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Super 8 shutter speeds?


Ross Thompson

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Hey guys, I am new here, I am traditionally trained as a still photographer, so I apologize if my question seems a little naive..

 

I just got an Argus 802 super 8 camera, it's pretty basic and automatic, but you can set your aperture.. I know that it captures at 18 fps and I was wondering if there was any way that I could find the shutter speed that it runs so that I can light accordingly without having to do capture tests.

 

Thanks so much guys,

 

All the best,

 

Ross

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Hi Ross, I don't know the exact shutter speed. However as a general guide, the shutter angle is around 150 to 180 degrees for 18 fps for most super-8 cameras. If the camera says XL on it, then the shutter angle is usually between 190 degrees and 220 degrees.

 

On top of that, that bright viewfinder is a result of diverting some of the light from the film plane to the eyepiece. I don't know the exact amount of loss but I think 1/2 to 2/3's of a stop is a safe estimate to make.

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Hi Ross, I don't know the exact shutter speed. However as a general guide, the shutter angle is around 180 degrees for 18 fps for most super-8 cameras. If the camera says XL on it, then the shutter angle is usually between 190 degrees and 220 degrees.

 

 

Thanks! I should really just do a bracket exposure test with a controlled light setting... but it should be about 1/30s-1/36s

that helps a lot!

 

Thanks again,

 

Ross

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At 18fps, many super 8 camera models have a shutter speed of about 1/48th of a second. Though as Alessandro mentioned, there will be some light loss that must be accounted for if using an external meter. I found a decent way of figuring out the exposre compensation required. Take a light reading with your super 8 camera and note the f stop reading. Then grab a 35mm SLR (or a hand held meter) and set the same f stop on that, then point the meter at the same subject and note the shutter speed setting that the meter recommends. Try this with a bunch of different subjects and if you get fairly consistent results (ie the stills meter usually displays the same shutter speed) then that is a good bet that you have cracked the code. Using this method, it's preferable that your stills meter's shutter speeds can be adjusted in half stops - for accuracy. If not, then when comparing your light readings, go through your various shutter speeds on the stills meter until the f stop displayed matches the one indicated with the super 8 camera.

 

Remember, if a tungsten based film is loaded in the super 8 camera in daylight with the 85 filter engaged, set the film's effective daylight asa setting on the stills meter. For example, if you're using Ektachrome 64T, set 40asa on the stills meter. And if you're using this film in artificial lighting without the filter, then you would set 64asa.

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  • 11 years later...
On 6/14/2011 at 6:34 AM, Patrick Cooper said:

At 18fps, many super 8 camera models have a shutter speed of about 1/48th of a second.

Hey Patrick,

My Canon 1014 Auto Zoom Super 8 camera manual says it has a max shutter angle of 150˚.  According to an online calculator, having entered 150˚ angle at 18 fps = 1/43.2 of a second in terms of shutter speed. 

 

Pictured below is the options on the Canon. There's O,  2 is 1/2, 4 is 1/4, C is closed. 

 

 

IMG_2864.thumb.JPG.ca758ee38fb7788588318815505763ac.JPG

Is the idea that 150˚ is close enough for the human eye? The online calculator had no 1/36 option. I'm new at this so I'm trying to learn some more about shutter angle

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19 minutes ago, Dave Keen said:

Is the idea that 150˚ is close enough for the human eye?

No. Nothing compares to the human eye. Contrary to all technical contraptions the eye not only sees all of the time of looking, it digests the light on the retina actively at a frequency of about 50 times per second, if I’m not mistaken, a very subtle trembling is there. Jean-Pierre Beauviala was out to repeat that with the Aaton digital cameras.

Television and video traditionally served around 92 percent of cycle time as content, 8 percent black interframe. Digital imaging can give 100 percent. I don’t know the correct term of it. Pixel pushing or something like that

A film motion-picture camera needs to be designed with a fast advancing mechanism in order to allow a wider shutter angle for longer exposures. The widest angle I know of is 280 degrees with the Akeley Sound camera of 1929 followed by a Mitchell modified by George Schneiderman in 1934 for the Fox studios, 270 degrees. Tally & de la Garde made a 240-degrees camera in 1932. The Mitchell 16 Professional offers 235 degrees maximum opening.

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