where do i begin?

October 21, 2006

i got it at a thirft store, so i have no idea if it works or not. i put batteries in but i have clue how to check to see if its working. im totally new to film. i have a lot of questions so any help or direction you guys could give me would be awesome. thanks.

some questions im working on:

where do i get cartidges?

how do i know if my camera works?

where can i get the film developed?

do i have to get it developed seperately from when i get it transfered to miniDV?

how much does it usually cost to get film developed/transfered?

for a little background, ive been playing with snowboard cinematography and editing for a few years and i wanted to play with film this year a little bit. cool.

kelly tippett · October 22, 2006

i got it at a thirft store, so i have no idea if it works or not. i put batteries in but i have clue how to check to see if its working. im totally new to film. i have a lot of questions so any help or direction you guys could give me would be awesome. thanks.

some questions im working on:

where do i get cartidges?

how do i know if my camera works?

where can i get the film developed?

do i have to get it developed seperately from when i get it transfered to miniDV?

how much does it usually cost to get film developed/transfered?

for a little background, ive been playing with snowboard cinematography and editing for a few years and i wanted to play with film this year a little bit. cool.

Kodak has cartridges. k64 i believe, they were doing k40 but don't do it anymore. Exclusive Films in canada will process it and transfer it. If you have batteries inside the camera push the button. It should run. You can open up the door and pull back the plate a little to see if the teeth are turning. Or just look at it without touching the plate I believe the teeth will stick out a little where they suppose to grab the film holes. I don't have a super8 camera in front of me so i'm going from memory.

You can get it processed and transfered at Exclusive films. Or you can check with dwayne's photo in the states. I know they processed some k40 for me. I don't know if they transfer though.

It costs about 14 bucks for one cartridge of 50 feet at kodak. The processing is cheaper at dwaynes. I think it was about 25 dollars for two cartridges.

At Exclusive films i had 4 processed and 6 transfered. That ran about $180. The two i had only transfered seperate were on a another bill. They cost 25 bucks to transfer. So if you shoot two and have them developed at Dwaynes for 28 bucks then transfered at Exclusive films for 52 bucks then two cartridges will cost you 14 + 25 plus 27 = 66 bucks. Of course having them done at one place may have a different price but you have a ball park figure now.

That's a start, at least you know where to look now. You can try other places, and you might find better rates (don't forget shipping).

Also, there may be a set up fee and tape fee. If my numbers are off on prices my bad, but you can freely contact these locations and get a quote. They are pretty friendly people.

Edited October 22, 2006 by kelly tippett

kelly tippett · October 22, 2006

I tried to go back and edit the prices but it doesn't look like it worked, it looks like i can't add. lol. I have a yashica too. make sure you clean it before you shoot with it. I don't know what model you have but the lens should screw off for cleaning. And get a can of air to blow the inside clean. This will cut down on debris. Are you going to do sound? That's another can of worms if so.

Nate Downes · October 22, 2006

Look to see if the light meter is working. While running it, move the camera from a light area to a dark and see if the meter changes position at all.

October 23, 2006

thanks alot. i think the camera is broken. i put batteries in and nothing happened. no lightmeter change and it didnt run when i hit record.

David W Scott · October 23, 2006

thanks alot. i think the camera is broken. i put batteries in and nothing happened. no lightmeter change and it didnt run when i hit record.

A totally dead camera is most often because of the battery connections.

Check the battery contacts closely. Corrosion and battery leakage will be obvious, and require careful and thorough cleaning. Even if the contacts are not corroded, they will probably need a good clean. Try a little steel wool, or a tiny bit of sandpaper or a file. Sometimes a rubber eraser on a pencil works well. Get the battery contacts shiny-clean, and you may find that the camera fires right up.

Sean McHenry · October 23, 2006

This will sound silly but a lot of cameras have a seperate off/on switch as well as the trigger. Sometimes labeled as R or R/L. You would want the R setting. If you get it to come to life, and battery corrosion is a lot of the issue on older cameras, open the area where you load the film. As you run the camera, look toward the front of the camera while aiming toward a bright light. Make sure you are in auto or manual with the Iris open all the way and you should see flickering light from right behind the lens. It should change speeds as you choose different camera film speeds. Common speeds would be 9, 12, 18, 24, 48, 54 and beyond. I am not familiar with your model. You might google around for a manual for it online. There are a few places with archived out of print manuals in PDF format.

If you don't get it to fire up, don't toss it out just yet. Give it to a neighbor kid who is into electronics to see if the wiring on the battery box has become loose, corroded or just plain broke off it's connections. I would hate to see you toss out an otherwise nice camera for a broken wire.

Good luck,

Sean McHenry

kelly tippett · October 24, 2006

I had fresh batteries in mine and it went completely dead. Someone had to run to the store thirty minutes away. When i took the batteries out to exchange them i realized the contacts were dirty. Something to check before a shoot for sure now. It was a yashica too.

October 24, 2006

yeah, the connections do look coroded. ill try that. also, a reel is about 3 minutes long, correct?

Sean McHenry · October 25, 2006

A pencil eraser is a decent contact burnisher, just don't over do it or you'll rub through the plating on the contacts. You can also buy rather expensive contact cleaners like Caig DeoxIt and ProGold which will put down a protective lubrication and keep those little old electrons flowing. It's quite expensive stuff but worth it.

Sean

kelly tippett · October 26, 2006

yeah, the connections do look coroded. ill try that. also, a reel is about 3 minutes long, correct?

At 24 fps- try 2 minutes. A little more- but you have to subract the film that is wasted on beginning and ending scenes. Also, if you have some stuff you want speeded up shoot that at 12 fps or 18fps. That will save you film. If you shoot the stuff you wanted speeded up at 24fps then speed it up in editing its a waste of film. Don't forget to change your film speed back though and use the filter in daylight.

Rick Palidwor · October 26, 2006

Kodak has cartridges. k64 i believe, they were doing k40 but don't do it anymore. Exclusive Films in canada will process it and transfer it.

Just to be clear, Exclusive in Toronto will NOT process K40. They do the 64T and athe B&W stocks, and they'll transfer anything Reversal already processed. But don't send them K40. It's Dwaynes at this point.

Rick

kelly tippett · October 26, 2006

Just to be clear, Exclusive in Toronto will NOT process K40. They do the 64T and athe B&W stocks, and they'll transfer anything Reversal already processed. But don't send them K40. It's Dwaynes at this point.
Rick

I do remember them now telling me that they were changing their chemicals over when i asked them if they processed the 64.