Eclair ACL 16mm

Contributed by Glen Berry

Glen Berry is an award winning filmmaker and the Editor of film underground. Berry has written for Moviemaker magazine and FilmFestivals.com

I'm seriously interested in an Eclair ACL crystal sync camera. It seems to be a decent camera from what little info I can find about it. I really like the fact that I can upgrade it to super 16. It's also shoulder mount and in my price range.

Any input on this subject?

Eclair ACLs are great cameras, real work horses th at will continue shooting and shooting and shooting. The only things to be careful of are:

The older camera motors sometimes have a hard time pulling a full 400ft magazine. If they've seen a lot of hours, they may only be able to work correctly with a 200ft load, especially when overcranking. When you shoot your test footage, look for flickering in the neutral tones, especially white.

Also, be sure you form large enough loops with the film...you can easily hear the difference in between improperly formed ones and good ones. If you don't get good loops, your film will be black as the night.

Good luck, the ACL is a great camera and easy to work with.

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