Testing "new" Scoopic

[Geoffrey Chandler]

I've acquired a fine looking Scoopic MS and a couple rolls of fresh Kodak Vision 50 ASA film. Before I shoot any projects, I'd like to shoot a test roll to check everything out. Some issues will be obvious without any special testing protocol - light leaks, image flicker film gate problems. But with respect to sharpness, I've heard some folks report the Canon lens is soft wide open and others report the lens should be sharp at f/2.5 if everything is correct with the internals of the camera.

 

To test sharpness, is there a standard way to shoot a lens star chart. Zoomed in all the way, wide open I would presume?

 

For exposure, the internal meter seems to work and seems ballpark correct but I don't know the precise accuracy. I have a old Minolta digital meter with cine mode, but it seems to be way off compared to my DSLR cameras so that is useless. I got an app for my iphone and it seems to agree with my still cameras. I'm thinking I should stick to one exposure tool and check exposure with it but I'm not sure how to tell if my exposure is 100% accurate. If I shoot a gray card, when I get the film processed and scanned, would the histogram in Adobe Premiere be the way to check exposure??

 

Thanks for any ideas.

Geoffrey

www.chandlervideo.com

 

 

[Ryan Fleet]

Geoffrey,

 

Great news on acquiring a Scoopic MS they are great cameras!

 

As for testing it - I would suggest putting your money towards a CLA instead of paying for a test, it would be more cost effective in the long run. Especially if something does turn out to be wrong with it. I sent my Scoopic 16 to Bernie at super16inc and he does an incredible job. He will do a complete overhaul to the camera and make sure it's running perfectly. http://www.super16inc.com/

 

The sharpness test can be done in multiple ways. Yes, you can use charts to help as well as measuring for focus to be precise. Focus charts can be expensive though so you could either rent some or just print something off depending on how scientific you want to get. I would also shoot a bunch of different apertures and different focal lengths. That way you can get a good sense of the lens.

 

The meter issue is definitely something you're going to want to invest in to get precise readings. You can use the internal meter but that is reading the entire scene and giving you an average. Depending on what you're trying to accomplish it could be totally fine. But If you bought something that was reading the incident light you could get better results. You don't need anything fancy just something that is accurate like this https://www.amazon.com/Sekonic-L-398A-Studio-Deluxe-401-399/dp/B0010SJYBC

 

Using a grey card and then viewing in Premiere Pro would be a good way to check your results using the lumetri scopes.

 

Hope this helps!

[Gregg MacPherson]

Those seconic meters do seem to be going up in price, but you should find one a lot cheaper than that.

[Will Montgomery]

Second sending to Bernie.

 

But you should go ahead and shoot a roll and get a baseline so you can let him know of any issues.

 

But even if you think it's running great, a CLA will keep it that way.