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3106.photography

Created 30 September 2005 ... Updated 29 May 2009




Film Equipment
Ditmar Dual Gauge Some day I found an large cardbox box with what looked like old photography equipment offered for sale on eBay. Although the picture was very small it looked like there was an old film projector in there as well so I bought it for one euro. I should not have done that, it was the start of a new collection, a collection of old movie equipment.

This projector is a Ditmar dual format projector made in the 1930s. Many versions have been made till late 1950s. My projector is the pre-war black version made for 9.5mm and 16mm silent movies. The original spool arms could only hold smaller spools but is a larger arm for use with larger spools. Unfortunately there were neither films nor spare spools in the box so it was time for checking the internet again, trying to find information, spools, films and a replacement for the dried and broken rubber belts.

Replacing the belts

Unfortunately the local shops got rid of most of there film equipment a few years ago. They could however have the belt remade but this turned out to be expensive and the belt did not fit correctly. Searching the internet unveiled the site of Gerhard Giessmann and I ordered the starter set. Upon arrival I read the instructions carefully and although it all sounded a little difficult, it proved to be very easy to obtain good results.


Pathe Baby Film Finding films

Finding film in 16mm silent format with double perforation turned out not to be too easy, many 16mm movies for sale but most are in single perforation sound format. But eBay is a great source for anything and when your patient enough, you can always find old black and white silent movies.

Finding 9.5mm movies is also not too difficult, there is eBay.co.uk. Apparently this home cinema format was most popular in France, where it was invented, and in England. Many films to be had, and especially funny are the short Pathée films that come in metal containers. Since 9.5mm films was targeted to amateur filmers sometimes a nice personal movie comes up for sale, showing life in the 1930s. Seems to be the start of yet another collection. Check my celluloid pages for information on my film collection.

How it works

Since I had never every played films, I kind of had to guess how things worked but was more-or-less stuck as it looked easy to break things. Fortunately there was another Ditmar Dual Gouge projector for sale and it included the original instruction manual. So I asked the buyer to send me a copy of the manual, which he did for a small fee. This got me started and I got hooked on projecting movies. Forget the high tech digital home cinema projectors, they are nothing more than expensive toys. Real projectors are the thing, the engine running, the smell of hot grease and warmed up old dust, the huge flimmering pictures on the wall, you'll just have to love it! Granted, changing reels every 10-15 minutes is a little tedious after a while but this is magic, a real low tech experience.
Just to get you started I have made some instruction manuals available for free download.

Please do not resell the manuals, link to the pdf directly or upload them to other internet servers

Of course you may link to the corresponding pages of my website freely, that's how the internet works and that's how the traffic volumes can be checked in order to keep this a free service for my website visitors.


camera The equipment
Projectors
links Ditmar 2960 Dual Gauge
links Bolex 8-15 Automatic
links "Ozaphan"-Film-Projektor Nr. 2 (Norris Kadett)

Cameras
links Eumig C3 Camera
links Eumig C3M Camera
links Eumig MINI 3 Servofocus
links Pentaka 8B Camera
links Revue Cockpit S/8 RM

Celluloid Films
links the Celluloid Film collection
links Single movie frames

documentation Documentation
Bedienungsanleitung Ditmar 2960 Dual Gauge - 1.1 Mb [pdf] Gebrauchsanweisung Projektor Bolex 18-5 automatic - 1.0 Mb [pdf] Gebrauchsanweisung Ozaphan-Film-Projektor - 612 Kb [pdf]
Ditmar 2960 Projector
Bedienungsanleitung
German, 1.1 Mb [pdf]
Bolex 18-5 Projector
Gebrauchsanweisung
German, 1.0 Mb [pdf]
Ozaphan Projector
( Norris Kadett )
Gebrauchsanweisung
German, 612 Kb [pdf]

Manual Eumig C3m - 4.5 Mb [pdf] Anleitung Pentaka 8B - 262 Kb [pdf] Pathe Lux Projector 1931
Eumig C3m Camera
Bedienungsanleitung
German, 4.5 Mb [pdf]
Pentaka 8B camera
Anleitung
German, 262 Kb [pdf]
Pathé Lux Projector
Catalogue 1931
German, 44 Kb

Manual Rumi Normal 8 Super Splicer 295 Kb [pdf] Manual Eumig Splicer 500 Kb [pdf] Film Run Times
Rumi Splicer
Instructions
295 Kb [pdf]
Eumig Splicer 1960s
Instructions
500 Kb [pdf]
Film Run Times
correlation between
length and run time
L in Meters, 46 Kb [pdf]
L in Feet, 46 Kb [pdf]


links Classic Film Equipment weblinks
links Grahame Newnham
links The web site of a "neuf-five", i.e. a 9.5 millimeter film enthousiast. Highly informative.

links Cinematographica
links Great site with a lot of information including "more than one hundred years of Film Sizes".

links Northeast Historic Film
links Northeast Historic Film has a large and growing collection of unique moving-image
links materials relating to the history and culture of northern New England.

links Walthamstow Amateur CineVideo Club
links An active Film Club with some interesting articles.

links F. and S. Marriott
links Instruction Books, Guides to Cine Gauges, Cameras and Projectors
links information about metering systems, articles on history.

links Film-Tech.com
links Information and Forums about everything film. Also the full collection of
links Eastman Kodak Film Notes and many manuals.

links B. Jones
links Many movie camera manuals.

links The Widescreen Center
links A London shop selling 8mm and 16mm film equipment and movie stock.

links Jürgen Lossau
links Beautiful books listing many many cameras and projectors for any format
links smaller than 35 mm. Also check out the book on splicers.

links GM Giessmann
links Source for do-it-yourself (projector-) belts.
links It's easier to make those yourself than you might think.

Illustration from Siegfried Wachtl 1928


All photos copyright of M. Koning 1997 - 2007

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