Alessandro Machi

I recall seeing really awful Video transfers of the original Hawaii Five-0 back in the 80's or 90's. I think they were going off of contrasty prints and the transfers may not have been high quality Rank Cintel back then. However, the new trailers for the original Hawaii Five-0 that is premiering on Heroes and Icons look absolutely spectacular. Was there a recent retransfer of the series? Any articles out there?

I haven't seen the early Star Wars films in a while now but in early Star Wars films when the fighters are engaged in combat doesn''t the commander's chair have some kind of swivel to it, or were they just holding onto to the gun and using that as their swivel when the opposing forces race by? I seem to recall some very cool pivots going on. I'd like to be able to pivot from one spot without having to move.

I started filming Flying Ravens. Using a Tripod won't work, and hand held for 20 or 30 minutes at a time doesn't seem the ideal way to do it. Is there any type of rig for being able to lean against so a camera person's body can easily pivot while having some type of stability. A wall actually worked but I am curious if anything else is available. Handheld Raven shoot after deeming Tripod would not work.

I was watching Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist and noticed the conversation dialogue sounded "off". The actual songs that were sung sounded great, but the dialogue tracks almost sounded like they were recorded with a thin mask on the actor's face. I decided I was imagining things until the next show came on, which was "Good Girls". Absolutely spectacular dialogue recording, so much better than Zoey's I have to ask, does anyone know what might have happened? My theory is Zoey was using wireless lavalier mikes that were buried inside the actor's clothing so deeply that it sounded as if someone had put a thin sock over the actor's tongues. I don't know if this was a broadcast issue or if the episode just sounds this way even online. Again, the music sounded great, it was the talky stuff that just seemed off.

We've reached the point where someone can shoot something in wide mode, then digitally zoom in to create the digital reality / illusion of a magnificently tracked telephoto shot. I think it's a sad day for cinematography when a wide shot can be manipulated to such a degree. Am I wrong? Digital Zoom in makes wide shot look like an amazingly shot telephoto shot. Not only is it a magnificently manufactured moment, one of the women let go of the flag when it was firmly in her grasp and it was probably not noticed because in wide mode it's not that evident, they trick shot manipulate it into telephoto mode and didn't pay attention. It's total crap bullshit manufactured moment and this video has gone mega viral.

We were shown this film in High School during a class! Was Space 1999 shot on video? I was pretty young back then but I remember it seemed to look like video and felt very un warm. Apparently Martin Landau was offered the role of Spock but turned it down. I think he thought the character was one dimensional.

This definitely looks like a sync issue probably caused because the device is not able to playback the tape at the same speed the video was recorded at. If this was a VHS recording it might have been recorded at the four hour speed and some VCR's may have trouble playing back that speed. If it was a HI-8 recording then I would still suspect the playback device cannot playback the tape at the same speed it was recorded at. Are you sure this is a Hi-8 tape and not an VHS-c tape? This looks like a VHS-c tape recorded in the four hour mode and the playback machine is not able to play back the 4 hour speed. Another thing to check is the Hi-8 tape formulation. Hi-8 came up with something like four different emulsions and each had a different strength and a different weakness. As the recording ability of the newer formulations of Hi-8 tape was improved, the tape was more susceptible to microscopically falling apart with each playback. The highest quality Hi-8 tape was made to immediately bump to betacam sp for hidden camera shows back in the 90's. They were not meant to be shuttled back and forth.

The idea behind fast forwarding the tape in search mode is to see if the image clears up or not. If the image clears up then it possibly means there is a clogged head when playing in real time but for some reason does not clog the image when it is searched at a faster speed. I am not sure how you can have the tape play back at a slightly faster speed but the sound is in slow motion. If other tapes have worked fine AFTER this tape has been taken out of the machine, then your next alternative is to try a third and fourth Hi-8 machine and note if there are anomalies, if they happen in exactly the same way.

why not use a digital still camera to photograph the problem so we can view it?

Any Production company with integrity should never make a P.A. choose between a minor car repair they suddenly need for their car versus having some spare cash for meals for a week. P.A.s are sometimes asked to pick up something or deliver something of value, it seems shortsighted to not supply a daily meal and crafts services so the money they saved from not buying meals for a couple of weeks might instead go for basic maintenance for their car, or to catch up on a smart phone bill.

The smart production companies that can't afford to pay for a meal will have a really nice crafts services spread and somebody watching it over it at ALL Times to ensure flies are not getting into anything, the sun is not suddenly lighting up the craft services area, nor the wind suddenly disrupting the contents. The idea is crafts services works well at the beginning of the day, for drinks and snacks throughout the day, and then the last 4 hours of the 12 hour shoot in lieu of a second meal. So besides the one meal the crew is paying for themselves, the crew should be well supplied with drinks and decent snacks throughout the entire day. If there is no meal being provided, and no crafts services table, and the pay is really bad, but better than nothing, I would anonymously blast the company after the shoot is done on whatever sites rate production companies, for being so narcissistic.

