Has anyone ventured to try those new pressure plates?

Henderson · Post by **Henderson** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 2:53 am

I'm debating on shelling $200 (just about) for a little piece of metal. But if it does what it says it does.

Henderson

Post by **Lucas Lightfeat** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 3:52 am

I simply don't believe it will significantly improve results with K40, though I've never used it. It's specifically designed for Ekta. The common S8 cart pressure plate is specifically designed for Kodachrome. The films are different thicknesses. I think it's a complete rip off, aimed at people (like me) who are throwing money at Super8 trying to get it to be something it's not - 16mm! I don't think the stability of Kodachrome is bad anyway.

No doubt S8 Booster will gainsay all this - he's got one, so I guess he's in a much better position to comment on it.

I just hate to think that you might throw your money away without significant, or really necessary, results.

Lucas

Ludwig · Post by **Ludwig** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 8:55 am

Dear Lucas.
It is very easy to say, that you dont believe it, before you has seen the results. The plate was under construction for more than ten years and was designed for Kodachrome. The effects can be clearly seen on Kodachrome too. But thats also depends on your camera. There are a lot of shooters in German filmclubs use
this plate only with Kodachrome and have one or more positive
results, which the advertising of Andec and Wittner says.
It can be seen on the Club-Meetings. Iam using it too, but more
for Ektachrome and Vision material. If you think, something can be better in you shoots , staediness or sharpness, use the plate,
if you are lucky with your results, dont use it.
Regards
Ludwig

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 1:10 pm

Lucas Lightfeat wrote:
No doubt S8 Booster will gainsay all this - he's got one, so I guess he's in a much better position to comment on it.

I just hate to think that you might throw your money away without significant, or really necessary, results.

Lucas

I think Ludwig gave the correct view on this. With "good" K40s and a OK cam there is no need. For other filmstocks (and possibly with some cams?) it is more or less required according to the independant reports.
http://www.andecfilm.de/html/bildstand_1e.htm (english - low side)
http://www.andecfilm.de/html/bildstand_1.htm (german - different user reports)

Pedro seemed to know quite well that the K40 cartridge and pressureplate is/was optimized/balanced for the K40 (only) and just putting a different filmstock into it will not work well. So much for the convinience of the cartridge loading system. Designed for K40 and works well with the K40.

My test with the PRO8mm turned out very bad on jitter, floating and curling of the film material in the film port. Some of this must have been originated by the pressureplate imbalance vs the film stock characteristics. No doubt the PP would improved the results but if totally I donÃ‚Â´t know.

I believe that the pressurplate design/balance is pretty equal to the conventional spring/damper balance/adjustment of a car suspension except that the pressureplate works with a fairly consistent oscillation rate. Purely mechanical balanced it requires fine tuning to be optimized.
Now, if a car suspension is optimized for soft US highways it is doomed, not to say dangerous on Norwegian bumpy mountain roads. A Citroen Hydractive 3 computer controlled suspension pressureplate is too much to ask for? Position "Sport", lets run V200T or VNF7240! Position "Normal": K40.

The "frame master" may be an optionalthough not adjustable. I am going to order one to use/evaluate it with the Provia, VT200 & VNF7240. But it will take some time to get the results. I need some 72mm 80A and 85B filters first as well and think I found some cheap OK ones.

R

Post by **S8 Booster** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 1:12 pm

S8B offline that was.

R

Angus · Post by **Angus** » Thu Feb 06, 2003 3:55 pm

There's definately differences between the K40 and 7240 because any time I've got a reel with scenes shot on both I have to readjust the focus on the blasted projector!

So I would hazard a guess that the 7240 is actually thicker than K40 and that a different pressure plate would make a difference. However I'm not willing or able to pay what Andec are currently charging.

Post by **Maurizio Di Cintio** » Thu Feb 06, 2003 4:17 pm

If the performance of this pressure plate is so dependent on camera type e conditions, I think it is suggestable to always say what this little piece of metal is use on, so everybody can understand better.

I tried Pro 8 twice and it turned out very well on mi Nizo 6080 save for the last few seconds (minor jitter on one of them). What should I think about my cam's capability to hand such film stocks?

Thanks