To get this camera working I’ve managed to hook up another Oxberry part, actually a 2 speed projector drive, seen below.
The motor runs on 115v ac and the solenoid fires at around 36vdc. When the solenoid fires it allows a clutch plate to slip thus engaging with the driven gear shaft and momentarily (ie 1 frame) turning the camera drive shaft which equals 360 degrees and thus 1 frame of film.
Although this will ‘work’ and allow exposures to be made it has limitations that that conflict with sonme of my planned uses, specifically long exposures of several seconds and sometime minutes. To afford these functions I have invested in a closed loop stepper motor.
After all this the last thing will be to get the Nikon F mount at the correct distance from the film plane.
I have already tested this distance to check lens function by rotoscoping and all is well. This camera body has a boresight opening which may allow some kind of framing as long as the sprocket drive is removed.
However, Im not so obsessed with this function as I Like the idea of framing by projecting a small piece of clear film and seeing whats in the frame and where it is. It will be a heavy thing when finished hence the geared head I bought a while back. My planned uses Im gonna keep under wraps for now but just to say it will be a kind of studio / plate / process / animation camera for both 16mm and 35mm. Interestingly the camera body has an 8 perf opening by the gate so, using a vistavision shuttle one could expose portrait format 8 perf film!
