Bell & Howell model 253 8MM projector

[Firedome]

I had to buy bulbs for the Carousel slide projector and iirc those were quite expensive too. I may try that bulb conversion for our Super 8. It's Kodak brand so decent quality but iirc a lot more plastic-y than that vintage Bell & Howell... yet another great name that's now being stuck on cheap Chinese junk, sadly.

[19&41]

I saw a pretty nice super 8 Kodak projector and a carousel projector with a bunch of their trays at the nearby thrift store.

[electra225]

I'm impressed with the projector bulb retrofit kit, to be honest. I was NOT going to give over $100 for a bulb for a projector we might not use again after we view the old home movies one more time. The retrofit kit gives new life to an old projector for a reasonable cost with reasonable effort.

[Conelrad]

Be careful with old film and projectors: they can be habit ($) forming.

You might end up like my friend Tom. He is a retired movie theatre mechanic, and has a Simplex sound 35mm arc projector in his converted garage.

I watched the French Connection at his place, complete with Altec sound. He had to stop the show to change reels and carbons, but that was the perfect time to hit the head.

See what pathway a starter drug can do to you?

LOL

D

[electra225]

I got started with watching old home movies when the wife was complaining about there being "nothing on TV" and I was cleaning and straightening. Of course, the projector went on the blink, interrupted from its 40 year nap. But it's been fun tinkering with that old stuff. I hadn't done any of that before. I need a Super 8 projector now. I'm looking for a Bell and Howell model 346 or equivalent. There have to be hundreds of those still around for a reasonable (less than $10 ) price. Nobody wants one. Why should they be so expensive on ebay?

[TC Chris]

You might end up like my friend Tom. He is a retired movie theatre mechanic, and has a Simplex sound 35mm arc projector in his converted garage.

I watched the French Connection at his place, complete with Altec sound. He had to stop the show to change reels and carbons, but that was the perfect time to hit the head.

When was in high school my buddy's parents were active in the local amateur theater group, which had an old neighborhood movie theater. The projection booth still had the two old Simplex arc projectors and their power supplies. Eventually the theater ditched them, probably to the local scrap yard. I had always fantasized about snagging one of them. Back in those days no projection bulbs could come close to the brightness or color of the arc lights. I used to run arc spotlights from time to time and they were very cool.

The new movie Oppenheimer was shot on 65 mm film and will be shown on 70mm film because the director, Christopher Nolan has a reputation that allows him to demand top quality. Nolan seems to be the David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on the River Kwai, Dr. Zhivago) of today-- a guy who can imagine big meaningful movies and pull them off. I really liked Nolan's fine film, Interstellar. Hats off to quality....

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I can't remember when the last time we went to a movie theater. "Tora, Tora, Tora!" maybe? I have never seen "Star Wars", "Jurassic Park", "Jaws", any of those. It is easier to watch them on TV.

[Conelrad]

I can't remember when the last time we went to a movie theater. "Tora, Tora, Tora!" maybe? I have never seen "Star Wars", "Jurassic Park", "Jaws", any of those. It is easier to watch them on TV.

Yes, but the Harkins in the Ak-Chin casino complex here in Maricopa has a special theatre where they bring food and booze to your recliner...

[electra225]

Something I learned last evening. The splices in the old movies have turned rock hard over the years. You have to be careful when the projector runs over one, the tape may quit running properly, ending up with a pile of film laying on the floor. It causes the film to jump the pulley and kills the take-up reel. That is annoying, having to put all that film back on the reel. I remember even in the olden days, you had to watch the film running to make sure nothing went amiss.

[Ken Doyle]

The only permanent splices are cement splices. The nice thing about tape splices is that you can do a repair without losing a frame.

I have a modest 16mm film collection and a 1952 Bell & Howell 202 Filmsound Specialst projector. I haven't used it since we moved a year and a half ago. I'll have to set it up one of these days.

[Firedome]

Well now you've done it, all this projector talk got me to thinking about it so now I've dragged out all our old movie stuff that hasn't seen the light of day since the early 80s.

My memory was totally wrong, the projector is Sears, though it looks very well made, says made in USA, probably by
Kodak. We must have bought it all in '78 right after our daughter, now 46, was born. The film I found was dated '78 and '79. Also found the big pull-up screen, and the Kodak XL320 with Kodak 9mm f/1.2 Ektar lens camera. No idea if anything works,
but thank heavens I'd taken the batteries out of the camera. So now even more stuff to tinker with, just what I needed! lol

[19&41]

I had an XL320 as well. That cartridge loading was a boon to mankind. I remember after getting it, I found a deal on a dual 8 movie projector. I liked to use the old 8mm cameras I would pick up at garage sales, just for fun. I want to have a transfer service do my movies. If I'm going to always have a (flat) screen set up in the living room, might as well put it to that use as well.

[Firedome]

Well I was wrong... again. The Sears 235 Dual 8 projector was made by Bell & Howell, it's identical to the one in the pic except for the name. Here's the description from the seller on eBay who evidently services & sells projectors:

"Dual 8 Projector - This is a dual 8 projector. This means that it will play either Super 8 or Regular 8 film with the simple flip of a lever to change film formats. This projector incorporates sprocketless film feed. Many cheaper projectors attempted to feed film using one sprocket that had a tapered end to allow Regular 8 film to drop down over that sprocket's teeth. The problem with that design was the inherent damaging of film holes and thus the destroying of film. This model was the top of the Bell & Howell home projector line, with features that most projectors did not incorporate.

Forward / Reverse / Fast Forward / Fast Reverse / Still / Multi-Speed / Auto-Loading / Auto Stop - This projector incorporates forward, reverse, fast forward, fast reverse, STILL, multi-speeds, and auto-loads the film through the entire film path and out the rear of the projector onto the auto-load take-up reel. At the end of each reel of film, the projector will automatically stop and you can rewind the shown film back onto the main reel...a very nice feature. The multi-speed is very nice for slowing down the projected image to a slower preset speed. Fast forward and fast reverse can be accomplished WITH THE FILM IN THE PROJECTOR....a really nice feature to enable fast forwarding or rewinding to s specific scene without having to watch all the way to that scene. The STILL feature is also nice for stopping the film at a specific point to view a scene. This projector is EXTREMELY user-friendly...just feed the film in the top and sit back and enjoy your old movies. The controls are all right up front and self-explanatory as to function.

Digital Film Counter - This projector utilizes a really nice film counter (see photo). This is one the only projectors that I have ever worked on that has this really nice feature. You can make notes of where a specific scene is on a movie reel and fast forward right to that scene."

&c &c more description in his ad. He wants $259.oo for it but there's a Sears version on eBay (not serviced) for '$69.
He evidently thinks its a decent projector. It's super user-friendly so convenient for a klutz like me.

I must have last used it in 1985 as I found a receipt for a replacement GE Halogen 80 Watt DLD bulb ($27.35) dated 5/1/85!!