Hello and thank you for taking the time to read this guide. My name is Mark and I own MY-RETRO-ELECTRONICS and I primarily deal Movie projectors. Over the years I have purchased, serviced and sold over 1000 units,. This guide is designed to help you make a good buying decision based on your needs. Also it is designed to let you know the positives and the downfalls of purchasing certain units.

First, you need to ask yourself what am I going to use this unit for.

Film transfers? Previewing old movies for someone else to transfer? Just watching your old movies? Giving great outdoor shows? Do I need Sound? This guide will help you make an informed buying decision once you have answered the above question.

What makes a good projector Great?

Most of my projectors are suitable for film transfers and I will work on describing what to look for.

• Rheostat Controlled - For the most stable transfer you want one with rheostat control. This allows you to dial in the speed electronicaly. As long as the belt is good and you don't have power flucuations once the film is dialed in you will have an extremely stable transfer.

•  Most of the older Bell and Howell units use mechanical speed control instead of a rheostat. You can and do get good transfers but can get some flicker. This is mainly for doing a few home movies but not large quantities of film.

• Lens quality- This is one of THE MOST IMPORTANT parts of the projector yet the most overlooked. What you truly want for the best picture is a wide lens with a low F stop. Common F Stops are 1.4, 1.5, 2, 2.8.  The lower the F stop the more light is able to pass through the lens resuting in a sharper image. Personally I would NEVER buy a unit with anything over a F Stop of three as it is a junk lens.

Things to look for in an item description.

 Have not tested with film, everything looks like it is working.

  Possible problems they cannot see. Bad drive belt, cannot tell it?s good unless the belt is under a load. Bad spindles or bad loading assembly. Also of special note the B&H Zoom lens maybe fogged and you will need to replace the lens.

Variable Speed.

Look at the photos closely if it does not have a knob saying speed it is not a true variable speed unit. Many people will list a Multi-Motion thinking it is a variable speed unit. This makes a major difference if you are trying to transfer film.

Tested  does not mean serviced.

 If you are going to purchase an unserviced projector I beg you to buy a film also. Test the projector with a film you do not care if it is destroyed or not. Please do not let your irreplaceable memories be put in a projector that has not been verified only to have them lost forever should the unit not work correctly.

This guide mainly deals with the most popular and affordable units. These units are Bell & Howell, Gaf and Chinon. Other high quality units are Sankyo, Eiki, Canon, Elmo and Pallard units.

 As you see Kodak is not on the list. This is due to several things. Kodak Projectors are notorious for broken gears, general parts, transmissions and poor lens quality. The repair parts cost and labor time make these uneconomical to repair or even salvage. The only redeemable Kodak models are the Moviedecks, once they break though they are not cost effective to repair.

Bell& Howell Projectors:

The earlier series, the ones with the rounded tops The Second Generation Model , I have and had many come through the shop. Model numbers: 253 A,AX, 245 PA, 255 A. 256, 346 A, 370 A, 380 (I may have left one or two off).
These are great little units that are fairly inexpensive. These units were mainly the same with few differences. The Primary bulbs were DFA,DCA,DKR  with some later models using the DJL Bulbs.

• Primary positives : Relatively inexpensive , rarely break

• Negatives: Loud, Sprocket driven making it unforgiving on hung up film, Small low quality lenses.

• Good for: In home shows, previewing film to send for transfers

Autoload Series :

 These have the rectangular solid metal cases. The model numbers are in the 300-400?s . These were the most common projectors made and the best for its time period. These are about the last decent projectors B&H made with the exception of the 10 and 20 ms units.

• Positives  Most can be purchased less than $200 unless they have many special features. Excellent lenses

• Negatives: An unserviced Autoload in need of repair will eat or shred your film in a heartbeat.

• Good for: Indoor, outdoor shows, film transfers if it has variable speed.

The Lumina Series

Long Rectangular . These are JUNK Period. These projectors had rollers that rot and no known replacement rollers available. There drive belts are nearly impossible to change .

The Last of the Bell & Howell Series

The 10ms and 20ms were private labeled by Chinon and are chinon 2500 and 3000GL projectors.

Chinon Projectors :

Chinon made some of the last projectors for all the following manufacturers: Bell & Howell ,Gaf, Keystone, Hanilux, Sears. These are some of the best projectors for film transfers ever made that are still affordable. The models are ascending in options 727 Whisper, 2000gl, 2500gl, 3000GL,, 4000GL.

• The positives: Fantastic Film Transfers

• Negatives: impossible to find some power cords and must be custom made.

• Magor Negatives: They have a plastic gate assy (this is where the film goes through the lens area. This I am seeing more and more warped gates. A warped gate makes this useless. The odd thing is with a warped gate it will play Super 8mm and NON-HOME 8mm movies for the most part no problem but will shred you 8mm home movies in a heartbeat.

• Good for : Indoor shows,all lights MUST be extinguished(lamp wattage to low for an outdoor show) Film Transfers,

Gaf Projectors:

Gaf made some of the best light weight projectors around. They also made the Anscovision line of projectors.

• Positives: Lightweight, extremely reliable , normally less expensive than the Bell & Howell due to few people knowing them.

• Negatives : Most on Ebay have bad pincher rollers. The Tifton belt on a few models are expensive and time consuming to replace.

• Good for : All around use , few if any variable speed units for film transfer.

ELMO Projectors-

You simply can't go wrong here no matter what model it is. They and Sankyo are the TOP Quality units out there. Period. The only issues (NORMAL ISSUES) are needing new belts and NEVER buy  one without the power cord unless you either want to pay through the nose for one or desire to rewire the unit.

I hope this helps you in your decision purchasing a projector. Any comments or questions are welcomed.