Mike Parker
Active member
I've owned three CP-16's over the years: a CP-16/A plus two CP-16R's. My last one, purchased from Derrick Whitehouse at Whitehouse AV, was a beauty. It was the latest version with the 170 degree shutter, Angenieux 10-150, orientable VF, power zoom and built-in light meter. I bought it in 1995 with some of the proceeds from covering the first OJ Simpson trial.
The film shot with it looked wonderful but I was never able to make any money with it since none of my clients wanted to pay the cost of film, processing, sound syncing, etc. I eventually sold the camera back to Derrick and it ended up somewhere in the South Pacific.
CP-16R's have a few drawbacks. First, you don't thread them, you stuff them. The movement dates back to the days of Auricons where you shot single-system with mag stripe film. Mag stripe has been out of production for at least 20 years, so single-system is no longer an option, and even if it were, the audio quality left much to be desired. It was okay for news and docs, but that was pretty much it. Another problem is lack of video assist. Video assist devices for the CP are few and far between and only B&W at that. Finally, parts --- especially some of the integrated circuits --- are becoming scarce. Remember, we're talking about a camera that was engineered over thirty years ago.
That said, the cameras are generally pretty much bullet proof. During my early days of shooting local news with CP's I was averaging about 1,000 feet of film a day, five days a week. Like a Timex, they took a licking and kept on ticking.
Would I trade my DVX100a for one today. Absolutely not. The DVX is MUCH cheaper to run, probably even more reliable and you don't have to deal with film, processing and all that stuff. And, honestly, the DVX video at 24p --- to my eyes, at least --- looks better.
Mike Parker
www.mp-tv.com
The film shot with it looked wonderful but I was never able to make any money with it since none of my clients wanted to pay the cost of film, processing, sound syncing, etc. I eventually sold the camera back to Derrick and it ended up somewhere in the South Pacific.
CP-16R's have a few drawbacks. First, you don't thread them, you stuff them. The movement dates back to the days of Auricons where you shot single-system with mag stripe film. Mag stripe has been out of production for at least 20 years, so single-system is no longer an option, and even if it were, the audio quality left much to be desired. It was okay for news and docs, but that was pretty much it. Another problem is lack of video assist. Video assist devices for the CP are few and far between and only B&W at that. Finally, parts --- especially some of the integrated circuits --- are becoming scarce. Remember, we're talking about a camera that was engineered over thirty years ago.
That said, the cameras are generally pretty much bullet proof. During my early days of shooting local news with CP's I was averaging about 1,000 feet of film a day, five days a week. Like a Timex, they took a licking and kept on ticking.
Would I trade my DVX100a for one today. Absolutely not. The DVX is MUCH cheaper to run, probably even more reliable and you don't have to deal with film, processing and all that stuff. And, honestly, the DVX video at 24p --- to my eyes, at least --- looks better.
Mike Parker
www.mp-tv.com
