New to Super8mm, Cost effective Tellecine

Joseph Ivey · November 8, 2006

I live in Nashville, TN and am about to buy my first S8mm camera. I am looking into all the costs as I would have to send my film to Atlanta, GA to be developed and telecined. On average how much would film stock, film processing and telecine cost? Is there a way to telecine it myself on the cheap without buying the telecine machine? I apologize for these questions. I am a beginner in the world of S8. Thanks.

alfredoparra · November 9, 2006

buddy look up justin lovell in yahoo search he is doing trasfers for cheap money! he is the director of the movie stuntman this guy is a super 8 man! I just had two test rolls of super 8 vision 200 color negitve transfered and processed at cinelab in fall river massachussets for $90.00 plus add the cost for each roll of film at $15.50 each you best bet is to buy there package where you get so many rolls of film with the service for one price! I would use www.pro8mm.com if its a very professional shoot! and before you buy a super 8 camera let me recommened the BEAULIEU 4008 anything else might not work because kodak changed the slots on the film cartridge and the stops are off! good luck!!

Michael Ryan · November 9, 2006

I would second that vote for Justin Lovell. He is doing some of the best telecine (for the money) that I have ever seen. Amazing.

Mike

Chris Burke · November 9, 2006

I live in Nashville, TN and am about to buy my first S8mm camera. I am looking into all the costs as I would have to send my film to Atlanta, GA to be developed and telecined. On average how much would film stock, film processing and telecine cost? Is there a way to telecine it myself on the cheap without buying the telecine machine? I apologize for these questions. I am a beginner in the world of S8. Thanks.

Check out www.cinelab.com main page. They will do $43 per cart of either 7217 or 7218, $35 per for Black and white reversal. That includes film, processing and a best light telecine via a Rank to any format. The best option they offer is the transfer as a uncompressed Quicktime file 10 bit 4:2:2 color to hard drive. you supply the drive or you can borrow one from them. Minimum of 4 carts per order. A better deal than Pro8mm. Sure Pro8 has all the bells and whistles, but they also have very high prices, very grainy stock(usually cut down from recans and short ends) and rude customer service people. Cine on the other had offer 5 stocks( 2 negative, 3 reversal) and transfer to hard drive at no extra cost. Pro8 doesn't offer that. Justin Lovell is a great guy and offers a great service, but he is in Canada. So you have to deal with any potential hassles involved with international posting. Cinelab has the best deal going. Be sure to shoot a grey card for the best Best Light you can get.

Chris

alfredoparra · November 9, 2006

axp

Edited November 9, 2006 by AXP

Stuart Brereton · November 9, 2006

axp

No offence, but full, real names are now required on this site.

Douglas Hunter · November 10, 2006

naturally cost effective is a tricky term, in telecine its all about the quality of results you expect.

Being new to super 8 I suspect that you will just need to try a few different post houses and see what kind of results you get.

I suggest Cinepost in Atlanta. Its a great lab, they have a super 8 wet gate, really good customer service and good colorists, so I think you should try them after you've tried a few of the others. Their prices are higher but for me they count as cost effective because they meet a consistently high standard.

Michael Ryan · November 10, 2006

from Chris: "Justin Lovell is a great guy and offers a great service, but he is in Canada. So you have to deal with any potential hassles involved with international posting."

Canada is really not on the surface of the moon as some might think. Toronto is actually further south than many Nothern U.S. cities (if you look at your map).

And Canada (not China as many would believe) is the U.S. largest trading partner. With import/export between the two nations at 1.4 billion per day (as in every 24 hours). Millions of U.S. jobs depend on Canada, so getting product from the U.S. to Canada and Canada to the U.S. is about as hassle free as can be made. As you can imagine, lots of good things depend on that trade both ways.

Mike

Joseph Ivey · November 10, 2006

I appreciate all the advice I have gotten. I did just buy a Nikon R10 on eBay, for $235 by a reputable dealer. I should have clarified when I said Cost Effective. I don't mind spending money for good work. Cost effective to me is more about is the work equal to the money I am paying. I looked around and have found a few places to send a few test rolls while I get used to the camera.

Also, is there a website that sells most, if not all, super 8mm filmstocks for a good price? I would like to buy individual carts at first to test the camera and then would be interested in buying in bulk. Thanks for the help. This forum is the best I have found.

Ryan Ball · November 11, 2006

I appreciate all the advice I have gotten. I did just buy a Nikon R10 on eBay, for $235 by a reputable dealer. I should have clarified when I said Cost Effective. I don't mind spending money for good work. Cost effective to me is more about is the work equal to the money I am paying. I looked around and have found a few places to send a few test rolls while I get used to the camera.

Also, is there a website that sells most, if not all, super 8mm filmstocks for a good price? I would like to buy individual carts at first to test the camera and then would be interested in buying in bulk. Thanks for the help. This forum is the best I have found.

Order directly form Kodak. No mark-up and good service.

Robert Houllahan · November 11, 2006

HI

I first want to thank Chris for the kind words about us.

We have been putting more serious effort into Super-8 over the last year with the addition of a gate for our Cintel Turbo-2 444 telecine suite. This suite makes a good picture and is full 10bit SDI from end to end, and has a 10bit framestore, metaspeed and full digital Copernicus color corrector with 16bit primary and secondary correction. We also go direct SDI into a G5 for disk recording, both of our telecine suites are all digital SDI with no analog conversion.

Plus unlike a transfer only house we are a full service lab with 5 continuous film processors, we currently run every process that kodak makes for MP except E-6. We run color negative in 8mm, 16mm and 35mm we have 2 machines dedicated to this and a special machine we only run 8mm and 16mm ECN on which allows us to process 8mm film very well and very clean. Of course a Ektachrome x-process is a regular run here.

We run B+W reversal every day in 16 and 8 plus we can cross process reversal as negative and negative as reversal, so if a B+W x-process to neg is interesting we can do it.

We also do a large volume of 16mm printing and answer printing for a wide variety of clients. We have been a traditional motion picture lab since 1948.

As to out 8mm bundles we are sticking to kodak original products right now with P+T built in at about our normal rates, I think we are only adding a dollar to the cartridge cost right now so I think it is a good deal as a complete bundle.

Feel free to check us out and give us a call if interested, I think color turnaround time is about a week right now and B+W is about 3 days.

Thanks

-Rob-