For sale - Sankyo Hi Pro 15-30mm F1.0 Super 8 projector lens. In excellent condition. No scratches, dirt or fungus within optics. This lens will fit all Sankyo and Bell & Howell super 8 projectors. £200

Images available. Please PM me with any questions. Will ship worldwide

Lovely lens, v good price for anyone with an 800 who wants the most from it!

Never had an 800 Del. How do you rate them?

Excellent mate, rock steady picture and very kind to film. Just got my Bauer back today from Bill so the sankyo plus lens are now surplus to requirements, will be listing the Sankyo shortly, Del.

Nice one Del. I may be interested in a month or so, especially with this lens if it gets no takers.
I cannot do anything just for now though with what I have coming up.

Good luck with it all Del and cannot wait to hear back from you regarding the fully serviced Bauer from Bill!
It will make tremendous viewing and reading for any really keen enthusiast of these, like I am.

Can I ask a question about what voltage should it be for the lamp? If I use a volt meter, what current should I have? I like the Sankyo 800, but bulbs go after just a few hours, which can't be right. ST-1200 lamps last at least ten times longer

To gain the recommended 50hrs from the Xenophot lamps and other quality brands, you should be witnessing 15 vac at the lamp pins. No higher than 15.3 vac max!

Don't even attempt to measure the current Vidar, it's more complicated than just placing two different coloured prongs over two pins on a lamp and probably wouldn't tell you anything regarding this issue of yours.

Oh, how to check it then? I had this on my 35mm and was told to check with a volt meter on the pins

Glad Andrew is on here, lost me with that one Vidar, am listing the Sankyo now, great price as one has just sold on fleebay for £260 not even with original box, Del.

withdraw the lamp slightly from its lamp holder by a few mm to expose very slightly the lamp pins in the lamp holder. Check to see the lamp still illuminates when switched on, thus still making a circuit in other words.

Place your multimeter on the AC Voltage range, typically up to 240v if it's a variable digital multimeter. Either way make sure it is in the correct range for what you are measuring.

Very very carefully, place each meter probe across the pins to detect a stable voltage measurement.
Take great care NOT to allow the two probes to come anywhere near each other or else you will short the circuit and will blow your lamp circuit fuse and quite possibly your fully working lamp.

Good luck with it Vidar and if it measures higher than 15.3 vac, we shall take it from there.

Chances are this will be a worn "sloppy" lamp holder issue here rather than anything to do with higher than normal lamp voltages being applied.

I might buy the lens, if my machine is good enough to justify it. Thanks

Hi Vidar, the lens is in mint condition and as usual it would be very very well packed

I've decided to keep this great little machine for now so will be keeping the lens too.

Hi Vidar,

You are not alone as my Sankyo stereo 800 is the same in that the bulbs dont last as long as other projectors I have. The bulbs in my Elmo GS800 and GS1200 seem to last ages but the Sankyo bulbs seem to go after a few showings. What I find odd when I look at a blown bulb is that the filament looks fine but the back of the bulb is black. Ive found out it helps a lot if you let the projector really cool down by just leaving it off for an hour before moving it. It was mentioned on the other forum that the cooling fan is not strong enough and I have to agree, its certaintly not as good as the Elmo fan. Whatever the reason the bulbs just don't last. Must measure that voltage soon when I get the chance.

Graham S

Great tip there Graham, but what this also likely suggests, is that the lampholder itself is probably overheating from insuffient cooling air if the fan on these machines is somewhat weaker than it's rivals.

Once this happens, the inevitable is that the brass ferrule inserts inside the lamp holder become "baggy" from too much expansion and contraction.
This, in turn, leads to poor contact to the lamp pins and then arcing, thus vastly shortening the lamp life.
Typically the lamp pins on replacement will appear blue in colour along some of their length or even pitted or eroded altogether!

I wouldn't mind betting that if the lampholder was replaced with a brand new Bender & Wirth type, you would experience something like the same 50hr lamp life that you get from these very same lamps with all other models in good health, set at the correct voltage. (might be slightly less if the lamp is constantly running extremely hot, but not too much I'd say).

Good conductor contact is imperative on a 10 amp circuit, throughout the circuit!

A poor fitting lamp holder is effectively a miniature and primitive arc welder, and that's not what's wanted here at all!

Thanks for that Andrew. I will look into that. Do you know where I could buy a new lampholder from?

Graham S

For the best out there, which are Bender & Wirth manufactured, either Beaulieu.de (Wittners) or Van Eck. The Beaulieu ones are higher rated than the Van Eck ones that I have had supplied by them to me, but both are adequate for a 10 amp circuit. The Wittners Beaulieu ones will carry much more current safely and are made to last a whole lot longer.