taking apart your 7008pro by beaulieu

[ericMartinJarvies]

ok, here are step by step photos indicating the process of taking apart the beaulieu 7008 pro camera. i am sure the same applies to the 6008 and 9008, respectfully the same body/chasis design. the sound versions may be differant inside, but mostl likely the same as far as the exterior is concerned.

when taking the camera apart, make certain to really study the film run trigger asemblies, as you will have to put them back together, and no amount of photos will be able to explain that process as would you taking apart each assembly, and putting it back together and then taking it apart again and proceeding to the next step. this way, you have the experience of reasembly for any specific assembly without the confusion of every other assembly taken apart as well, with bits and pieces spread about. also, use containers or cups or boxes t place the parts of each assembly in seperatley ... or, if you are like me, throw everything into one container if you can remember all the part locations.

also, regarding the flash contact atop the camera, the pictures show me taking out all three screws ... you need only remove two of them, and leave the assembly attached to one side of the body, so you do not have to mess with aligning that stupid inside plate, which requires some fancy fotwork, or fingerwork as the case may be.

everything else is straight forward, and the inside of the camera is spacious ... so if you ahve messed with your 4008, this will be a breath of fresh air in terms of working space inside the camera.

make sure to steel wool any moving parts and clean all the metal gragments real well afterwards. then clean and grease. apply rubber stoppers to metal contact points to reduce noise if you like. and apply the spray on rubber undercoating found in your local autoparts store for further noise reduction. make sure to mask tape areas you do not want to get over spary on. if you decide to ain the camera, like i did. you need to not paint closely, like you would for ashiny paint job. instead, you wil want to have the can as far away fro mthe body as possible, so it is powered/dusted with paint, instead of covered in paint. trhis way you will get the exact same factory look thatr came wit hthe original paint job. same thing on the 4008zm cameras, which i only just discovered, and regret not doing on those others ones as i am not pleased with how most of those paint jobs came out ... as with time and handling, all that shiny surface ended ub getting rub marks. with the overspray look, you will never get those marks, and again, it will appear as a factory paint job. live and learn.

if possible, take the cmaera in while you have it apart to a camera repair store that has a frequincy meter/oscilliscope(however it is spelled), so they can make sure your sq24 is really running at 60hz, or 50hz for those of you with 25fps. although i have not been able locate a manual for these models, i have hand drawm soem electrical diagrams, and will scan them if i ever bother to dig out my scaner and plug it in. my work area is mountians of stuff, ontop of a constructon area with more mountians of stuff.

if you get stuck, feel free to post here or email me direct. good luck!!

ok, here they are ....

[Basstruc]

You're cruel, eric : want one bad but don't have the €....
Anyway, when will your site be ready ?
Matt

[ericMartinJarvies]

he ... think what is most cruel about this thread are all the images!! geeze, it took me 20 minutes just to type them all in. its funny, i ahve conditioned myself to take pictures of everythign i take apart now, it seems such a waste not to share the experience. other then the handle, everything else is a breeze on this camera.

you and pedro aided in my not selling this camera, and now i am glad i did not. it has grown on me, and i judged it before i had all the facts(sound familier??). so live and learn, but now i realize that even though it is kind of funny looking, and that handle has forced me to create an eleborate solution for my mattebox, it is a much better camera. and not that it is literally quite when it runs, i cant get rid of it. however, did you know the film mode in reverse does not work on regular carts ... they have ot be sound carts. what a crock, huh? so i will figure out how to modify the electornics to make it work otherwise ... because that is a nice feature being able to run the film in reverse. however, this would require you first take your film carts and crank them counter clockwise to break that little clicker/stopper arm inside. this way it can roll both directions. not certain the effect this will have, but its wort a shot. so i have it set in my mind i was going to move to my r16 cameras, but that would have required i crystal sync both of them, at $1200.00!! so instead, am going to sell them, and purchase another 7008pro, and use the two 7008 pros to do my first film. i want to start shooting in august, and all i need to purchase is my mic, lighting kit, and a few cables and plugs. i am making my own dolly with flex track, as well as my own jib. they will be crude, but effective, and the camera will be mounted using a camera stabilizer, so the roughness to my diy design should be counter balanced with that image stabilizer. then, my script. i have not been working on the final treatments because of all the equipment dealings, as well as the fact i have run out of money, and my wife had to go to work, and things are kind of tight at the moment in my neck of the woods, and i have to watch the kids untl 3 every day, so until august, when some of my investments are matured, i am basically a poor bunny. so i am simply selling equipment i know i will not use in the next few months, even though it is killing me to do so ... especially regaridng this one r16 i have which is still in the box, and literally brand new. that camera is so sweet, and i dred selling it, but that in itself will take care of a basic lighting kit.

also, dont bother purchasing a 7008. purchase a 6008pro as cheap as you can, and then do the upgrade yourself ... it will save you money and you wll end up with a new crystal, which is probably the most important part of the camera. these are basically the same cameras. unles you cna fnd a 7008pro for cheap, but all of them go for over a $1kusd.

