CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Heywood Jablome · Joined: 12 Mar 2006 Posts: 1548

And it came with a spare bulb! i wonder how the contrast will compare? Twisted Evil

Back-story: Lost my aunt/Godmother last year. She and my uncle were highschool sweethearts, captain of the football team and head cheerleader, mom and apple pie... all that jazz.
My uncle was/is predictably wrecked, and recently my Grandfather produced a box full of 16mm he shot when my Uncle was a high school and Citidel football star. I have signed up to screen all the 16mm and identify family stuff that needs to be transferred and shared.

Bell & Howell model 273, pristine cosmetic condition, advertised to be in excellent working condition, with take-up reel and a spare bulb: Craigslist $30.

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

I have an Ampro that looks simmilar i never tired to turn it on its more of an art piece for me.

Athanasios

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

that's actually really cool looking, Art Deco for sure. Even better if you have treasured family history to play on it.

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

Be very careful with the old films on that machine. I used to be big in 16mm film and learned the hard way about using some of the old machines, one similar to that one ate through a few hundred feet of some old family film before I was able to pull the plug.

IMO you would be better off setting that one on a shelf and getting a better machine if you really care about preserving the films.

My personal favorite is the Kodak Ektagraphic CT1000 a machine that I found brand new sitting in a dumpster, this machine is a rebrand of the ELMO 16 CL and is very gentle with old films, I also have a an EIKI machine that is similar to the Kodak but tends to eat films every now and again. My last machine is a Bell and Howell 2585 that in general is highly regarded for being gentle on film and being easy to use with nice features like still image (be careful not to leave a static image or it will melt through the film) my experience is that it is easy to use and works great if the film is in good condition and has few splices, it doesn't work well at all with worn out films and has a habit of breaking them apart.

My advice would be to pickup an ELMO 16 CL or a comparable slot loader and be done with it.

Erik

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

On a side note,

For transferring to DVD you'll need a projector with the TELECINE 5 blade shutter so you end up with an image without flicker.

Something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/Elmo-16MM-Film-Transfer-Five-Blade-Shutter-Projector_W0QQitemZ190213993674QQihZ009QQcategoryZ15254QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Or if you want to go high end and forgo the video camera pointed at the screen approach you could look into something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ELMO-TRV-16G-TELECINE-16MM-PROJECTOR-VIDEO-DVD-TRANS_W0QQitemZ110243623555QQihZ001QQcategoryZ15254QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Heywood Jablome · Joined: 12 Mar 2006 Posts: 1548

There's a telecine 16mm on the local CL also, but the seller wants stupid money for it.

The 273 is actually not that old... it just looks deco.
I've got to clean it and test it (I've got some test stock... specifically Woody Woodpecker and an old Nat Geo type film) but it looks to be in serviceable shape.

stefuel · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:46 am Post subject:

This is funny that you bring this up now. My buddy Jack was cleaning out some stuff in storage and dug one up along with a pile of vintage skin-flicks Laughing

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:06 am Post subject:

outwest · Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Posts: 212 Location: Honolulu

As has been mentioned earlier, be careful and gentle with old film. I came into possession of some 16MM film shot here from the end of WWII until the 1950's. Some of it was completely stuck together. Some of it was in pretty good shape except that it was slightly shrunk. The pin registration holes would not match up with the projector drive. I was only able to look at it with a handcranked edit machine.

Heywood Jablome · Joined: 12 Mar 2006 Posts: 1548

Interesting thought on the shrinkage... I'll have to check closely. I need to clean the guides anyway.
As for the film having gone sticky... Everything I've looked at so far has been fine. 50 odd years in Grandma's attic in Massachusetts, with seasonal changes that that implies, seems to have had little effect.