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Standard 16mm film stock


Simon Glidewell

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Does anyone know a good source in Europe to obtain standard 16mm film stock, colour and black and white? Also, is standard 16 B&W reversal stock still available and does anyone process it nowadays? I presume there are labs in Europe who will transfer film to a digital format for editing in FCP?

 

Thanks

Simon

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Does anyone know a good source in Europe to obtain standard 16mm film stock, colour and black and white? Also, is standard 16 B&W reversal stock still available and does anyone process it nowadays? I presume there are labs in Europe who will transfer film to a digital format for editing in FCP?

 

Thanks

Simon

 

I'm not sure what you mean by standard 16mm stock. Do you mean 2perf, as that tends to be a special order type thing?

If you mean just for a standard 16mm camera, then most of them take single perf which is more easily available.

 

The only B&W 16mm reversal left is Tri-X.

 

Freya

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I mean standard 16mm (like standard 8mm) as opposed to super 16, with the aspect ratio of 4:3 instead of 16:9. That was the name given to the stock once super 16 was introduced. As far as I know standard 16mm can be either single or double perf.

 

Simon

Edited by Simon Glidewell
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Any single perf 16mm film can be used in either a standard or super16 camera. Even double perf can be used in either camera, but the perfs will interfere with the right side of the super16 frame. The film size, perf size and perf pitch are the same for all 16mm camera film.

 

There is a small set of very old 16mm cameras that require 2perf 16mm which is generally hard to find these days.

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aspect ratio of the film is determined by the camera. S16mm and 16mm both use the same film

 

The only difference is whether the film is 1R or 2R-- this has to do with it's perforations-- either 1 perforation down one side (the most common) or 2--one on each side (special order).

 

Whether you need 1R or 2R film will also be dictated by your camera. Almost every modern camera is a 1R camera.

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That was the name given to the stock once super 16 was introduced. As far as I know standard 16mm can be either single or double perf.

 

Simon

The name never changed because the stock didn't. You just had to avoid double-perf. Super-8 had a smaller perforation in a different place. The only common parameter with 8mm. was the width of the film.

In fact I came unstuck on a student film shot in 1.66 soft matte widescreen on 4:3 when I specified single-perf '47 and we had to pay for an optical when the editor (oh, hang on, that was me as well) wanted to flop a shot. With double-perf the shot could just have been reversed in the neg cut, at the cost of a bit of sharpness. So we got our money's worth by having a freeze frame as well.

Edited by Mark Dunn
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http://www.wittner-kinotechnik.de/home.php

 

Wittner is probably your best source of all kinds of motion picture film in Europe. They even have some 2R (2 perf) films and DS8 (Double Super 8).

 

Wittner is good for reversal film but if one is looking for negative film stocks for gauges wider than super-8 -- not really.

 

If you are located in UK you can buy Kodak film here http://take2films.co.uk/stores/filmstock/ and cheap Fuji 16mm stock is available here http://filmstockclearance.com/

Edited by Heikki Repo
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Nowadays most people use negative stock (colour or B&W). It can be transfered to digital HD format with very good results. Reversal film is only suitable for direct projection, but has much less exposure latitude.

Also, you can still make very good projection prints from negatives, while making prints from reversal requires an expensive internegative since no reversal print film is available any more.

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