Sniper 16 HD Autosync Pulldown Blur

[derekredmond]

Are there other users of the Sniper 16 HD Autosync telecine here? I'm getting pulldown blur on 16mm film transfers, as illustrated at the bottom of http://www.moviestuff.tv/set_up_velocity_auto_sync.html

The only suggestions there are to check the Velocity HD software settings, and make sure the camera shutter speed is 1/500. Are there other camera settings which will cause the blur problem?

The delivery of our unit was 6 months late, by which time we were packing for a move. When we were finally set up in the new building, our 1-year warranty had expired, and we haven't gotten support from the manufacturer. Any suggestions appreciated.

Derek

Queen's University, Canada

[nikonr10]

Are there other users of the Sniper 16 HD Autosync telecine here? I'm getting pulldown blur on 16mm film transfers, as illustrated at the bottom of http://www.moviestuff.tv/set_up_velocity_auto_sync.html

The only suggestions there are to check the Velocity HD software settings, and make sure the camera shutter speed is 1/500. Are there other camera settings which will cause the blur problem?

The delivery of our unit was 6 months late, by which time we were packing for a move. When we were finally set up in the new building, our 1-year warranty had expired, and we haven't gotten support from the manufacturer. Any suggestions appreciated.

Derek

Queen's University, Canada

Get in touch with Roger , he's a nice guy <, won,t bite you . And very helpful .

[MovieStuff]

Are there other users of the Sniper 16 HD Autosync telecine here? I'm getting pulldown blur on 16mm film transfers, as illustrated at the bottom of http://www.moviestuff.tv/set_up_velocity_auto_sync.html

The only suggestions there are to check the Velocity HD software settings, and make sure the camera shutter speed is 1/500. Are there other camera settings which will cause the blur problem?

The delivery of our unit was 6 months late, by which time we were packing for a move. When we were finally set up in the new building, our 1-year warranty had expired, and we haven't gotten support from the manufacturer. Any suggestions appreciated.

Derek

Queen's University, Canada

Hi, Derek!

Your unit was shipped to you on October 25, 2013. When units are received, it is vital that customers test them immediately to make sure that everything is working. I got an email from you on February 20th of 2014 that indicated you were just setting up the unit and that it had lost its settings due to none use. I replied to that email with my phone number and said that you should call me and I would talk you through resetting the camera. I am still happy to assist as best as I can so call when you are with the unit and we will go over everything. I have never refused to help any customer.

My best,
Roger

[derekredmond]

Thanks Roger! Obviously I came to the right place!

For us, the ability of the Sniper 16 to transfer prints with optical sound is valuable, and apparently there are a lot of these units in service. So I'm surprised there is no setup checklist available for the camera. I did find the instruction to use 1/500 shutter speed, but there must be other factors because in my tests 1/500 produces unusable results, and 1/30 is better.

Derek

[MovieStuff]

Thanks Roger! Obviously I came to the right place!

For us, the ability of the Sniper 16 to transfer prints with optical sound is valuable, and apparently there are a lot of these units in service. So I'm surprised there is no setup checklist available for the camera. I did find the instruction to use 1/500 shutter speed, but there must be other factors because in my tests 1/500 produces unusable results, and 1/30 is better.

Derek

AutoSync units must have the camera set to 1/500th of a second. Units without AutoSync that use the audio sync pulses must be set to 1/60th. In no circumstance will 1/30th work correctly. There are also other settings that are required for proper operation.

The cameras are pre-programmed in our shop and there is a reasonable assumption that the units will be used every day to some degree, which would keep the internal capacitors charged up enough to hold the cameras settings. If the units are not used every day, then they should at least be on 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week to charge the capacitors to maintain settings. That said, capacitors age over time, even on cameras that are new in a box and never used at all. When capacitors age, they don't hold their charge for as long and, in extreme cases, not at all and the camera would lose its settings as soon as it is turned off.

We do not post a list of settings on the camera because it would encourage customers to start experimenting with camera settings. The menu on the Canon series is not intuitive and there is actually a combination of settings that, once achieved, is virtually impossible to get out of short of sending the camera back to us to re-program. We have sold probably 1000+ Sniper HD units and have had to instruct maybe 20 or so customers over the years on how to reset their cameras. But if we had listed the settings, we would have received daily phone calls from customers that got their settings out of whack through experimentation and could not navigate the menu to get back to the normal settings.

As noted previously, call when convenient and I will be happy to help you. But I prefer not to use Andreas' forum for my business tech support.

My best,
Roger Evans