eclair acl vs npr vs beaulieu r16

[teadub]

What thread are you reading Nigel? Eric is asking about camera's that seem to be in the 2k-5k $ US range (approx). No shit there are quieter cameras. I said the BL was "pretty quiet, and "rather quiet". I didn't say it was the quietest camera in the world.

I said that the eclair was the most quiet out of all the camera mentioned. Haven't we come to the same conclusion? And as for me not offering opinions in a thread were another user is asking advice; I've got a suggestion for you. Spend more time staying on topic and less time trying to deconstruct my messages.

[ericMartinJarvies]

thank you all. input like this really does help make better decisions!! in 2001 i has a chance to get an a-minima, i went to ablecinetech showroom, after two weeks of fax/phone dialoge, i flew up there. a company i was contracting for had given me an allowance for equipment, which they finance over 3 years, and give to me as partial payment along with the cash portion for my services rendered. after spendign the entire afternoon with abelcinetech, actually shooting film o nthe camera with a follow focus, steadycam with vest, etc. etc., i was sold. so i signed the po, and told them i would simply have ot get a signature from the company and they already had the financing pre-approved. so the next day, i was at the office, and one of the officers had shown me an ad for the new panasonic hd cinema camera, for $75k. it was bad ass ... 850 lines of res with a 1000asa film equiv. he said he would rather have me purchase that camera and the company would contract it from me when they needed it. so i figure what the hell, the a-minama ordr ws $30, and the panasonic was $75k. i would have to give the company an extra term on my contract for the differance, which is what they wanted to begin with, and for them, the payments simply went from $1k per month to $2k per month, and at that time, that was no biggie for that company. so, i called the ablecinetech folks and told them i wanted to check out the panasonic hd camera, and once i had a decision, i would get back to them. so, after a week with panasonic, i flew up and test drove the camera, wow! i was sold. at that time, i was not as interested in film as i am now. so i decided to get the panasonic. however, there wasa 3 month wait. so i figured i had plenty of work to do for the company before i actually needed the camera, and it was no big deal. my contract was to travel through mexico and make maps, using accurate timber-type gps units and a motorhome they purchased for me. it was great, cause i could travel, and the job contract paid really well. the camera was for making instructional dvds of the entire data collection process in which the maps were made. these would then be used to sell territories to other companies worldwide. long story longer, 3 months into the contract, the ipo market took a dump, and the officers/executives of this privately funded company(under 50 private investors), had been spending all the money, and ended up in a cash crunch. well, needless to say, i never received the balance cash due me, so i ended up with al lthe equipment i had already purchased, which was prety cool equipment. but the one thing i never ended up with was a camera, either the a-minima or the panasonic hd. so today, as i am looking for a used 16mm camera, i am really feeling the bummer effect and wished i would have just purchased that camera when the money was in place and i had the chance ... i would have an a-minima today had i not looked and lived into the future, or got greedy, however you want to look at it. so i pulled out the quotations tonight, and thought to myself ... shit, i could get the basic a-minima setup, with body and mag, and spend under $15k. i could put a few $k down, and finance the rest. but then i thought to myself, do i really want to be making payments. NOT! when i moved to mexico 7 years ago, it took me almost 3 years to get rid of all my credit card, bank loans, etc. payments that americans all seem to get trapped into paying. and every since, i have never had a monthly payment until recently when i got city water and electricity in my area, which not i have to pay my utilities every 3 months. but beyond that, no payments. so getting back to reality, and cash in hand, i think i will settle for the eclair bigger brother, and use that until i cna afford to grow out of it and into a a-minima. the moral of the story? 1 bird in hand is MUCH better then 2 in the bush!!

look at these quotations from the middle of 2001. be nice when an a-minima makes its way onto ebay or the used market for under $10k.

[jean]

Hi Eric,

heck, a minima almost in yur hand - i can imagine that this certainly does frustrate for a while! The eclair is a good choice, without any doubt. What i would especially like about it is the super16 option. Or perhaps you even find one that's already super16.

And what's also intersting is how one does change opinions after a while. 5 years ago, i would have laughed at the idea of using super8, or film at all. I was all digital by then, happy to get rid of all that analog crap 8O But the panasonic seeming like the more attractive option very logic, i'm sure that even today i would take a pro dv camera over any 16mm camera. In the end, there always is ebay

And no i find myself hunting down short ends and taking apart cameras that are almost as old as i am. The arri even is significantly older

[mattias]

ok, this deal is too good to bother about keeping the number of the beast next to my name, so as number 667 i give you:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... egory=4691

it's not my auction -- i just really wanted to get it myself but i have zero cash.

/matt