I cued this Barbara Bain link up to a specific spot for those who can appreciate lighting versus glamor lighting the lead actress.

Hi Stacey. If you dad doesn't mind experimenting with unopened tape splice packages I would suggest doing a search on Ebay. Wurker tape splices, and see what comes up.

Allan Daviau came to CSUN and spoke to a packed room of 250 film students in the mid 80s when he was in the midst of a very busy career. Very generous of him to do that.

If you have to take into account what time of year it is and how far South or North the sun is. In the U.S., shadows get longer and the days get shorter during the winter, so the result tends to be more contrasty shots. Your filter cuts the light by about 2/3 of a stop, which is a good thing for most daylight shooting with 200T. Here's are some experiments you can try. With your camera set to auto exposure and the film cartridge in the camera, switch the filter setting in and out while looking through the viewfinder to see if the f-stop setting moves. If the f-stop moves, then you may have an internal 85 filter. However, it may be wise to not use the internal filter since it might be all grimy and faded. The next test would to place the 85 filter you purchased in front of the lens while in the auto setting and once again see if the f-stop moves and how much the f-stop moves as you move your filter in front of and out of the way of the lens. The f-stop should open up to let more light in, hopefully no more than one f-stop. As a general rule, you probably will be anywhere from f16 / 22 split down to f8.0 when shooting outdoors with 200T and an 85B filter on the camera. However, if there is no direct sunlight and one is shooting in a shadowy area, this could mean f 5.6. / f 8.0 If it were me, I would want to know how consistent the camera light meter is. It could be that the light meter is always off by one f-stop. You might find that zooming in to a medium close shot gives the most accurate reading or maybe wide angle, but up close to what is important produces the most accurate reading, then lock the meter off and get back to your position and shoot. If you want an overall less contrasty shot, just consider choosing between black, and white in the shot, but not both. This should instantly give you an extra one f-stop of latitude.

Your point is valid, why is that lever there? If you feel brave enough, run the camera and gently turn the lever and listen to see if it the lever creates a mechanical sound. Also see if it affects the auto light meter in any way. I am going to guess it might somehow be for manually changing the f-stop? Maybe a fader?

I have some good news and some bad news for you. The Good News is you have what is probably a one of a kind after market add on. And the Bad news is, you have what is probably a one of a kind after market add on.

Huh. I thought seeing it would jar my memory. I have one somewhere, I guess I need to hold it in my hands to remember.

I have kept Super-8mm.net and Super-8mm.com up and running for the past 15 years. However, I was ambushed one day by the host site who said my sites would only be read only for security purposes even though I had purchased the template from them. So it has stayed as is and the cost is spread out among other domains I have. I don't think I have ever made a penny from the site but I know it has connected the curious to some of the more well known players of the Super-8mm industry. It's 85 bucks for domain hosting and 12 bucks for the domain per year.

Hey Brad, can you post a picture.

It's all about perspective. That camera cost around 800.00 back in the mid 80's, adjusted for inflation today that Canon Camera would be worth 3,500 dollars. So you if you bought it for 500 bucks, spending 300 to 350 dollars to fix might not be that bad of an investment. Plus, once it is repaired by an actual Super-8 vendor, it pretty much means if you were to sell it, you may get serious buyers because you actually have proof you had work done on the camera. You may also advise Spectra that down the road you might want to put it on sale and perhaps Spectra gets a call from someone looking for that camera. Just trying to give you some additional ideas on why it may be worth paying someone who can possibly fix the camera.

The film you had processed is Negative Film. It will need to be transferred to a video or digital file so that the Negative Image can be turned Positive.

When one is shooting super-8mm in indoor low light situations, one may be able to get away with just using manual exposure and either keeping the f-stop wide open, or maybe stopping down to f 2.0 just to get a bit more overall sharpness. Another consideration, shoot at 18 frames per second, but with the normal shutter. Shooting at 24 is a good idea, but if one then uses the slower shutter speed that is going to induce more blur both if the camera is hand held and from the action within the frame. So here are two options to consider. 500T, 18FPS, f-stop 2.0, regular shutter. or, 500T, 24FPS. f-stop 1.4, slower shutter. Sometimes the slower shutter speed can induce a strobing effect, especially at 24FPS. If the camera was showing an end of film message it could mean that the motor was bogging down. Always use fresh batteries. I once got something like 20 to 30 rolls of film on one batch of lithium double A batteries.

Spectra Film and Video may have experience with repairing these cameras. Wasn't it difficult to take apart the camera? I recall visiting with a technician who explained that there are dozens of soldier points that have to be unsoldered to get the camera open so one can analyze the circuit board and such.