New Elstree Studio documentary with discarded Graflex.

And it should be reiterated that the clamp lever was WAY open during the earliest days of filming (burning homestead, etc.), but closed (or almost-closed) by the time of the Mos Eisley scenes. And then the clamp lever is sticking out again in the publicity photos, but with top half rotated. Interesting.
 
As it stands, the fanmade...um, aftermarket...versions of the films have almost made an official release superfluous, including 4K . The only room for improvement would be fully-restored (with no revisionism or modern color grading) 4K masters scanned from the actual negatives.
The members of TeamNegative1 scanned the OT films from various Technicolor, Fuji and LPP 35mm release prints at 4K resolution and fully restored them with color correction (currently working on ESB). You can't do a film restoration as they have and not do color correction because the film prints deteriorate over time. They are particularly gifted at what they do, and are producing results far superior to the horribly color graded blu-rays. :)

Looking online, I'm not finding the uncropped yet... but here's a couple I hadn't seen before...
I looked for the uncropped, overlooking Mos Eisley photo and couldn't find it either. Though I did manage to find slightly larger versions of your images. Hope it helps. :)

1) https://bit.ly/2m1pKAC
2) https://bit.ly/2kk23mG
 
I looked for the uncropped, overlooking Mos Eisley photo and couldn't find it either. Though I did manage to find slightly larger versions of your images. Hope it helps. :)

1) https://bit.ly/2m1pKAC
2) https://bit.ly/2kk23mG

Well at least we know for sure this side is clear of rivets...

Screen Shot 2019-09-18 at 5.31.14 PM.png


Correct me if I am wrong, but is this grip gap extra wide, and is it also trackable through other pics?
 
The members of TeamNegative1 scanned the OT films from various Technicolor, Fuji and LPP 35mm release prints at 4K resolution and fully restored them with color correction (currently working on ESB). You can't do a film restoration as they have and not do color correction because the film prints deteriorate over time. They are particularly gifted at what they do, and are producing results far superior to the horribly color graded blu-rays. :)


I looked for the uncropped, overlooking Mos Eisley photo and couldn't find it either. Though I did manage to find slightly larger versions of your images. Hope it helps. :)

1) https://bit.ly/2m1pKAC
2) https://bit.ly/2kk23mG


The Blu-Rays are UNWATCHABLE to me, now. So garish and so off-model. Both the 4K and Despecialized efforts are incredible. There’s still room for improvement, but it’s a night-and-day difference compared to the official versions. And yes, of course they’ve employed color grading techniques, but those are intended to match theatrical release reference sources as closely as possible, rather than make the films look completely different or more modern,
 
Well at least we know for sure this side is clear of rivets...

Correct me if I am wrong, but is this grip gap extra wide, and is it also trackable through other pics?
Indeed it is "trackable" my friend: ;-)

ANH Graflex - Mos Eisley set.png


The Blu-Rays are UNWATCHABLE to me, now. So garish and so off-model. Both the 4K and Despecialized efforts are incredible. There’s still room for improvement, but it’s a night-and-day difference compared to the official versions. And yes, of course they’ve employed color grading techniques, but those are intended to match theatrical release reference sources as closely as possible, rather than make the films look completely different or more modern,
True. I wouldn't want TN1 to give the films a "modern" color grading anyway. And to my understanding they are planning a re-color grade of Star Wars according to actual Technicolor frames they have obtained for the purpose so it will be even more faithful to the original negatives.
 
Wow, some very cool new finds!

When I first saw those rivets way back, they confused the hell out of me. They did not seem like something just done for looks. I thought about a L bracket for the d ring as Roy mentioned. I am kinda wondering if it is sleeved instead. A smaller tube inserted and riveted. As to why, not sure, can the bottom stamped plate come off/fall off? As for a quick repair, putting in a sleeve with a new bottom and riveting would be probably the best fix to avoid welding and distortion to the prop in more than one way.
 
Wow, some very cool new finds!

When I first saw those rivets way back, they confused the hell out of me. They did not seem like something just done for looks. I thought about a L bracket for the d ring as Roy mentioned. I am kinda wondering if it is sleeved instead. A smaller tube inserted and riveted. As to why, not sure, can the bottom stamped plate come off/fall off? As for a quick repair, putting in a sleeve with a new bottom and riveting would be probably the best fix to avoid welding and distortion to the prop in more than one way.
The bottom plate is able to twist since it is only friction fit into the bottom tube, so it would make sense if the prop department was attempting to reinforce the bottom on the ANH hero.

It is interesting to note the Elstree hilt has a significant dented-in bottom plate which may explain why they seemed to reinforce the hero belt-hanger with extra rivets by the grips.
 
Consider this, what if the ANH hero lost it's bottom plate and there's a replacement bottom held in by all those rivets.

Would anyone recreate THAT?
I would. Maybe I'd use a Roman's bottom, but yes! I did a Skywalker ranch version with the screwed down lever very early on

I have noticed that we dont have w clear shot of the anh bottom face anywhere, which is why I haven't jumped to re drill mine. I believe it's set up like the elstree saber but you never know lol
 
Consider this, what if the ANH hero lost it's bottom plate and there's a replacement bottom held in by all those rivets.

Would anyone recreate THAT?

I doubt it came out. The lip would be all distorted then. It could be that the bottom plate came loose so it was secured in the inside by a bracket or cap-shaped piece.
Right now, I think that the bottom cap did come loose on the Elstree (hammered back tight) and they were trying to avoid the same problem happening to the Hero.

If they were replacing the bottom I think there would be a single rivet between each of grips. The 4 rivets are reinforcing one particular area where the pull of the D is greatest.
 
Why would they need rivets in there to reinforce it? It seems a bit odd doesn’t it?? It’s not as If the pull on the D-ring is going to be big or enough to rip the end cap off or the ring itself. You’d need some substantial load to do that, more than it’s intended purpose. I really struggle to believe that they riveted anything on the inside just to reinforce an area already quite strong.

Perhaps they were just on there at the beginning? Some mod someone had made to a Graflex and they had already messed one or two up with the modifications.
 
Why would they need rivets in there to reinforce it? It seems a bit odd doesn’t it?? It’s not as If the pull on the D-ring is going to be big or enough to rip the end cap off or the ring itself. You’d need some substantial load to do that, more than it’s intended purpose. I really struggle to believe that they riveted anything on the inside just to reinforce an area already quite strong.

Here's the thing, though: we know that, from decades of putting rivets in flashes. What we don't know is if a propmaker in the '70s who'd probably never before hung camera equipment from an actor's belt knew that. It's fairly thin sheet metal, after all, and they probably were aware that Mark Hamill would be running around on location with this thing bouncing around. And if it's really true that there was only one belt hanger...would you take a chance that it would hold together?
 
Here's the thing, though: we know that, from decades of putting rivets in flashes. What we don't know is if a propmaker in the '70s who'd probably never before hung camera equipment from an actor's belt knew that. It's fairly thin sheet metal, after all, and they probably were aware that Mark Hamill would be running around on location with this thing bouncing around. And if it's really true that there was only one belt hanger...would you take a chance that it would hold together?


You raise a valid point. Still, seems a bit odd and even useless. Alu d-ring holder would have looked to snap before the actual tube did surely even from a simple glance.
 
As its still a matter of debate here. I recently was showed a new found photo of a new angle of the lightsaber photoshoot, same day as the toe pic saber. Where the bottom can be clearly seen. And I can confirm is attached the exact same way of the Elstree saber. Two rivets, and sighlty displaced from the center.
I cant show that photo. But I guess sooner or later Will come out.
 
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