My youngest son has been asking for his own projector this past year, so for his 5th birthday a few days ago I gave him a 16mm Eiki slot-load with his own cart, and his favorite film - Skeleton Dance - he was thrilled!

Michael,that is absolutely brilliant,get them interested while they are young.
😁😁📽📽

Cracking photos Michael and well done for passing on the bug! 😂😂

that is nice to see Michael if you can make it to blackpool in November I will give you free of charge some nice colour cartoons and some shorts for your son

Very nice! :-) Great to see that new generations show interest!

Michael, that's the cutest darn thing I've ever seen! How awesome that he takes such an interest in this hobby! I must say, that is one VERY NICE machine that he received for his birthday! What a cool thing that he can one day take for 'show and tell' at school!

Very nice Michael and your son is beaming with pride over the ownership of an excellent machine.

Hope your son isn't already on that e cig pictured there Michael!

That really would make him an early starter!

That's awesome! When I was a kid I would of LOVED any projector. 8mm, Super 8, 16mm...but when I got older I got a Super 8 Chinon.
Great to start them young in the hobby.
The photos either makes your son look small or the projector HUGE! :)

my first toy Casdon movie projector brought about endless hours of pleasure as a youngster for both myself but also my friends as a kid.
We regularly had miniature screenings throughout those dark winter early evenings.
Usually around five of us all huddled around my Mum & Dads kitchen table.

There was simply always a fascination for me at looking at any kind of transparencies either through a daylight viewer, a view master or any kind of projector (slide or movie).

I think once this fascination hits you, it simply never leaves us.

Andrew you may be onto something there- I too was fascinated by the view master reels. Something about light shining through the image drew me in.
When the Christopher Reeve "Superman" film came out I would go upstairs where the projectionist was and ask him if he had any film clips laying around. He always had a frame or two and I would sit at home and stare at the one frame of the end credits of "Superman" and relive the movie in my head.
My screen was a portable one and I had to put it in the garage. So my friends would come over and in the winter time we would be wearing jackets, blowing cold air through our mouths watching the 400ft digest of "Phantasm".

I never had any chapie or toy projectors. I was very naughty. I use to take 4 or 5 mates to our house in the hour and 20 minuites we had for dinner.we had to sneak off, they cane to my house were i pinched my brothers 810d eumig and we would watch the 400ft star wars film. Projector on the floor and a paper screen. Great fun.

I never had any chapie or toy projectors. I was very naughty. I use to take 4 or 5 mates to our house in the hour and 20 minuites we had for dinner.we had to sneak off, they cane to my house were i pinched my brothers 810d eumig and we would watch the 400ft star wars film. Projector on the floor and a paper screen. Great fun. All this filmy thing started for me in primary school when i watched the projector working instead of the boring crap they use to show. And like everyone else when i first went to the pictures i liked to watch the beams of light dancin out of the projection booth. Back in old days the latterns of the cigerette smoke in the beams looked quite anazing. My own first projector was my 1200hd which i still have today thanks to mr parsons.

Yes I think as children, we all share similar fascination in the things that make projection and transparencies unique.
The smoke in the dancing light beams, the series of whirring cogs we could see illuminated from the projectors lamp through the grill in the back of the projector, the actual feel of film and the noise from the sprockets passing through the gate etc etc.

It's a shame to think now, that even for youngsters with a scientifically curious mind, electro mechanical objects like record players and projectors will simply be something they may never get to see as a youngster unless people like Michael and us lot here, introduce these type of objects into their young lives.

I am sure there must be from a psychologist point of view, a perfectly good reason why many of us, especially males, traditionally find these kind of objects truly fascinating.

Long may it continue and I will certainly be attempting to do my bit now with my first grandchild once he is old enough to be able watch and enjoy some films.

Last night saw both 16mm and regular 8mm - I was cleaning my Bolex M8 while my son was running Popeyes in the other room. We ended up putting the Bolex on his cart and ended the night running silents!

And yes, Andrew, good eye - I always keep that nasty thing away from my kids, and for some reason had set it on the cart - saw it after I took the first pic and snatched it away!

Mine is never more than 18 inches away from my hands in my waking hours!
Best thing I ever did Michael, chucking away the ciggies and buying one of these!