[paulcotto]

I saved it as a web archive. That way the pictures and text are saved as one big file, not as links.

If you don’t have an O-scope you can set your monitor frequency at a certain value and view it through the camera. I can’t remember the HZ to set the monitor to but its on Usenet someplace. The monitor picture will roll if your camera is set to the wrong frequency.

Paul Cotto

[ericMartinJarvies]

good idea.

[paulcotto]

good idea.

Here it is from Hugh Riely I think,

Actually Steve, you can fine tune your camera using your computer monitor.
But you must have a video card capable of running at 72 Hz. Also you must
know where the fine tuning thingy is on the camera. I know where it is on
my 5008 but I've never done it with a 4008. First set the monitor to a
refresh rate of 72 Hz (or 72 screen redraws per second) then, point your
Beaulieu at the screen and turn the adjustment dial until the black bar is
still on the screen. I've done this with my 5008 and it seems to have
worked, does anyone know why it would or wouldn't?
-Hugh

[ericMartinJarvies]

i just tried it and it does not work.

[Pedro]

Hi Eric,
two points about 7008/9008:

when using those versions with digital LCD meters, you may note, that the footage counter shows a wrong result (far over 15 meters/50 feet per cardrige). The reason is, that the contact of the rotating contact disc (close to the shutter position contact) is dirty. The very best way to clean it and to obtain an accurate footage counting, is to take of the contact spring and to clean/polish the contact disc with a fastly rotating brass brush (as available for miniature drilling machines). The contact spring you may clean with the brass brush, too.

Some older 6008 models show similar contact problems with the shutter position contact. Those cameras stop from time to time with open shutter (and black viewfinder). In this case, the smaller rotating contact disc must be treated in the same way, after carefully taking off all 4 contact spings.

THIS HAD BEEN THE ONLY TECHNICAL PROBLEM THAT EVER OCCURED WITH MY 6008 SINCE 1989!!!

The other weak point of that LCD models is the reset condition for the frame counter. You can reset the frame counter in two ways: pressing the knob close to the display or closing the shutter. When pressing the knob, the reset is performed correct. But when doing the reset closing the shutter (neccessary for lap dissolve or accurate double exposure with frame counter control) the reset is ONLY ACHIEVED BY INTERRUPTING THE POWER SUPPLY OF THE COUNTER! This means, that the counter STOPS COUNTING during reset. The slower you fade out, the more frames the counter looses!!! And everytime the total amount of fade-out frames is different, no accurate lap dissolves possible!
I resolved this construction fault very easyly: I disconnected the wires from the reset microswitch close to the fade button and connected the counter directly to power supply (without microswitch). To the now unconnected microswitch I soldered two fine wires. Now I unscrewed the frame counter board from the panel and soldered the two wires IN PARALLEL TO THE RESET BUTTON LOCATED ON THE COUNTER BOARD, with a very fine soldering pin. And now it works! I can stay in reset position as long as I want, the counter keeps on counting without loosing any frame.

Very important for easy use of the 6008/7008/9008 is the correct battery.
The power supply using 6 AA-cells in the handle is too weak and the original power pack using 7 A-cells (8,4 V/1800 mAh) is very expensive. If you get one defective, you are lucky as they are very easy to recell (sub C cells). If not, you can built one by your own, making a thin housing of brass (easy to cut, form and solder) with 7 sub c cells inside.

I disagree to purchase only a 6008 instead of a 7008 or 9008. Most 6008 models on the international market DON´T HAVE A GROUND GLASS VIEWDINDER. Only a ground glass viewfinder like 7008/9008 garantees accurate and quick focus setting during shooting. And sorry, you cannot upgrade a ground glass DIY such easy! (It can be upgraded at Beaulieu service, but it is expensive).
Most Geman 6008 models are just upgraded to full groundglass. Some German 6008 have also a digital frame counter, but LED, not LCD.

