I love the CP16R cameras (not the regular CP16s with the side finder. Yuck.) I have refurbished several for customers in years past. There are two things that I do. One is to remove all the sound head elements from the film chamber and put in dummy nylon rollers to simplify the film path. This makes loading a lot easier and reduces the likihood of chatter if you're off a bit on your loading. The second thing that I offer is a stainless steel insert for the front bulkhead that allows the use of M42 Takumar lenses as primes. My last customer was able to gather a full selection of primes using 8mm Peleng, 17mm Zenitar, plus 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 55mm, 70mm, 105mm, and 200mm Takumars, all for about $1000. They aren't particularly fast but you'd be hard pressed to find a cheaper selection of razor sharp prime lenses. Plus they're all going to be rectilinear since you are only using the inner portion of the COI. This is more flattering to actors if you are forced to work in close with a wide angle lens because the distortion isn't as severe as other wide angle lenses with a smaller COI.wado1942 wrote:he real trick with those cameras is loading them properly. If you're even 1-perf off the correct loop size, you'll get chattering.
One interesting thing about the CP16R: The built in prism splits off only infrared if you add the top mounted video tap, which means that you can only use a black and white camera. However, one advantage is that, for shooting dark scenes, you can flood the set with infrared light using IR LEDs and while the color neg will never see it, you can see perfectly off the video tap. I added a black and white tap for my last CP16 customer and he did a lot of night time, low key shooting for a low budget horror film. He said the IR video tap was a real life saver when they were running with the camera down dark hallways and other pitch black areas.
The CP16 also takes both the CP mags as well as the heavy duty Mitchell mags (classic mouse-ear look!). There is also a 1200 foot Mitchell mag that you can use for uninterrupted 30 minutes of shooting. Kind of heavy but saves a lot of time on the set and you get a higher yield because you have less camera run-out.
Roger
