film gate expansion DIY super 16 on Kiev non zoom

[MattWalters]

Hi there,

I've got a Kiev 16U, this is the russian 3 rotating mount 16mm camera, its got no zoom lenses and no ability to put one on since its a one-off lens mount, so I am wondering isnt this a great and easy candidate for a do it myself super 16mm conversion

I don't want to actually pay to get this done, but I can buy a bunch of metal files and just attack the gate myself

from what I can reason out, the KEY thing is to widen the film gate in a completely STRAIGHT line as no to bleed onto the next frame as it pulls down

maysbe I should just widen a bit shorter than in a straight line to make sure I dont screw anything up, then I can crop that tiny bit in post to get even larger than 16:9

does what I'm saying make sense ? is there anything else I should know ? I dont really need to worry about the viewfinder because its actually larger than the filmgate area anyways so I can still see off to the side and reposition my frame accordingly

[Will2]

Can you remove the gate completely to work on it?

I know you want to do it all by yourself, but you might think about bringing it to a metal shop and have them fabricate a new one. You may find it much less money than you'd expect.