[GreenKeys] 1924 Mackay System Video

[Kevin H. Phillips]

On 9/24/2020 2:20 PM, Richard Knoppow wrote:
> The 9.5mm format had a pretty long life.

Oh, you went and pushed one of  my buttons!  I got interested in 9.5mm 
probably 30 or more years ago.  When the Internet came along I started 
doing searches and found there were people in Europe still using it and 
there were clubs of amateur film makers in the format over there.  I 
also discovered  several collectors in the U.S. and Canada.  I tried to 
form a club over here but it didn't work because there were so few 
people and the distances are so huge so not easy to gather for meetings 
like it is in Europe.


The website is basically correct about the commercial aspects. It 
slightly predated 16mm on the commercial side but the supply of cameras, 
film and projectors for amateur/home movie making came along at about 
the same time as 16mm or perhaps slightly later.  A "nine-fiver", as the 
buffs are called, can get into an argument with a 16mm person over that.


9.5mm film was marketed in North America in the '20's and '30's. World 
War II killed that off.  I have seen 9.5mm home movies made in the U.S. 
as late as 1942 but it was probably from stock that was already here.  
Kodak actually made 9.5mm in Europe. Kodachrome was once available in 
the format.  When commercial production of the format stopped, the 
French 9.5mm club bought the old Kodak machinery . . . and they still 
own it.  The classic way to make 9.5mm is to slit *unperforated* 35mm 
film into three strips and then each strip is perforated with perfs in 
the middle of the film.  The frame of 9.5mm is thus very nearly equal to 
the size of a 16mm frame but on much smaller film.  The Kodak machinery 
was kept at a film company outside Paris and they made 9.5mm for years 
out of various stocks; the last was Fuji Velvia and some Orwo black & 
white stock.  The man who owned the company retired and I think that is 
when production of 9.5mm film finally stopped . . . or perhaps when they 
could no longer get raw stock from Fuji.  I was aware of some private 
individuals in the U.K. who had built their own slitting and perforating 
equipment and they would make 9.5mm in small quantities but never would 
talk about it much for fear of angering the French.  Somewhere I have 
some pictures and drawings of one of these machines that were given to 
me.  The French have always been persnickety about the stock they will 
use which is one of the main reasons why there is no 9.5mm film 
available now.  They insist on using unperforated stock although the 
company did slit and perf some Kodak Ektachrome 64T for me when I 
supplied them with 100ft rolls.  I still have some of that in my 
freezer.  I also have some 9.5mm cameras.  A lot of people wanted to 
help the format survive but were stymied by the French attitude.  I knew 
a fellow who owned a film lab in Maryland who interceded with Kodak to 
supply them stock.  I can't remember the details now but Kodak finally 
agreed to supply them some 64T (I think) but only perforated stock or 
maybe it was in small quantities; I can't remember now after almost 20 
years. Whatever the case, the French turned down the offer and so no 
more 9.5mm film got made.  Now that Kodak is making Ektachrome again, 
there may be some hope of using that but the roadblock is still with the 
French club, from what I have seen.


I used to have a website up (www.9-5usa.org) but my host took it down 
because I had created my own pages.  I could copy the information to 
their template but just have not done that yet.


Now, I probably have gone and opened a huge diplomatic can of worms!  
;-)  There are about as many arguments about 9.5mm as there are about 
proper Teletype lubricants.  ;-)


73


Kevin

W5TTY


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