Widescreen Centre Stopped selling Quartz!

[Cine_Monkey]

I was just looking at the widescreen center site the other day and noticed they have stopped selling there Quarz cameras, I guess they have ran out, its a real shame tho as I beleive it was the last place in England you could buy a new Cine camera for under several hundred pounds.

I see they are still selling new 16mm cameras tho.

[Astro]

Hi
Yes Widescreen Centre has finally run out of these cameras.
Mostly they were very good cameras, but the clockwork motor was limiting.

Astro

[munnin]

incindentally, I hust received my quarz today I bought it on eBay.de and it cost me 1.50 EUR + postage (16 EUR)... I am happy as you may guess

[timdrage]

You had me worried for a moment then, I thought they'd run out of the 'quarzchrome' black + white film! Whew..

[megavolt]

I also got one for a few euro from ebay. They show up quite frequently and seldom sell for over 15 Euro. Probably it was one of only a few cams you could choose from in former Eastern Germany. To my knowledge, the export versions from Zenit for GDR (labelled in latin characters) had higher quality than those build for the USSR market (kyrillic characters). Thus for the price the widescreen center sold them you get several in good working condition, don`t understand why someone bought them for those ridiculous prices at all.

Roland.

[Cine_Monkey]

Well personally I paid just about £100 I think for my "new" quartz, and was happy to do so.
Today the cine market is surviving on second hand equipment bought from places like ebay. Thats great for a bargain and to get cameras that work well, with the specification you want.
For me I wanted to own a cine camera from "new", I guess its a bit strange, and you may not be able to understand, but there was something about opening the box and it still having its oil smell and newness about it, and being able to use it from new.
Its kinda mine, and I now know every bump and scratch on it so to speak.

[megavolt]

The oil smell is funny, isn`t it? Noticed it with mine, too. When I got it last week, the whole room smelled. I don`t know how often I opened the camera this week and just sniffed inside around the gate. Unlike that common plastic smell from other cameras. The clockwork sound is very addictive. :mrgreen:
I am looking for a second one in worse condition to remove the prime lens, would like to use other c-mount lenses, anybody who has tried this before?

Roland.

[Sparky]

The clockwork sound is very addictive.

http://www.filmshooting.com/scripts/gal ... Quartz.wmv

Mmmm!

BTW is there a way to post little movies that launch in the post without intervention? I seem to remember EMJ doing something like that with the Beaulieu shutter.

Mark

[S8 Booster]

Well, I think mine sounds better ;-)

Original direct S8 sound recording on soundstriped film.

R

[cinecymru]

I see the Quarz Super 8 Camera kit still advertised (at £149) as available from Sydney Vines at Global Cameras (Russian Camera Specialists) in Harrow UK.

No website but phone number is 020-8427-7942

[Rick Palidwor]

I have purchased several off ebay for very little. I was never sure why anyone would spend more than a few bucks. Pro 8 wants US$295 !!!!! Ridiculous.

I think they are nifty cameras but the last one I bought has a non-working light meter. You can still set exposure, so it's still usable, but a little annoying nevertheless.

Rick

[wahiba]

I must admit to having bought my quarz from Vines, not then being into e-Bay. It did come with a couple of reloadable super-8 cartridges in the box though.

While it takes excellent movies the counter decides to reset after a few metres so I have to listen carefully for the film coming to an end.

I did buy one off ebay, quite cheaply as a sort of back up. I did not check it too thoroughly at the time, it seemed to work OK. Later I realised that although the motor works the drive to the film is not actually rotating. My fault for not checking and I suspect the seller probaly nver noticed either. So I put it down to win some lose some.

So, does anyone know how to get into the thing. I suspect it is by removing the winding handle but I am not sure what to calmp and what to turn. Everything is so tight so I do not wnat to over do it.

[Sparky]

There are 2 screws inside the film chamber to remove. Then remove the cover plates on the winder and the film speed knob to reveal 2 more screws to be removed. Both knobs then pull off square shafts IIRC and the side cover lifts off. I'm not sure how easy it will be to get to the cart drive -you can see its pretty tight in there from the little movie I linked to earlier.
Good luck,
Mark

[wahiba]

Thanks for that. I will have a go a post any results on trying to open the Quarz.

The film pull down mechanism works so it the drive that is at fault.