Alaska_steadicam
Active member
(Willie Phua with his CP-16, image from wikipedia)
Given the economic downturn, freelance in AK has slowed drastically. Especially so for me, because I am a staff photog for a TV station, and freelance tends to first go to those who solely freelance, leaving me drastically down in income this year. So I focused my free time into a side project I will be selling in a few months.
A little less than a year ago I was shooting a short film on a CP-16. The electronics were going out, which would randomly stop the camera in the middle of a take. It was a pain in the ass but we finished the shoot, and moved on. 5 months ago I started designing all new electronics for the CP. the result is the CP-16 Archimedes electronics package.
Basicly it upgrades the camera from one that can only do 24fps xstal sync + 12, 18, 20, 30, 36 fps wild speed to a camera that can do 2-64fps xstal sync, has electronic inching (so you don't have to open the door to check the gate), electronic film counter, odometer, menu selectable magazine lengths (so your CP's film warning light works with short ends) feet or meters selectable, batter alarm threshold selectable, and has an EXT fischer socket so it will be able to interface with a milliframe and intervalometer I am designing to go with it. All in all it turns a $1000 camera (plus $1245 for the upgrade) into a camera on par with a $14,000 SRIII (minus the registration pin of course)
I did my dry run tests, and just recently got my first film test back from Alpha Cine. Things are cruising along, I have a backer to pay for the first run of boards, he is paying for a promotional shoot with the camera and has even set me up with some manufacturers who are getting the back panels made for a song. I have two models signed up for the shoot, two more on the way, Kodak sent me 2000' of vision 3 film, and labs have lined up to do the proccessing. I even have several pre-orders on hand (for anyone who thinks this might be a fools errand.)
Just thought some here would like to see the progress. I know there are some old cats on this board, probably some that even used the CP in day to day news gathering back in the day. Its amazing how people love this camera. I am less than 3 months from market with this thing, and people are lining up (some with 2 or 3 cameras they want upgraded)
Here is the 1st Gen Prototype at work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kT_SLbJWvg
And the telecine of the first live film test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50BMeBSIwro&feature=response_watch