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looking for camera recommendations


Christopher Lee

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any recommendations for some good sharp super 8 cameras that enable me to manually adjust the speed of the film? a good zoom lens or interchangeable lens ability would be a plus, but i dunno if i can afford one that allows for changing lenses. I have a Nizo S 560 and im looking for a step up. my budget is around $300 or less. thanks!

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The S560 is nice and compact. The only gain would be to have a longer lens on the 800-series.

interchangeable lenses.

 

What extra speed options do you want? Compared to the S560?

 

Only Beaulieu 4008 have truly variable speed. And interchangeable lenses. What other lenses could you possibly want? A 0.95 Schneider?

Using C-mount adapters you could fit many Nikon or other brands. That works best for telephoto. Undercutting 10mm fixed focal length is hardly possible.

There are special ciné lenses.

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i like the nizo’s but the highest film speed it reads is only 160asa. I want something that can go up to 400 to 600 asa. Manually being able to adjust film speed seems like it would save the of headache trying to figure out what the camera is actually going to be exposing the film as. Is the 4008 really the only true variable speed? i thought other brands made cameras with this option and i’ve heard that beaulieu’s require good maintenance in order to work well, something i can’t afford.

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Only Beaulieu cameras and Leicina Special cameras have both manual ASA dials and interchangeable lenses. But both are very expensive and maintenance ain't cheap. So I wouldn't generally recommend them unless you REALLY need the sharpest, nicest stuff out there.

 

I'd honestly recommend just getting to know your Nizo better. It can read 50D, 200T and Tri-X perfectly. And you can shoot 500T. I have the 801 Macro and I love love love it. So a few methods:

  1. Just shoot it on auto! Seriously 500T has crazy latitude. I've shot it on a beach in a Nizo and it was perfect.
  2. See what the camera's meter (reading 500T as 160) shows then using the manual exposure dial, set your aperture to around 1-1.5 stops down (i.e. if the cam reads f4, set it to ~f5.6) then you'll be close to 500T would read without much trouble.
  3. Get yourself a handheld meter or just use your phone! Then you can meter and just manually set it.

Any camera can shoot any film speed really. As long as you can control exposure. Honestly if you really need the speed, just shoot 500T wide open on your Nizo then push a stop in processing or just in the scan. Scans are so good these days with 2K. And no one even makes film above 500.

 

With that said, if you really want an auto-exposure camera, the Canon 814 series (814AZ, 814XL, 814XL-S) are all great and can expose 400 speed (as well as lesser speeds) and most have slo-mo options and some even variable shutter angles which is amazing. And can be had for $300 or less depending on the day.

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Only Beaulieu cameras and Leicina Special cameras have both manual ASA dials and interchangeable lenses. But both are very expensive and maintenance ain't cheap. So I wouldn't generally recommend them unless you REALLY need the sharpest, nicest stuff out there.

 

I'd honestly recommend just getting to know your Nizo better. It can read 50D, 200T and Tri-X perfectly. And you can shoot 500T. I have the 801 Macro and I love love love it. So a few methods:

 

  • Just shoot it on auto! Seriously 500T has crazy latitude. I've shot it on a beach in a Nizo and it was perfect.
  • See what the camera's meter (reading 500T as 160) shows then using the manual exposure dial, set your aperture to around 1-1.5 stops down (i.e. if the cam reads f4, set it to ~f5.6) then you'll be close to 500T would read without much trouble.
  • Get yourself a handheld meter or just use your phone! Then you can meter and just manually set it.
Any camera can shoot any film speed really. As long as you can control exposure. Honestly if you really need the speed, just shoot 500T wide open on your Nizo then push a stop in processing or just in the scan. Scans are so good these days with 2K. And no one even makes film above 500.

 

With that said, if you really want an auto-exposure camera, the Canon 814 series (814AZ, 814XL, 814XL-S) are all great and can expose 400 speed (as well as lesser speeds) and most have slo-mo options and some even variable shutter angles which is amazing. And can be had for $300 or less depending on the day.

thanks for the insight! i may just end up looking into cameras with a good zoom lens, or the nikon r10. What do you think about the Canon 1218? Seems like it would be good for surfing shots from the beach.

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I’ll look into the R10. Whats the differences between the R10 models?

All R10s are equal :) Except for the zoom gears which are metal on the 78xxx series and nylon on 79xxx.