Pedro

[Pedro]

Possible problems&easy DIY solution with 7008/9008 exp. metering system:

This models had been in production until a few month ago and probably can still be made on request. This is very exiting, as all the other S8 supplyer had closed their factories in the beginning 1980ies. That means, that Beaulieu has made very special cameras with very special parts over 20 years after all the other brands had stopped all activities!
The supply of very special parts for that cameras had become more and more difficult. So the exposure meter diodes. The very best ones had been those used in the 6008 models and the first 7008 models; everybody how has such a camera can tell how accurate the exposure is, under nearly any light and contrast condition.
Other, how had invested in a more recent model may have had some troubles with exposure. The reason is that the original diodes had been no longer available and the new ones showed a different behaviour.
What is most confusing, is that the two diodes not only capture the actual viewfinder frame to calculate exposure, but also an area above and below the screen. You can check this, pointing at a small light in a dark room, panning the camera up and down and watching the stop setting. The stop will keep closed, even when you pan the light source out of the frame.
This can disturb the exposure significantly during shooting, when you have light sources or brighter areas close to the frame (unexpected underexposure) or dark areas close to your frame (over exposure).

DIY solution:
Put the camera on a stand, take the lens off and point it to a bright place (window).
Take a sheet of adhesive thin black paper (such as used for CD-lables) and cut a small stipe (about 1 mm x 6 mm).
Place the stripe to the BOTTOM side of the ground glass without pressing it to the ground glass. (the ground glass is located on the right hand side of the gate, looking thru the lens thread)
Look thu the viewfinder and adjust the position of the stipe so that it becomes slightly appearing at the top of the frame. Press it carefully to the gound glass in this position.

now the exp meter won´t capture anymore the bright light from the sky that is outside the visible frame. You can apply another stripe to the upper side of the ground glass, too but it is not neccessary. With only one stripe at the bottom, the meter is ideal bottom-weighted.

To compensate the light loss caused by cropping the ground glass, it will be neccessary to set the ASA setting about one marking higher. Best, you try and document several ASA settings when shooting your next roll of film.

This is a very simple and minimal-invasive modification, but believe me, it has a really GREAT effect and helps a lot for reliable exposure!

Pedro

[mattias]

however, this would require you first take your film carts and crank them counter clockwise to break that little clicker/stopper arm inside. this way it can roll both directions. not certain the effect this will have, but its wort a shot.

yeah, it should work. there's no take up on the supply side though, so you won't be able to run backwards for long before it jams. and don't expect much image stability. there are no loops in a silent cart and the design of the supply and take up sides are very different.

/matt

[Pedro]

Does actually not work, I tried it after purchasing my first 6008, too and had been disapointed. I cracked the backward stop of the cart and pushed down the sound cart detection pin inside the film compartment. It does not rewind. Then I tried it the old way, covering the take up of the cardrige with tape, in order to get free film loops during the first exposure, that could be rewinded afterwards. Guess what happend: the Beaulieu jam detection electronics turned off the motor after a few frames!

The only way to make double exposure with 6008/7008 is to upgrade the declutch button. The upgrade not only includes the declutch, but also a circuit that fools the jam detection, making it possible to perform a first exposure without take up friction.

Such expensive and semi-pro cameras like the 6008/7008 had been designed for users, that really had the money to buy sound carts or 200 ft carts all the time.

Pedro

[Basstruc]

you and pedro aided in my not selling this camera, and now i am glad i did not. it has grown on me

Hehe, I knew you would love it ! Now buy you a second hand ritter collimator and calibrate the lens !

[ericMartinJarvies]

at first i just could not convince myself to like the camera. but now, i dont want to use the 4008 anymore simply becasue the 7008 seem so much more sure about itself. the 4008 cameras have tempers and personalities of ther own, you have to treat them like a lady. the 7008 is like a beer drinking buddy, and even though it is plastic, it is a more rough and tough camera.

also, pedro, or anyone, where can i purchase a film mag for the 7008 camera? or is it possible i convert my r16 film mag?? i would like to purchase one or two of these film mags for my 7008pro and 7008proII. i think i have decided to shoot my first film on these two cameras, and not use 16mm. i will sell my 16mm cameras for now, and when i am done with my first movie, i will either do another one in super8, or migrate to 16mm at that time.

also, andec et, al. have the new 200' loads of filstock for the s8 available soon, what do you think about these stocks? and do you think it would be possible to get 200' loads from pro8mm in all their various stocks?

[Basstruc]

http://www.bavaria-cinehome.de/Super8/super8.html

[ericMartinJarvies]

hello,

i can not understand that site ... will need to use altavista to translate. so would i have to send my camera to them for the conversion? do you know how much it costs? also, once converted, does that mean i can no longer use the regular s8 carts? also, what i am more interested in are the single ear design film carts for this camera as found in the earlier advertising, the one that is differantly shaped then the r16 ... the original stock one that was sold with the 7008pro. ... do you know where to find one of these?