Ground glass mod on Beaulieu R16

Post by **Film16** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:18 pm

I would like to be able to frame 16:9 on a R16 so I can then crop the footage in telecine and record it full height anamorphic onto tape.

I know this subject has come up before, but has anyone ever marked or etched the ground glass of a R16 themselves? If so, how difficult is it to DIY? Or is this something best left to a camera tech?

Many thanks.

Post by **ccortez** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:54 pm

I asked about the same thing when Bjorn had my camera for service. IIRC, he was working on a solution at the time but didn't have anything he could offer me right then. I don't think you'd want to try and do it yourself, though many here are certainly handier than I am with such things...

Post by **Scotness** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 12:57 am

I once saw a web page of a tech in Britain or the US that did - didn't book mark it unfortunately - but you mind be able to find him via google.

Although markings would be the best option there are work arounds:

* If you have a video split just tape off the top and bottom portions of the screen that you don't need. Make sure there are no objects in the taped off zone that you wouldn't want - like reflectors etc - just incase you need the 4:3 version as well.

* You can actually estimate by eye. 4:3 is the same as 16:12 now you want 16:9 so you need to discard three twelfths or one quarter of the height of the frame - I've done this by estimating three quarters of the total height in the middle of the frame, or you could line everything up by the bottom of the frame and just estimate three quarters of the way up. In telecine you can adjust what part of the frame you are going to capture if you didn't line it up exactly, although there's still room for error if for example you zoomed in too much and effectively over estimated the height of the frame, you won't be able to get exactly what you wanted in the 16:9 frame - no matter where you place that frame with in the 4:3 frame.

Scot

Post by **narri** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:12 am

BjÃƒÂ¶rn modified our R-16 viewfinder with 16:9 markings for 180 dollars. It was a part of a bigger overhaul job so it might be more expensive otherwise.

Basically it's just two marker lines over the groundglass. Works well.

Cheers,
Mikael

Post by **Film16** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 2:37 pm

Thank you all for that info.
It sounds like there is no quick fix, as the camera needs opening to take out and mark the ground glass. Maybe on the next service with Bjorn.

Scot, I was interested in exploring your video tap idea. Did you make one yourself for the R16?

Tom

Post by **Film16** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:30 pm

OK, this is fiddly as hell, and certainly not the most pro solution, but it works for me and beats taking your camera apart (or at least until the next service):

Take some office sticky tape (the opaque type that goes transparent when on paper) and carefully cut 2 strips, about 10mm across and 1.5 mm in height. Remove the lens, and lower the mirror/shutter manually, then get the smallest tweezers you can find and a plastic toothpic (or make an implement with a plastic straw).

Locate the ground glass (on your left, as you look into the opening), and give it a gentle blast with some canned air to clear out any particles. Then very carefully place the first strip near the top or bottom of the GG as best as you can with the tweezers, you will then need to position it more accurately with the plastic toothpic. I had do this several times as eventually the strip will start sticking in the wrong place, and you have to gently peel it off and cut a new strip. Look through the viewfinder (you will need to reposition the mirror), and check if the strip is in the right place. You can still nudge it around if you don't press on it. When you are happy press down on the strip with the toothpic to make it stick. Do the same with 2nd strip.

I found that those dimensions give me an approximate 16:9 mask, and importantly I can still see through it, so I can still shoot 4:3 if I want to.

Hopefully it won't all come off and get mashed up in the mirror mechanism! I'll upload the results when I shoot my first roll of 100D.

Tom

Post by **Scotness** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:30 pm

Film16 wrote:T

Scot, I was interested in exploring your video tap idea. Did you make one yourself for the R16?

Tom

Sure did - check these threads:

http://www.filmshooting.com./scripts/fo ... php?t=8776
viewtopic.php?t=9504
viewtopic.php?t=13144
http://www.filmshooting.com./scripts/fo ... php?t=8222
http://www.filmshooting.com./scripts/fo ... php?t=7134
http://www.filmshooting.com./scripts/fo ... hp?t=12874

Scot

Post by **mattias** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:58 pm

i've marked an aaton ground glass for 2.35:1 using clear tape. worked well, and the rental company were in on it so i don't think it hurts the glass either...

/matt

Post by **Scotness** » Tue May 01, 2007 7:56 am

By co-incidence I think I jsut came across that link
see http://super16inc.com/page2.html
one of his services is

Re-marking ground glass for different aspect ratios

Scot