David Leugers

Yeah, I'd love to still be able to shoot S-8mm sound film. To me it was the greatest format for home movies. Archival beautiful images with sound, what was not to like? It blows my family away when I project a Kodachrome sound film taken of family I shot 30 to 40 years ago. Talk about a time machine.

The Bell and Howell JAN 16mm projector has a version that can record to as well as play back from magnetic striped film. It has a separate unit that attaches to the projector via cables for recording. Very well made. International Cine Equipment Co (ICECO) in Miami may still be able to provide such a setup with a synchronous motor powering the projector for exact 24fps film speed. I purchased mine from them years ago.

I found it to be a breath of fresh air. I felt the fine cinematography made the film easy to look at freeing your mind to really pay attention to the details of the story. I felt the look and tone accented the bizarre nature of real spy work in that nothing is like it seems on the surface. A glacier-slow chess match played out over continents by players who win or lose often hinging upon their ability to keep their personal secrets hidden. Nasty business.

The spring that drives the camera is very, very dangerous even if you have a jig and are familiar with handling it. A fully wound spring, such as in a situation where the camera was wound up but will not run, is a bomb looking to go off. A bomb made out of a long flexible Ginsu knife. I once had the misfortune of having a fully wound spring jump the containment ring tool and it was incredibly violent just like an explosion. It blew apart the camera jig snapping steel shafts and gears and anything else in the way. Fortunately I had a fraction of a second to jump back pulling my hands away to protect my face when I saw the spring start to move on its own. I was lucky and only received bad bruises and minor cuts to both hands. I will not mess with them. You may and you might never have an issue. With all the Filmos out there with good spring motors, why take the risk? Besides, you can use an electric motor with many of them. If a Filmo is gummed up from lack of lube and use, some good penetrating light weight oil at first to break the mechanism free, then apply good camera oil very often does the trick. Good luck!

I had this type of experience once with a customer who had many rolls of S-8mm he had shot in Vietnam when he was in the Army during the war. I have never seen such gate hair, to the point it was becoming solid black blobs around the entire picture area. I believe it was actually emulsion that was shedding itself adding more and more with each cartridge. It was sad to see such rare images practically ruined. I had to balance how much to zoom in to maintain a decent image quality while eliminating as much as possible the distracting edge cartoons...

I think you pulled off the "old school" de-aging of actor John Noble very well and the overall look let the viewer know that this was not set in the present time as a typical episode. You must have been under pressure to pull it off, but it must have also been fun to accomplish.

A Super-16mm projector is not that big of a deal. ICECO, the last manufacturer of the JAN 16mm projector has offered this conversion. The B+H JAN is probably the best for such conversion, but I would suggest that any projector with a large barrel lens (52mm) would be a candidate, provided the film path rollers etc. can be made S16 safe. Of course, you will not to able to show R16mm sound films with it, but S16mm projection coupled with separate sound shown double system would be awesome and way better than an optical sound track could ever offer...

The Ang 15mm C mount lens I have is one of my favorites. Sharp as a tack. The one in your hand may vary. Shoot some tests with it and see if you like it and performs to your satisfaction. The only thing that matters is your opinion based on experience and not reputation of brand name.

Although I am usually against any remake, I had to go and see this one (any well made western is worth viewing :D ). I enjoyed it, but I have to say it does not equal the original. It is different enough to qualify as a new take on the subject, and the cinematography is of course, first rate, but it has only Matt Damon replacing uber-turd actor Glenn Campbell as an improvement over the 1969 version. If Jon Voight had played the Texas Ranger instead of Campbell, I think even that comparison would favor the 69 version. The death of Moon in the mudhut played by Dennis Hopper in the original is a good example of what I am talking about. I am a big fan of the Coen brothers, but I can not see why these very original film makers would want to do a remake, especially of such a good original? I say give me something new.

Jordan Scroll down to the topic ? Where can I find/buy 16mm CARTRIDGE film ? for some good current info on the subject.

Matt I would rule out the projector. It looks to me from what I can tell by the video, that the problem is likely in the processing of the film. Even if the film stock was outdated, I have never seen any problem like that, but I have seen similar problems with processing errors.

I saw the original Tron several times in theaters. It had that quality so few films have of portraying the story in a dream-like pace and visuals. Vertigo had the same effect on me when I got to see the restoration on the big screen. Looking forward to seeing the new one, hope it has the magic.

I can't believe "Burn Notice" switched from its wonderful film images over to video. The first new episode so recorded lost a great deal of the signature look of the series and was at times, painful for me to watch. At least, it was obvious to me it was now shot of video. Anyone know for sure?