What kind of film to use?

Sven Adrian · March 14, 2007

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a beautiful Bauer Royal 10E Macro, yet I'm not sure what kinds of super8 films to use with it. I'm aware that it can only meter 40 and 160 ASA in artificial light with the corresponding 25 and 100 in daylight. It also cannot run Ektachrome 64T automatically. So which kind/brand of film should I use then and where can I get it? Would Kodachrome 40 be the right choice?

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers,

Sven

jon lawrence · March 14, 2007

My first piece of advice would be to buy a light meter, then you can use any film you wish and besides, due to their age, a lot of super 8 cameras’ internal meters no longer work or are inaccurate. As for what type of film it depends on the shooting conditions and/or how you want it to look. Are you going to be shooting outside or inside? Do you want minimal grain? Are you going to have the film telecine?

Kodachrome 40 is a beautiful film stock but has unfortunately been discontinued. You can find the occasional roll on eBay however these are usually expired so results aren’t guaranteed - (see my previous post

http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...howtopic=21264)

Other film stocks are readily available at various prices:

www.pro8mm.com

www.spectrafilmandvideo.com

www.widescreen-centre.co.uk

Hope this helps.

Edited March 14, 2007 by jon lawrence

Sven Adrian · March 14, 2007

Hi,

first of all thanks for the helpful reply.

I was planning to mainly shoot outside and I don't mind the film being grainy. Would you still recommend a light meter? Where do I get one for my camera?

The film stock links were very helpful. The Pro8/85 100 reversal offered by pro8mm.com sounds like a good choice for me.

Yet it's Ektachrome and I'm not sure if my camera can run that. On Super8wiki.com it says:"The [bauer Royal 10E Macro] camera can not run the Ektachrome 64T automatically." Does that mean Ekachrome in general or just the 64T? Pardon my ignorance.

Cheers from Germany,

Sven

Alessandro Machi · March 15, 2007

The advantage of a spot meter is that over time, you will begin to notice how far off the camera's meter is from the spot meter. You may discover that the "offset" is always the same, and you may then be able to use the camera's internal light meter as long as you always remember to set the f-stop manually and either add or subtract the f-stop offset.

You can use the Ektachrome 64T if you like, just reset the f-stop manually once you learn what the correct exposure is via your spot meter. The Vision 200T and the Vision 500T negative are real nice negative film stocks to use as well.