I compared the recently ST1200HS and compared it with my ST1200D the HD was significantly less bright.
I found out that the voltage of the ST1200HS was set on 240V while that of my ST1200D was on 220V
After changing the HD to 220V too it was much brighter.

[Brian Fretwell]

I have heard it said that Noris projectors had a wider shutter opening than other brands, perhaps that could accound for part (at least) of the difference.

[Matthieu van der Sluis]

It keeps the Shutter open much longer

Therefore Noris has the brightest 100W projectors around, so I have heard
Only those shutters (called differwnd) seems not so stable nowaday's

[Alan Paterson]

I didn't check the voltage on the Elmo (and no longer have it) but my Norisound is set at 240v. I had read the same as Matthieu and Brian, but never really believed that the difference would be so noticeable. I actually have 2 Norisound 310s and both give a nice bright image with the F1.1 lens. I had thought the Elmo would give me a bit more light for showing films in scope. I did notice that the Elmo had a full width crack in the heat protection filter that goes between the bulb and the gate, whereas no such filter exists on the Norisound.

The reason the Elmo was returned was because the auto threading mechanism would not release once the film was loaded and I had to use the manual release lever. After this the sound gargled and no amount of using the loop restorer would solve the problem. The whole projector and carry case stank of cigarette smoke, so I had to wash my hands after every time I touched it. I wasn't impressed with the Elmo F1.1 lens either. Even after a good clean of both elements, the image just didn't look crisp. A bit of a shame really

[Ken Finch]

It is my personal opinion that the Noris has stood the test of time better than the Elmo. Like all electro/ mechanical equipment, the more complex, the more there is to go wrong. 😏