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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Philips/Norelco FP20
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David Kilderry
Master Film Handler
Posts: 355
From: Melbourne Australia
Registered: Sep 1999
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posted 06-08-2001 08:50 AM
James, the FP 20 was and is a fabulous projector.Hoyts first used them in the mid 1970's when they stopped buying Cinemeccanica Vic 8's. Hoyts Midcity Cinema 6 in Melbourne was the first I knew of in 1976. Soon after HEC in Sydney used them in conjuction with the DP75. All Hoyts mutiplexes opened with them (or FP30's) up until the early 1990's when they started using Christie to cut costs. (I should point out here that the FP 20 essentially was replaced in the line-up by the FP30 during the 1980's). Hoyts re-equipped some drive-ins and hardtops with FP20's in the late 1970's. Village started using FP30's in the mid 1990's and today have most of the circuit on FP 50's that still use the same picture head thread path. Changes have been made to the soundhead for digital and you would not recognise the machine if you looked in the back. I agree that the FP20 had a rock steady picture, was easy to thread and work on and was ultra reliable. I first turned my nose up at the plastic gate and running strips, but when you saw the image quality you were converted. I can assure you almost every FP 20 and 30 I have known is still in service. The first FP 20 I mentioned above was sold to Israel! They were always popular here in Australia and I have rarely seen them in the US, but they are around. Were the machines you used older than 1976? David Kilderry
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Pete Naples
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1565
From: Dunfermline, Scotland
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 06-08-2001 10:10 AM
There are plenty of Phillips / Kinoton FP20's going strong here in the UK, and also plenty of the descendant machines, FP30's, FP38's etc etc. All utilise near identical mechanics, the only major differences being in the sound head and the support structure. The later machine are mush less of the 'gym locker with sprockets on' construction.I've got a couple on service that are the oldest I've ever seen, the chief there has pictures of them being installed in the '60s. I have another one on a island that left the factory with one of those SPP lamphouses, but now has a Strong Super Lume-X behind it. They're good old reliable machines, if looked after they'll outsee us all I reckon.
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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!
Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 06-08-2001 10:26 PM
There are plenty of FP-20s in service today in the states too (I'll include FP-26 and FP-28 since they are merely an FP-20 with either an FP-16 or FP-18 on the back). When in the DC area, many museums and similar venues use the FP-20:Holocoust Museum (has two pair) Freer Gallery of art Baird Auditorium National Gallery of Art (just pulled within the last year in favor of a pair of new FP-38ES but they WILL return in another auditorium) National Archives II (College Park, MD) has two pair and can run side-by-side or 3D. The National Museum of Women in the Arts has a pair of FP-23s For theatre chains in the US, Malco theatres is known to have a bunch of FP-20s going. In many ways, I prefer the FP-20 over the FP-30...the FP-20 was more stable and had a vastly superior base. Steve ------------------
"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"
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Stefan Scholz
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 223
From: Schoenberg, Germany
Registered: Sep 1999
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posted 06-09-2001 03:43 AM
There are many FP 20s in operation in Germany. The one I owned was one of the first(S-Nr. FP 20 001), put in operation around 1960 in a theatre in Hamburg as a field test from Phillips. I was running film on this for some years, but 1991 it was replaced with an Italien projector. So I carried it home.
It was a fully automated system with 12000 ft reels, 3 lens electric turret, remote frame focus, slide projector attachment, sound control. Originally this was scheduled to run with the SPP Pulse Lamp system, but this one used an early Xenon lamp using a so called "Shamrock" (for it's look) condensor system with 1600 W vertical bulb design.
The projector ran very stable with little maintainance. Only weak point was this early lens turret, which was of real crappy design, but keep in mind it was an experimental one.
The projector still serves in a friend's appartment with fabulous picture quality, converted to a 400 W halogen kit, after 30 years of commercial use, and about 10 years of home usage.
Basicly all FP 30 spares can be used on FP 20's. FP 30 is practically the "19 inch" rackmount version of the mechanism.
The original "gym-locker design" with it's folded 7/16" sheet metal structure was simply too difficult to build.
The soundhead on FP 20 was the sameon any FP 30 before the combo rtroscanning/ Digital head was intruced about 4 years ago.
Still many FP 30's in operation are using the original soundhead.
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John Pytlak
Film God
Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted 06-10-2001 07:12 AM
High pressure xenon lamps, although not perfect, have a broad spectral output, much like daylight. Mercury vapor lamps have an irregular spectral output, which is very deficient in red:
http://www.uvlamp.com/TechArt/disch.htm Park a red automobile in a parking lot illuminated with mercury vapor lamps, and it will appear very "gray". ------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion
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