Stefan Kahlert

Just had a look at Wittner's site and found 5 different stocks in 400ft on core: Kodak K40, Wittner V50D, Fuji F-500T, F-250D, and Orwo UN54. Stefan

Ups, just bought a Moviflex GS8 for 43 EUR including shipping and 14 day return policy. :rolleyes: Stefan

I'm looking through the film gate and suspect I see what the film sees e.g. the filter going in and out when I insert the filter key while running the camera. The finder looked perfectly clear and crisp after I cleaned it btw. The camera handles very well and has a nice heft to it without feeeling clunky. Anyone knows its shutter degree to calculate exposure times? In a very small diagramm in an article which came with the camera it looks like exactly 180 deg. and the manual states 1/36 sec as the time for single exposures. Is it safe to assume 1/48 sec for 24fps and 1/36 sec for 18 fps? Stefan

My new Moviflex S8 was in the mail today (I decided that I don't need an MS8/GS8 right now and could add those later). I came with a manual and everything seems to work fine. I wonder why everyone complains about the manual mode. Sure, you either have to put a finger, thumb or palm on the aperture wheel or use a cable release but on my camera the wheel is easy to adjust and a soft touch is enough to keep it where it's set to. The only thing that I'm slightly worried about are small black dust specs on the back of the lens which is otherwise clear and clean. The dust is not on the filter as I made myself a filter-key and swung it out of the way. I tried to blow it away with canned air through the running shutter. Nothing was damaged fortunately but it also didn't remove the dust. Could please someone do me the favor and tell me, that I shouldn't worry to much and keep my fingers away from the cameras internals as long as everything else works like a charm. Thank you ;) Stefan

To my mind the upside of the current situation is that K40 made room for new choices (not discussing if the downside is bigger, as has been said: get over it). With this in mind I'm glad to see 64T as well as Wittner releasing 100D and Velvia 50 in S8. If the latter is sucessfull, who knows, maybe we also see carts filled with provia or astia but I may be to optimistic here as well. I'm sure even such a broad range of different films will not make any die hard K40 lover happy but it's certainly a good thing if we have a choice between different kinds of "film look". Even in its day not everything was done on Eastmancolor and I doubt it was good thing for S8 as a medium that K40 was almost the only kind of character it could deliver. Stefan

All we can see is a blurry picture (camera shake, defocussed, motion blur in foreground?) and an example of bad flare (unsufficient shade?). One could even draw the conclusion that old zooms are more resistant to flare than prime lenses. Have seen the discussion about 35mm vs. medium format in still photgraphy over and over. It always boils down to "use the right tool fo the task". It is much easier and more straightforward to get the quality one expects from the larger format if you use the larger format in the first place. The same level of effort put into the larger format will always yield a result which is head and shoulders over the smaller. Stefan

I'm not complaning. As I said, to me its mostly a question of getting used to and adopting ones methods to it. I'm pretty sure if 64T was all we had during the last 10 or 15 yeary it would have aquired the status of an S8 classic already. But its less than perfect and not up to todays standards in colour rendition so why not name its weak points and talk about ways to get around them? There must have been a time when people had to learn how to get the best out of K40 too, no? B) Stefan

I have limited experience with 64T as I only know it as a nice material for a variety of applications in still photography so far. To my mind Kodachrome 40 had two things going for it which 64T doesn't and which really have to do with 64T's dated technology: A bit less grain and more importantly it had neutral to slightly warm/brownish shaddows. 64T goes blue in the shaddows which was a prominent feature of all Ektachromes of its generation. In situations where there is lots of straylight and backlighting the Ektachromes from the eighties also exhibited a strong blue cast. This is less pronounced with todays 64t than with e.g. old Ektachrome 100 from 1985 but it is still there. For old multi-zoom lenses with mediocre straylight suppression this often was and in super 8 probably still is too much to handle. As far as I can see in the pictures which have been published so far this is could be one source of disappointment but I start guessing here. I'd say get used to it, avoid backlighting more than ever, use only lenses with good straylight suppression, compendiums and hoods if possible but I don't feel in the position to draw any valid conclusions before actually trying 64T in a format as small as Super 8 and better shut up right now. Stefan

Even old rebuild cameras are more expensive. Taking the price of say a canon 1014XLS asked at around 1980, adding roghly 120% for the rise in price we have seen for comparable products (optical/electromechanical) and taking into account the small market such a camera would be aiming at compared to the 1014XLS in its day, I'd guess that a range from 5000 up to 9000 USD would be more likely for a camera of comparable quality. Stefan

That was exactly where I started and you pushed me in the rigtht direction. Thanks again!

I found the Canon-Museum to be very informative: http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/cine/f_index.html Stefan

Plus-X and Tri-X can be developed as a negative film according to Andec http://www.andecfilm.de/html/negative_development.htm I assume most bw reversal film can be developed this way (and will loose a stop) with the exception of Fomapan 100R as it has an anti halation layer of dispersed silver (not silver-halide) under the emlusion which needs a reversal process for removal. Any other known exceptions? Stefan

Nizos seem to be either very expensive (pro) or need thoses dreaded mercury/wein cells (800/801, still expensive) which is my main problem with them. In comparison Canons (with the exception of the XLS) can be had for the proverbial song. I think I will give the 814 Electronic a try as it can be had for much less than an 814XLS but also offers 24 fps unlike the 814 XL-E. Stefan

After reading your older comments in this forum about this camera I put several MS8 on my ebay watchlist. The last one went for 7.50 EUR. If you can recommend other cameras in this price range I might start a collection! Does it need a 1.35V battery? Stefan

Thanks Mark, I think I got it. You get the same exposure if you put the filter in front of the film and the meter to 25 ASA or the filter in front of the meter cell and the meter to 40 ASA. But how about a Canon 310XL with its external metering system? Setting it to tungsten should remove the filter and set it to 40 ASA. An additional 85b would balance the colour and reduce 64t's sensitivity to 40 ASA with no effect on the external metering cell. Wouldn't that work or am I chasing blue mice? Stefan