Newcomers

NEWCOMERS

1. See Safety notice at the bottom of this page

2. Here is a repeat of the advice from the Home page about how to use pictures.

The user of Cinerdistan has to cope with two different styles of picture, sometimes mixed up together. Older ones that survived the Great Software Disaster pop up one at a time and MUST be closed using the BACK arrow on the top left of the screen.  The newer ones are identified by having a little magnifying glass in the bottom right corner of the thumbnail image and have left and right arrows and an "X" on the expanded image. These are trendier, "growing" out of the screen and usually part of a set or group, with the pictures numbered along the bottom. You can go to the next or previous pic using the arrows, or just go direct to any of the numbers. These pictures are dismissed by the "x" button at the bottom right of the pic itself. 

3. The site is organised into a series of pages, mostly but not exclusively defined by gauge/format, eg 9.5mm, 17.5mm, but also Multi-gauge and Miscellany. Each of these pages lists what is there, with links. The sub-pages these links lead you to may themselves have a further set of sub-headings. Basically, it's layers of Indexes.

 

CINERDISTAN is about:

 

Narrow-gauge projectors (tho' occasionally 35mm), which are my principal interest, so this is the main topic.

I prefer this term to "sub-standard", which sounds wrong.

 

Film i.e. cellulose acetate, celluloid, mylar, polyester or whatever

 

9.5mm This is where I started and remains a major interest

 

17.5mm Although I had 17.5mm long ago, this is about a much more recent recurrence of the obsession

 

28mm I think it must be something about the idiosyncrasy of Mr. Pathé's gauges

 

8, 16, 35mm. I like to be able to dabble in all gauges, but these just don't do it for me like the others. I don't try to collect the really obscure stuff like 22mm or early 17.5 gauges like Biokam - not enough machines, tho' info is interesting.

 

Cine technology and it's history

 

Document Archival The scanning of old documentary material is becoming increasingly important in Cinerdistan. Old projector manuals, catalogues, adverts etc are becoming increasingly rare and fragile. I think failure to share material has been one of the besetting sins of the cine world

 

Film Repair and Preservation and anything else cine-related that catches my interest.

Links to other sites are in Miscellany.

 

 

 

This site is not for people who just want to watch films on DVD. Go away.

 

There is a place for DVD's, but this ain't it.

 

(There's not really much about cameras/film-making either, though some cameras are

quite nice)

 

To contact me, click here for details.

 

The Contents Page is designed to give you a quick guide to what is here. 

 

Finding your way around the site is easy; just left click on any blue underlined text to go there. To

return, click the left or back arrow in the top LH corner of your screen. Alternatively, you can use

the links at the top and bottom of most pages to skip around the main sections (mostly gauges).

Some older pages still use a list on the left of the screen which acts in the same way. There is a

search function on the site (usually top right), which is supplemented by The Projector Index to

help you to find specific models or makes.

 

There is a section under Care and Repair, on old projector amps. Please read this section first if

you get hold of an old sound machine - BEFORE YOU PLUG IT IN.

 

 

 

 

SAFETY

 

It occurs to me that there may be people viewing this site who have only recent experience of

matters electrical.

 

Please BE WARNED - old projectors etc were not built to modern safety standards and can be

dangerous.

 

240v and 110v will kill if you let them. Electrical shorts can be explosive. I have had

 

mains shocks and was lucky to survive; it is most unpleasant.

 

Follow a few simple rules:-

 

-never plug anything in without checking it first. You could damage the machine and yourself

 

-use a transformer wherever possible, not the original resistances many projectors used

 

-don't trust any old wiring; it decays, gets brittle, breaks and causes short circuits

 

- do add an earth - most old machines and transformers don't have one

 

- after checking, test by setting projector controls to ON then, but without connecting the mains,

  then, without touching the machine, connect and switch on the mains from a safe distance

 

- get a mains tester screwdriver and use it before touching machines you are not certain of

- use an RCD (Residual Current Detector), a safety device readily available from DIY stores

 

 

If in doubt, get expert help.