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Cinema Product Reviews

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Neumade Film Measuring Machine M38S
Manufacturer:  Neumade Products, Corp
Grade:  B-
Reviewed July 2000 by Joe Redifer

Need to find a frameline or measure how many feet that Kevin Costner flick is?  Why not use the Neumade Film Measuring Machine, or as everybody else in the world calls it, the “frame counter”.  It’s pretty easy to use, and it’s quite accurate, as long as the film doesn’t jump any sprockets (which can happen if you aren’t careful or are winding too fast).

The frame counter is easily reset to a count of zero so you can find the first or last frame on that head or tail just by looking at the last cue mark and counting 24 frames, or counting down from the “3” on the head leader.  It features two clamps to keep your film on the framelined, sprocket driven wheel.  Every once in awhile I have a bit of difficulty getting the film on the wheel and closing the clamps without getting the film caught in one of the springs that are on the clamps themselves.  Life goes on.  It features a little well for oil, which I presume you put a few drops in now and then.  I’ve never had to do this, as mine has run fine since the beginning, but I put a drop or two in anyway just to see how much fun it would be.  And it is pretty fun!  Neumade has spent countless hours designing this with entertainment value in mind.

The device comes on a little white table, which makes it sort of portable.  This is OK.  You can also get a bracket that goes on the bottom (you must remove the little white table) that lets you mount it on a Kelmar workbench.  This makes it much easier to use when assembling film.  Unfortunately the device does not come with this bracket.

There’s really not a whole lot to say about the Neumade film counter.  Every booth should have at least one, but there isn’t anything mindblowingly awesome about it.  It does the job it was made to do, and in the end, that’s what counts.

Bottom Line: You might as well have at least one.