Beaulieu 4008 sharper images tip..

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Justin Lovell
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Beaulieu 4008 sharper images tip..

Post by Justin Lovell »

I read about it, but ignored it, now I must say .. DO IT if you haven't done it already.

REMOVE the internal filters. No questions asked, just do it, your images will appear much sharper, as the old filters can really screw up the focus.

That's my experience and my _reinforced_ tip.

Martin baumgarten's website has a "how to" on removing the filters. Leave a post on here if you can't find it and someone will steer you in the right direction.
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filter removal

Post by pbrstreetgang »

REMOVE the internal filters. No questions asked, just do it, your images will appear much sharper, as the old filters can really screw up the focus
Yes, I agree fully. I've serviced and repaired enough s8 cams to know this is a good idea. For starters these little filters are simply waffer-thin pieces of pinkish plastic (not glass) which are inherently full of tiny AIR BUBBLES mainly around the outer edges of the filter [s]. You can guess what these bubbles do to light as it's passing through. All things considered, maybe this is why s8 images experience dysfocus around the outer edges?

The 85 filter is a crude setup. I recently serviced a Chinon 872 Autozoom and the 85 filter was bent, therefore binding with the mechanical aperture causing it not to function, at all. No fun!!

MY TIP: disable the internal filter (filter key, slide button etc) and buy a quality glass 85 filter from Kokin, Hoya whatever.

BTW, for those of you who aren't aware, like I wasn't, the Eumig Nautica's PMA lens is also PLASTIC, not glass. Think about it.

A...
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Patrick
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Post by Patrick »

Removing the internal filters makes logical sense to me, especially since some of them have degraded significantly over time. I can never understand the claims made by Beaulieu experts that the internal filters are necessary for optimum image quality and that their removal would affect the focus.

By the way, the screw-on PMA attachment on my Eumig Nautica is made of glass and it produces beautiful quality images.....
Last edited by Patrick on Fri Jul 07, 2006 7:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by pbrstreetgang »

By the way, the screw-on PMA attachment on my Eumig Nautica is made of glass and it produces beautiful quality images
That's odd - Eumig makes both plastic and glass PMA lenses - wanna swap :?
and it produces beautiful quality images.....
So does mine, even with a plastic lens. Look at my avatar, though it's a little green :(

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Post by Nigel »

I've said it for years...

Good Luck
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URL to How TO?

Post by kentek »

Umm, could I bother you to give us he URL to the 2008 How to?
Thanks
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Post by Patrick »

Pbrstreetgang, your av rocks!
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Post by Patrick »

Once I was on the phone with a Beaulieu service technician who said that he would have to charge a considerable amount of money to have one of these cameras taken apart in order to replace the ageing internal filters. I guess it's just a money making excercise.
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Post by pbrstreetgang »

Once I was on the phone with a Beaulieu service technician who said that he would have to charge a considerable amount of money to have one of these cameras taken apart in order to replace the ageing internal filters. I guess it's just a money making excercise.
Patrick you could probably do it yourself :D

BTW, how many filter [s] are there in a Beaulieu? I've never had the pleasure of pulling one to bits to find out.

Kind regards,

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Patrick
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Post by Patrick »

I believe there should be two - an orange filter for filming in daylight and a clear filter for filming under tungsten lighting.
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Post by Mitch Perkins »

Patrick wrote: a clear filter for filming under tungsten lighting.
What about a checkered one for filming under mayonnaise?

I've been forgoing the orange with the negs in daylight - Nizo S800, Bolex 160 - haven't done a res test, but it does look nice and clean. Telecine only, of course.
Same goes for reversal/home movies - if dad left the 85 off outside, the corrected [white balance] image is more pleasing IMHO, long's it's not *too* blue.

We should all rip out the 85 filters from every camera we own. It'd be like burning our bras! The more technically timid could simply disable their bras permanently.

Good tip.

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Post by pbrstreetgang »

I've been forgoing the orange with the negs in daylight - Nizo S800, Bolex 160 - haven't done a res test, but it does look nice and clean. Telecine only, of course.
That's interesting, shooting outdoors with indoor negs without an 85 filter :? I might have to try that. So no 85b on the top lens either then? Got any example clips :D

Cheers,

A...
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Re: Beaulieu 4008 sharper images tip..

Post by aj »

jusetan wrote:I read about it, but ignored it, now I must say .. DO IT if you haven't done it already.

REMOVE the internal filters. No questions asked, just do it, your images will appear much sharper, as the old filters can really screw up the focus.

That's my experience and my _reinforced_ tip.

Martin baumgarten's website has a "how to" on removing the filters. Leave a post on here if you can't find it and someone will steer you in the right direction.
Despite the optically neutral gelatine filters (like Wratten) experts would gladly see you have your lenses collimated again (by experts of course) at some Euro 200.

But as demonstrated, just shoot film and see the image produced.

BTW The filters are in one brass holder which brings in either the daylight or the UV filter. It is moved by the cartridge or the filter-key.
Kind regards,

André
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Post by Justin Lovell »

http://www.geocities.com/meta8mm/beaulieu.html

Scroll down the page and you'll find the HOW TO, along with many other bits of advice.

Thanks to martin for hosting this plethera of information.
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Post by Stevedix »

I bought a Beaulieu 4008 ZMII on ebay recently, and was quite pleased to find that the daylight filter had already been removed. The Camera came with two lense-mounted wratten filters.

Here's the Ebay picture : http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 9737130742

There's a small wratten and a larger one. The smaller one doesn't seem to fit.
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