One of the problems when I´m inspecting 16mm film in the office is making a screen big enough. Using the standard focal length in 16 mm (50 mm), with the screen on the same table as the projector, only can be obteined a size similar to that of a postcard.
Things get a little better with Kern's 35-65mm, Swiss made zoom for exceptional performance. And even more so with the Fumeo 25-45mm (actually a 35mm Isco lens with a Sankor converter). I also have a 10mm Isco ultra-wide angle (obtained thanks to Marco Sonetti), but it gives too big an image!
How did I solve the problem and also with a limited budge? Incredible as it may seem, I have adapting a Super-8 zoom.
How is this possible, if they all have a much smaller barrel, 32mm versus 42mm for the European standard for 16mm projection optics. All? No!
There is a very rare cartridge projector, made by Bolex in Switzerland, whose lenses, incredible as it may seem, come with a 42mm barrel. In its set of optional lenses, there is an exceptional quality zoom, the Bolex f 1.1 from 17 to 34 mm (made by Kern), which, since it cannot be attached to any other Super-8 projector, can be bought almost for peanuts! Mine, in particular, was given to me a few years ago by an English friend, Roy Salmmons.
After a little surgery to remove a python n the barrel, I adapted this extraordinary zoom lens to my desktop 16 mm projector Fumeo 9271 Vatican.
It works!!!Very happy with the result: the focal length range is just what I need, it is bright and very sharp. It has a bit of vignetting, in every corner, but for the purpose that I am going to use it, to check filma, not for public projection, I do not care at all.
In this world, nothing is impossible, with a little of imagination and experimentation.
