does pro8mm.com really off set the lens on MAX 8?

Post by aj » Tue Jan 02, 2007 9:16 pm

I have worked on a number of 4008 cameras. For cleaning, lubing and for painting one. I noted on all that there seemed so much play in the claw components. Maybe these were just worn out

But indeed there is little real need to recenter the gate, lens or viewfinder. Just keep the main composition in the safe area.

Of course realigning lens-gate could reduce the vignetting just a bit extra. But that would then be in the area of less interest

Post by **Mitch Perkins** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 9:59 pm

aj wrote:I have worked on a number of 4008 cameras. For cleaning, lubing and for painting one. I noted on all that there seemed so much play in the claw components. Maybe these were just worn out :)

Probably not, eh?

You raise an important point here: camera designs are different, therefore what is possible with one may not be possible, (or necessary), with another.
Also, it is true I have wroked on very few Beaulieus - perhaps the PDC slot is a big old wide one on them. I suppose you would elongate the holes on the gate into which the mounting screws tighten; drilling and tapping new holes in the camera body half a mm over from the old ones seems impossible.

aj wrote:But indeed there is little real need to recenter the gate, lens or viewfinder. Just keep the main composition in the safe area.

Of course realigning lens-gate could reduce the vignetting just a bit extra. But that would then be in the area of less interest :)

Depending on the camera, the vignetting might simply show up on the other side of the frame! Though "evening it out" might be of benefit to some.

Thank you for your reply, aj. Keep in mind that when I write here, I have the less technically inclined in mind - don't want to scare the newbies. ~:?)

Mitch

Post by **ALFREDO** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 4:35 am

Wow! 2 pages in on this topic and its still going!

Post by **Rollef** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:40 am

Alfredo, can you post some pictures of your hacs and open Beaulieus?

Post by aj » Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:55 pm

Tom Doolittle wrote:I can't say what Pro8mm is doing, but it would not be too hard to have a supply of new mounts made up by a competent mahine shop. A good machinist could easily replicate the existing mount, but with an offset lens hole.

If I ever go "Super-Duper 8" with my Beaulieu this is what I would do. I'd probably omit the contacts for the zoom and auto exposure too.

As for re-centering the viewfinder, I have no idea. Good luck.

Making new mounts seems like a very do-able idea. An one off would be to drill new holes in the old mount. Just rotate it 1/6 and you have fresh metal. Shift the hole-location by half of the gained width. One problem to solve then is that the lens will stop at a different location when screwed in again. You would have to rotate the C-threaded collar on the lens for 1/6 too to compensate for this.

Still much a do for a minor problem

Post by **flatwood** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 5:40 pm

For some reason I thought that Max 8 was a widening on both sides of the gate negating the need to offset the lens. Is this not true???

Post by **ALFREDO** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:29 pm

Yeah I will post some pics up and im going to shoot an instruction video that shows step by step how to widen the gate and everything else people can benefit from but for the beaulieu 4008 only! I have a couple of pics on my profile of my super 8, I painted it and added a quick release plate, its wide gate and has a matt box if you want to see that here is the link

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... d=64768267

click on view pics

Post by **wado1942** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:21 pm

The gate can only be widened in one direction since most gates already expose all the way to the perforations. It'd be nice if the perfs were at the corners like regular 8mm, then you could expose the whole strip of film and just mask off the areas covered in the perfs.

Post by **wado1942** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:13 am

OK, here's the Geek speak from Pro8mm themselves.
They build a new front plate/lens mount, make a new gate, cut new glass for the view finder to show the full image, remove the internal 85 filter.
They actually do a fair amount of work on it.
He said that on top of that, very few lenses of less than 8mm focal length will work on the Max-8 cameras also which is about where my 814 needs to be in order to avoid vingetting.

Post by **christoph** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:44 am

wado1942 wrote:OK, here's the Geek speak from Pro8mm themselves.

what, you mean you actually (gasp) *asked* them directly instead of breaking into wild speculation and accusing people on the internet?

now here's a new idea :)
++ christoph ++

Post by **Uppsala BildTeknik** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:59 am

christoph wrote:what, you mean you actually (gasp) *asked* them directly instead of breaking into wild speculation and accusing people on the internet?

Can it even be done? IÃ‚Â´m not sure about this "asking stuff", seems easier to write a idiotic topic in a forum and see what people come up with, and then try to guess who is closest to the truth.

I mean, asking them... youÃ‚Â´d have to like... call them, or write a email to them directly. Sounds scary. IÃ‚Â´ll just stay with my wild guesses and be safe with that I think. 8)

Post by **ALFREDO** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:34 am

pro8mm is pulling more then just your leg! they are crooked and misleding & they will use whatever sucker to there advantage to continue to misled people! (That might be you!) all they do is widen the gate and offset the viewfinder and remove the gel and brass frame that holds it, quit looking for other ways because there is no other way to do this! Get over it! dont be mad cause you couldent figure it out for your self! this was one of those things that was over looked! very clever on there part! but then again the owner has years in the business, he bought pro8 when it was super8 sound in Cambridge Massachusetts and move it to Cali, I have friends that are friends with the original owner! I wish I wouldent have posted this information in here cause some of you are adding your own untested theroy and misleding information! you widen the gate and offset the viewfinder and go film, I dident post this for you guys to try and figaure another way around it, this is for the people that want to max at low cost! now kill your lies and garbage information and leave it at that so others can offset there viewfinder and film super duper 8! read my lips THERE IS NO OTHER WAY! and for you contacting them makes you an as#h*le! I dont even think you have a beaulieu and your all over this topic!!!

Post by **Uppsala BildTeknik** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:42 am

ALFREDO wrote:now kill your lies and garbage information and leave it at that ...read my lips THERE IS NO OTHER WAY! and for you contacting them makes you an as#h*le! I dont even think you have a beaulieu ...

Ha ha ha, so if you donÃ‚Â´t even have a Beaulieu you cannot contact them and ask how they do it?
Without being an asshole, of course. ;)

Post by **christoph** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:49 am

ALFREDO wrote:read my lips

(shutting my eyes and muttering):
yes, master alfredo.. i believe you.. please enlighten me

:P
++ c.

Post by **wado1942** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 8:41 pm

What did you expect me to do? Everybody is ranting and raving on pure speculation about how they do it. I figured I was more apt to find the truth than to see a bunch of guys argue about it without any proof either way. I don't own a 4008 but I was hired to do an S-D-8 conversion. I ultimately turned down the job because it's a much bigger pain the the butt than it's worth considering the construction of the gate. Much easier to do on Nizo and Canon cameras, though Nizos vingette a lot more than canons.