Stephen Smith

Hi, I am having trouble loading an eclair npr. I followed the instructions in the manual as to how one should load it, but when i attach the magazine to the camera, there is a horrible clicking noise, is this something to do with the loops not being formed correctly? has anyone experienced this. The camera has just returned from Les Bosher who said the magazines and camera were all working fine, so i assume it must be something to do with my film loading. Luckily i have just been practicing loading with leader at the moment so havent wasted any film, but im itching to test it. Many thanks

ah yes sorry seems i have forgotten how to write.

Hi, not sure if anyones ever talked about this. I'd be really interested in making another students film into a script. I'd really like to do it for one of my final year university projects as it's something i've never done and surely should have by now. IF anyones interested please let me know, obviously it will be credited as your script, i'm not trying to steal anyones talent. thanks in advance.

what i meant was it's not technically shooting regular 16mm is it then if you have to crop it. Does having the lenses offset not effect the image on the film if you crop down?

How will this be possible if the gate has been widened?

took about two weeks maybe slightly longer for the beauleiu 4008zmII to reach me in the UK, so you shouldn't worry, some of the postal services are screwed up cause of the flooding still here.

Also, which lens does it have? Schneider 6-66mm f/1,8 or Angenieux 8-64mm? thanks

How much for the Beaulieu 4008ZMII? I'm guessing your shipping from Greece?? cheers

Have looked alot, the eclair seems to be the best route to go down, seeing as i can shoot sync sound and get it converted to super 16 when i get the cash. I've located one on ebay, its in canada but the seller will ship to uk, its a proper shop rather than some random person so i think it can be trusted. The camera doesn't come with any sort of battery charger. Am i likely to find a battery charger for the camera easily? at what price and are new batteries available if the ones in it are knackered? Also it has a Angenieux 12-120 CAMEFLEX mount lens, will thios lens produce good results? or is it worth using a C mount to nikon adaptor or something? Thanks for the help.

I read somewhere that the arri bl wasn't worth getting due to there not being many spare parts or people knowledgable in the repair of the cameras? I've not looked at the eclair, i'll have a look what i can find. thanks

HI I was wondering if anyone could help me decide on a 16mm camera to buy. I have been using a bolex 16mm reflex for a while now, belonging to my university, I'm getting a bit bored of having to use a camera that's kept in such poor maintenence. My other problem with it is only being able to load 100ft at a time. Ideally i'm looking for something that can have a 400ft magazine added and something i could get converted to super16 without having to send it out of the country. I've been looking at the arri st, although i've read like the bolex this will be too loud for any sync sound, the packages seem to have the advantage of not being clockwork. What sort of price am i going to be looking at for a 16mm camera with 400ft magazine and good lenses? My budget at the moment is about £1500 (i'm in the UK), I've seen arri st packages for around £1195, though i have no idea if this is the right sort of price to be paying for them. If anyone has any suggestions i'd be most grateful. thanks.

I processed some as a negative last night and it came out fine, so tried a bit more in the reversal chemicals and that also came out, the only thing i can think that i have done differently for the film that worked and film that didnt was the use a of a different light meter, I just assumed that belonging to the university it would be properly calibrated and work, so i will test it against another light meter later. thanks for your replies

Ah, i now see what i actually have is an overexposed image? i developed a bit of film as a negative earlier that was shot with a different lens and that came out fine, so i'm guessing the lenses im using need to be put down two stops maybe? its a nikon to C mount adaptor and 35mm lens, although i thought if anything this would lose light and produce an under exposed image?? I processed some 120 film using the reversal process earlier as well and got a good result so im thinking its definitely down to the exposure in camera?

Basically it looks like the last 3 frames of this, and i'm guessing it should sort of look like the first frame i've darkened in photoshop?

thanks for the replies. I have tried with two more bits of films, two different stocks two different cameras and managed to get a totally clear film, I'm guerssing from this there is something wrong with the developer. It's the general developer from my uni's dark room so could have been contaminated with old developer someone could have poured fix in or something i dont know, i'm going to try with some new developer tomorrow and see how it goes.

Hi. I've been trying to process Plus X 7231 and Tri x 7266 in a lomo tank. At the end i always seem to have an under exposed image. I'm wondering if i'm underexposing on the re exposure or not developing for long enough? I've been following ilford instructions. Should the edges of the films (where the sprocket holes are) be totally black? With the re-exposure the ilford sheet recommends 18" away fro ma 100w bulb for 2 minutes. This was about EV 6 with the light meter set on 400iso, i have been re exposing in sunlight with the film in a tray of water, The EV seems to be 12, yet i've tried re exposure for up to 8 minutes and the film still doesn't come out with black edges. A technician at my uni reckons it's almost impossible to over expose the film on re exposure, so im a bit confused about whats going wrong. If anyone has any experiencs of this and could help if be very greatful. cheers I did scan in a few frames to show what i'm getting but i dont seem to be able to attach pictures at the moment.

Thanks for that, i thought it might be but wasn't sure. luckily it wasn't consistant and i do have some useable footage. cheers

hello. I recently shot some colour negative with a bolex H16 reflex, this is the first time i've shot any at all, most of it came out fine except for a bit that seems to be totally overexposed along the right hand side. I read in the cinematography third edition afterwards that this could be due to the filter slit thing on the bolex not being shut? If anyone could have a look at the image attached and suggest what they think it is i'd be very grateful. The camera belongs to my university who seem happy to have it sitting on a shelf gathering dust, apparantly it hasn't been used for years. Thanks.

i would also be interested in knowing this. I've had ago at building one myself, it worked alright except the image is upside down, i'm wondering if you got around this problem somehow? or just flipped it in post?

Great simple guide for how to make a mini35 adaptor, it made the most sense compared to every other diy mini 35 adaptor instructions that i've found on the internet. wasn't it awkward filming with the camera vertically?

cheers, i think im gonna have a go at re-editing and see if i can make it make more sense.

thanks for the pointers i will bear them in mind for my next project, i was hoping more than one person might have a say, but one is definitely better than none, cheers

yeah sorry about that, it wasnt exactlyt understandable, my tutors at uni didnt give any indication on what they thought of the narrative or anything but then again i guess im at a pretty crap uni. It was originally going to be about a guy that runs someone over, in a hit and run incident, he then becomes guilt ridden cause the man he runs over dies, so he pays some dodgy black market doctor to fiddle about with his brain. It was kind of meant to be the start with the end of the operation, then the dripping tap wakes the patient up, reminding him of something totally inferior, makinga cup of coffee which i doubt anyone remembers any particular cup of coffee, he then goes on to remember other snippets, all the super 8 flashback type stuff then he remembers in detail the meeting with the doctor, then at the end the doctor is in the office writing on his type writer about the failure of the operation. I know its very complicated, that was one of the reasons i wanted feedback, to see if the narrative wasn't gettting through to anyone. I think in future i may try spending a bit more than the price of a dv tape and a roll of super 8 film, Althoguh i cant really blame the lack of money for my failure.

if anyone has time i'd like some pointers, i made this film as a project in my first year at uni, shot on a canon xm1 and part on a chinon super 8 dart i bought from a car boot sale, just wanted to know what anyone thought, sorry its hosted on myspace but i dont really know anywhere else to stick it other than youtube which im not a fan of... http://www.myspace.com/theyre_coming_for_you cheers

cheers for that, i'll get on the phone on monday and hopefully get it sorted.