new camera

zrszach · December 29, 2005

So I just got a GAF st/802 and in the manual it says that in the manual exposure mode I need to expose the film 1.5 stops over what my meter says. It also says that I should set the meter at 1/50 of a second. So I am assuming it has a 180-degree shutter. My question is: what is this stop compensation for? Could the shutter not be 180? In this case I could just change the speed on my meter and it would be fine.

Also, what is the general consensus on this camera? It seems pretty solid?

Thanks for the help

-Zach

Mark Dunn · December 29, 2005

There's some light loss in the reflex viewfinder, but a stop and a half seems a lot to me. Are you sure it doesn't mean 1.5 times, maybe half a stop?

Clive Tobin · December 30, 2005

So I just got a GAF st/802 and in the manual it says that in the manual exposure mode I need to expose the film 1.5 stops over what my meter says.

I have never used this camera but the 1.5 stops is quite plausible. If it sends 1/3 of the light to the reflex finder, 1/3 to the electric eye and 1/3 to the film, this is close to 1.5 stops.

If the exposure time is 1/50 at 18 FPS this would be a 130 degree shutter which is also plausible.

(This severe light loss was eliminated in the later XL cameras, which had 230 degree shutter openings, mostly sent no light to the finder or electric eye, and had faster f/1.2 lenses. This was a gain in light efficiency of about 3 stops. Together with the 2 stops faster Ektachrome 160 film it permitted the motto "movies by the light you live in" which was not really true but pretty close.)

zrszach · December 30, 2005

I have never used this camera but the 1.5 stops is quite plausible. If it sends 1/3 of the light to the reflex finder, 1/3 to the electric eye and 1/3 to the film, this is close to 1.5 stops.

If the exposure time is 1/50 at 18 FPS this would be a 130 degree shutter which is also plausible.

(This severe light loss was eliminated in the later XL cameras, which had 230 degree shutter openings, mostly sent no light to the finder or electric eye, and had faster f/1.2 lenses. This was a gain in light efficiency of about 3 stops. Together with the 2 stops faster Ektachrome 160 film it permitted the motto "movies by the light you live in" which was not really true but pretty close.)

That 1/50th is at 24fps so it would be a 180 shutter. The manual says that the compensation is for the light loss in the. "wide range zoom lens". It also says 1.5 stops larger than the meter reading not 1.5 times the reading. 1.5 stops just seems like a lot of loss for a 7.5-60 zoom. And if it was for that the stop would be different at 7.5 than at 60mm. Not 1.5 over all the way through. I just thought it was a little strange. I don't really like the manuals as they are for the average consumer. They give you all that user-friendly junk that I don't really want.

Being super 8, I would like to be spot on with the exposure. I don't need any more grain than what is already expected.

I still have some testing to do. I plan on getting a few rolls of 7217 and seeing how that works. I would love to have some k40, but that seems to be hard to find right now, with it being discontinued and what not.

Anyone have experience with 7217 super 8?

Edited December 30, 2005 by zrszach