Martin Hawkes Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Hello all, Based on experience would somebody please answer the following questions: Does DistantEye viewfinder on the Minima let in a little light- as in enough to fog the film when shooting timelapse? How "daylight" are those "daylight" spools from Kodak? All the best, Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Gross Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 The distant eye viewfinder is fine for regular 24fps, but I would cover the eyepiece for time-lapse. The plastic Kodak spools for the a-Minima are NOT daylight spools. You need to load them in the dark or the film will be ruined. Black metal spools are "Daylight" but I would only work in subdued, shadowy light, and then only on the slower stocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Lyon IMPOSTOR Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 My experience with the A-minima is different. I've had one for two years, and shot a wide variety of stocks, from 7245 to 7218 (and even hand-rolled b/w reversal), and I've never had any issues with film loaded in daylight. In fact, I've never loaded in the dark, as we've never had any problems at all with fogging or light leaks. Sometimes I'll download in total dark if I want to save the last few feet of film. We also shoot a lot of timelapse, and have never seen light leaks. If shooting under bright sun, I might throw something over the eyepiece just because it feels weird to leave it uncovered. Best of luck-- Mark Lyon Mighty Max Films Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oscar Posted May 22, 2004 Share Posted May 22, 2004 Hi, Minima doesnt throw any problems with the finder for time lapse ( as usual, if you dont feel comfortable, play it safe for your emotional comfort: add a piece of cinefoil on the eyecup and youll feel safer!!!) , have in mind that it might be not as doing time lapse with a Norris Intervalometer, constant exposure still 1/50th of a second since is constant exposure time , just changes the frame burst and time interval, not exposure time in the burst ( that's how i did it last time) Didn't have no trouble at all, loading and downloading film on daylight was sort of weird, but nothing dangerous happened, it's quite a funny and very good camera, never thought tha such little wonder be for real Cheers and good luck. Oscar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oscar Posted May 22, 2004 Share Posted May 22, 2004 You can get a lot of helpful info at Aaton.com or Abelcinetech website, they represent aaton in US or LA!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Lyon IMPOSTOR Posted May 22, 2004 Share Posted May 22, 2004 Hi again. Not to come off as the big A-minima expert, but I just wanted to clarify that the exposure time for timelapse is 1/4 of a second. If you have the new software, you can make it longer, but 1/4 is the fastest it can go when in interval mode. Enjoy! --Mark Lyon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oscar Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 Hello. Is that 1/4th of a second? well I dont know if it depends of a new software. When I went through camera manual, didn't get to see a Frame Burst exposure time. I do remember that I had two options: Amount of frames burst and interval of how many seconds beetween each burst happens. So that's why I came out that it was sort like still 1/50 th of a second, maybe I was wrong, lucky wildguess it came out good at the end. Can you explain that 1/4th of a second please? I would really like to know the basis if I do use that little machine once again. Thank you very much Indeed Cheers Oscar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Gross Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 The camera motor can't instantly pull the film to run at full sync speed and then stop again after a single frame. It would quickly burn out the motor and more importantly rip the film. So for single frame advance it can only go at a maximum speed of 1/4 of a second. The same is true on other Aaton camera and even on other intervalometer systems with secondary motor system to drive the film movement the film cannot travel that fast. There was an update last year to the A-minima software (anyone can send their camera in for a free upgrade) that included other even slower speeds for the duration of exposure, but the fastest speed remains 1/4 of a second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Lyon IMPOSTOR Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 I've never used the burst mode, so I called Abel CineTech to get an explanation. They confirmed my impression that for normal single-frame intervalometer shooting, you can set the shutter speed between 1/4 second and 255 seconds. For burst mode shooting, they said that the same exposure time ranges apply. I know this doesn't jibe with your experience (if you exposed for 1/50 of a second, and it was really 1/4, you'd think you'd be way overexposed, wouldn't you?). You might want to double-check with Abel or with Aaton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oscar Posted May 29, 2004 Share Posted May 29, 2004 Hi , thanks for your answer, actually I didnt do the xnsfer, but as I saw it on TV it looked quite fine, still I wonder. I looked through the camera manual and could not get a clue on exposure, maybe I missed something. Thank you very much indeed. Regards Oscar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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