R8 are the smaller camera but do have a smaller lens and want 625 batteries :(

 

A problem might be that R10 are rather heavy and due to age you must double check on all features working properly. Sometimes they get noisy gears or possibly a stuck exposure system.

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I would like to offer an alternative. The Fujica ZC1000. It is considered by some to be the best 8mm camera ever made, but it shoots Super8mm film in a different cartridge called Single8mm. It has transport speeds from 9-72fps, a variable shutter, a fantastic C-mount zoom lens and it's one of the the few cameras that can film in reverse for the the entire cartridge(Super 8 carts can't do that for more than 10 feet. Color film, Fuji and soon; Ektchrome, and Kodak Tri-X; are available from Retro8mm(Retro enterprises) in Japan. Film has to be processed by them because of the cartridge.(These films can be shown in any Super8mm projector)The price of these cameras has really come down in price due to better availability of film stocks. You can get one on eBay; in decent shape; for $250-$300 now. This format is very popular in Europe.

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I would like to offer an alternative. The Fujica ZC1000. It is considered by some to be the best 8mm camera ever made, but it shoots Super8mm film in a different cartridge called Single8mm. It has transport speeds from 9-72fps, a variable shutter, a fantastic C-mount zoom lens and it's one of the the few cameras that can film in reverse for the the entire cartridge(Super 8 carts can't do that for more than 10 feet. Color film, Fuji and soon; Ektchrome, and Kodak Tri-X; are available from Retro8mm(Retro enterprises) in Japan. Film has to be processed by them because of the cartridge.(These films can be shown in any Super8mm projector)The price of these cameras has really come down in price due to better availability of film stocks. You can get one on eBay; in decent shape; for $250-$300 now. This format is very popular in Europe.

 

I actually have two of those and am selling the near-pristine one for $1000. Mostly because it's one of those cameras I don't really want to sell. ;-)

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I would like to offer an alternative. The Fujica ZC1000. It is considered by some to be the best 8mm camera ever made, but it shoots Super8mm film in a different cartridge called Single8mm. It has transport speeds from 9-72fps, a variable shutter, a fantastic C-mount zoom lens and it's one of the the few cameras that can film in reverse for the the entire cartridge(Super 8 carts can't do that for more than 10 feet. Color film, Fuji and soon; Ektchrome, and Kodak Tri-X; are available from Retro8mm(Retro enterprises) in Japan. Film has to be processed by them because of the cartridge.(These films can be shown in any Super8mm projector)The price of these cameras has really come down in price due to better availability of film stocks. You can get one on eBay; in decent shape; for $250-$300 now. This format is very popular in Europe.

Indeed a nice camera. I don't follow the reasoning that more film would drive the price down :)

I don't understand why they the processing of E-6 or D-94 would need to go through retro8 too. They need the cartrdiges back?

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Only Beaulieu cameras and Leicina Special cameras have both manual ASA dials and interchangeable lenses.

 

Once at a flea market, I came across a super 8 camera with manually adjustable ASA settings which was quite a surprise. Certainly not a common feature. I can't recall the brand name but it wasn't a Beaulieu or a Leicina Special. Overall, it was a really simple camera. Nothing fancy other than the ability to adjust the ASA settings manually.

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Once at a flea market, I came across a super 8 camera with manually adjustable ASA settings which was quite a surprise. Certainly not a common feature. I can't recall the brand name but it wasn't a Beaulieu or a Leicina Special. Overall, it was a really simple camera. Nothing fancy other than the ability to adjust the ASA settings manually.

 

That's crazy! I don't know of any others but there really are sooo many S8 cameras out there. Just the other week I found out about some cheap... Elmo or something camera that was a reflex camera! I thought Beaulieu was the only S8 cameras that were reflex. Still so many gems out there haha.

 

Also just to chime in on the Fujica suggestion... it's definitely a beautiful, capable and stable camera but I don't know that I'd generally give it as a recommendation except to a die hard. You are essentially required to get all of your carts from Retro8 which ain't cheap and you don't have access to negative stock unless you spool yourself which isn't for the feint of heart haha. I've been researching reloading S8 carts and it's also a bit much. The accessibility of being able to buy fresh Kodak color negative, color reversal and B&W reversal stock easily can't be overstated in my opinion.

 

Also I don't think the Fujica's sell for under $500 generally speaking. Most working models on eBay are like $800. But the camera itself is a thing of beauty no doubt and creates very stable images.

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