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Re: Eclair ACL Do it yourself projects



Dear Brandt,

I may have just thought I mentioned it!  Anyway, I just had surgery
for hernia and can't lift the ACL case out of the cabinet
(Halliburton, camera, 2 mags, accessories.)  So I'll tell you from
memory what it's like.  If you are still interested, I'll have someone
else pull it out so I can give you measurements, even shoot a digital
pic of it to attach.

We did this about 25 yrs. ago when we were getting ready to shoot a
feature length dramatic film with the English ACL as the primary
camera.  First, we bought a used NPR bellows.  They accepted the old
2"x3" Arri M filter holders, which would hold either glass or gels in
a frame.  Unlike the Arri, the NPR version mounted on a round, rather
than square cross section rod, but from beneath (the original NPRs had
a rod socket below the turret.)  So a round rod was easy to make.  We
just inverted the bellows to hang under the rod, like an Arri M.

We then made an aluminum block to fit atop the camera, screwed onto
that 3/8-16 tripod socket that carry handles were attached to on later
models.  This block is the same dimension as the top of the camera
because the screw that holds it is on the operator's side and the lens
is offset to the right of it. So it had to be wide enough for both. The block is also about 2" high and bored clear through: the 13" rod
can slip clear through the block and out over the 400' mag.  There is
a set screw to hold it where you want it, as well as those on the
bellows mounts.
This enables us to extend the bellows to give tight protection to a
102mm Ektar or back it up to clear an 8mm Zeiss.  The rod just
recesses back over the mag as needed to give the clearance.  There is
a recess cut into the front of the block to allow the gel filter to be
changed without removing the block.

This has proved to be most satisfactory for the wide variety of
lenses we have and can even be used with our Super Speeds (12, 16,
25.)  The small back end of the bellows, however, limits the use of
filters in front of the larger diameter lenses, so we use the BTL
gels.

If you want more specific info, let me know.



Wade K. Ramsey, DP
Dept. of Cinema & Video Production
Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC 29614

Brandt Wilson <brandtwilson@home.com> 9/15/01 12:55:20 AM >>>
Hi Wade,

I backtracked until the beginning of last month and didn't find any
references except for some maintenance you had performed on your
English
ACL.  A repost would be great.

Thanks,

Brandt

From: Wade Ramsey <wramsey@bju.edu>
Reply-To: EclairACL@topica.com Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 16:45:47 -0400 To: EclairACL@topica.com Subject: RE: Eclair ACL Do it yourself projects

Do we have an archive of past messages on this list?  I'm new,
don't
know much about the list, but I believe a few weeks ago I described
a
matte box we fixed up for our English ACL some years ago, still
works
fine.
If you can't find that, let me know and I'll repeat it.

Wade K. Ramsey, DP
Dept. of Cinema & Video Production
Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC 29614

brandtwilson@home.com 9/13/01 11:10:18 PM >>>
Hello all,

What kind of DIY projects has anyone here done in the interest of
saving money or perfecting the mousetrap? I'm interested in building a matte box to save $2500 towards something else, such as a video assist system, or maybe retirement. :)

I came across images of a homemade mattebox for a GL1 miniDV
camera,
but there were no schematics, rough drawings, or descriptions of its
construction.

Has anyone here had positive or negative experiences with projects
like this?

Thanks,

Brandt




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