Chris Gravat

Yeah it'll be a standard one. Filmtools doesn't have any though. Someone has to know where to get one. Help! Maybe at a lab?

I'm looking for a collapsible core for an Arriflex 16M 400' Mag. Can anyone tell me a good place to start looking for one? - Chris

It's not a book, but rather a documentary. "Tell them who you are." It's about the life of the cinematographer Haskel Wexler. Very inspiring and heartfelt, as the director is none other than his son. - Chris Gravat Boston, MA

Blain Brown has some great books on Lighting and cinematography. I read them when I was back in school. I believe the titles are "lighting" and "cinematography" -Chris Gravat Boston, MA

I would do as much reading about anzel adams' zone system as possible. It wasn't until I grasped this concept that I felt 100% confident about my exposures and contrast ratios. (Though Cr's are still my nemesis!) The idea is basically meant for B&W photog., but still can be applied to color photog. Anything you spot meter, the reading you get back will be the T stop to make that subject 18% grey. try placing a grey card in a lighting setup and take a spot reading of the card. Then in the same lighting take an incident reading, They will be very close, if not the same exposure. If you can find where you want your 18% grey (Zone 5) to be then you just place everything else in the zone that you want it to fall into. This the very basics of the zone system, I highly suggest you read about it though. - Chris Gravat Boston, MA

When I shoot in the snow I usually use my spot meter and grey card for the faces Or to find my zone 5, then apply the zone system for the snow and everything in the background. But you will definitely want to expose for your shadow areas if shooting 7217. With all the latitude your snow being in or around zone 8 or 9 should be cool. If you change angles, just make sure everything is still in the correct zone and you should have matching contrast ratios. hope that helped, Chris Gravat Boston, MA

Clive, I will definitely buy one if you in fact decide to make a few more units. Chris Gravat Boston, MA

Thanks yall, I got it! I moved the loop down one perf and perfection. This baby is ready to rock. thanks again. Chris Gravat Boston, MA

Hello again everyone, So I've been practicing loading and threading my recently purchased 16M. My question is about the top part of the loop in the camera above the gate. it appears that the emulsion might be making contact with the guide rail. I have made a loop with 36 visible perfs, and have made sure that the bottom of the loop does not make contact with anything as the manual describes. Any tips or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. chris gravat boston, ma

I have the older T* T3. Arri standard all the way (The seating terrifies me, oh well It's just Zeiss glass...haha). I definitely know the cookes and schneiders and I guess some Zeiss lenses with those ears that you are reffering to. The ears look to be aluminum This lens has kinda the same concept, but they are hard plastic and all the way around the barrel. Heres a shot of it. Notice how close the mattebox is to the focus threads. This is gunna be a challenge! - Chris

Thanks Tim. I wasn't aware that the hotshoes were at different angles on the two sister cameras, CRAZY. Anyway I appreciate your vote of confidence with the baseplate angle idea. Now I need to find a follow focus at a reasonable price that has the capability to drive a Vario Sonnar T* 10-100mm. Without getting in the way of my mattebox that is infact mounted on the crazy old hotshoe. -Chris

I'm trying to outfit my Arri M with a rod system and follow focus. For any of you familiar with the "M" you know that the lens mount is offset a bit because of the three lens turret. Just wondering if this is going to prevent me from using a follow focus? My thought was to just secure the base plate at an angle that is parallel with the lens mount. Although this may look kind of awkward I think it might work. If anyone has any experience with support gear for the "M" your help is much appreciated. - Chris Gravat Boston, MA_

Are you speaking of the Cine lab in Mass.? Do they do HD tapeless transfers? If so what kind of options do they have as far as codecs go?

Can anyone recommend a good HD transfer house in New England? And if not new england somewhere that I can ship to thats reliable. Thanks - Chris Gravat Boston, MA

Just wondering if anyone has tried this lens (Century Optics Super Cinetar 5.7mm f1.8 c mount) meant for instrumentation purposes on their beaulieu. - Chris Gravat Orlando, FL

It's hard to say, considering they don't make them anymore people can pretty much name their own price. I have seen the 1014 go for over 800 bucks. But that was completely overhauled and serviced. Just make sure you have budgeted in enough to get the camera serviced or see that it has been serviced before you make your purchase. Good luck it really is a great super 8 cam that you will be very happy with. - Chris Gravat Orlando, FL

I haven't tried it yet but Bonofilm's HD tapeless option looks sweet. You send them your film for processing and transfer or you can send them already processed film. They send the digitized footage back to you on a portable hard drive. The only real downside is the deposit on the hard drive.

The editing phase estimated time is 3 months since we need to foley all sound and even incorporate ADR. If you are pinching pennies you should think about limiting or even better eliminating the foley and ADR and try to get everything during production. I guess this will only really matter if you are having to rent the quipment and facilities to do your ADR and foley. If you are doing it yourself I guess it wont really matter if you are willing to devote the time and can get the talent to come back for the ADR. It has been my personal experience especially on low budget shoots to try to capture all of my audio during production. It makes things significantly cheaper and in the big scheme of things doesn't take up that much extra time on set to get some wild lines, room tone or soundfx. Especially if you are using a non-linear recorder it's not like you will be wasting tape or anything. Just my thoughts on the situation. - Chris Gravat Orlando, FL

You are going to need to shoot at 24 fps for sync sound. If you do not have a crystal motor on your camera then you should keep your takes to max of like 25 secs maybe even 20. After that sync will drift. As far as the 29.97 footage, anytime your film goes through an SD NTSC transfer its going to be 29.97. All the NLE's have an option to edit at 29.97. But if you are dead set to edit at 24p I would look into removing the pulldown from the 29.97 footage or just do an HD transfer through bonolabs and edit in HD. Definitely shoot at 24fps though. Tobin makes a speed checker if you need to see exactly where your dial needs to be for 24fps. - Chris Gravat Orlando, FL

I have a beaulieu 4008ZM, I like it alot. I have heard that the ZM's are the best of the Beaulieu's, but I don't really know for sure because I've never shot with any other Beaulieu besides this one. But I would def recommend the 4008 series. - Chris Gravat Orlando

I can see how you guys can like the internal spot meter, I mean it's quick, it's easy, It's built in. What's not to like? But when it comes down to it if you want to know how everything is going to expose precisely, am i within my lattitude?, yada, yada, yada. Then use an incedent meter. As stated before briefly, the incedent meter gives you a reading based on acual light falling on the subject. The spot meter in your camera is metering the light that is bouncing off of your subject (reflective), which can add quite a large margin for error. I know I will continue to use my sekonic meter when shooting super 8 and any other format. - Chris Gravat Orlando, FL

I am going to have to agree with Andy. Plus you will be much happier with the results you get with an incident meter because of how precise you can get. I recommend the book "Motion Picture and Video Lighting" By: Blain Brown to get you started. It will give you a basic understanding of lighting for film. Good luck. - Chris Gravat Orlando, FL

cool, thanks for clearing that up. I am pretty new to super 8 cams, glad I could learn something today. -Chris Gravat Orlando

I am not doubting that it doesn't have problems with 64 ASA, as that was the most common stock in super 8's hay day. what I was curious about was whether or not the meter was calibrated to read anything other than 64 ASA. I guess you missed that part. - Chris Gravat Orlando, FL

I do not have any experience with the 518, but if there is no manual setting then the ASA will be read via a notch in the film cartridge. I was doing some reading and the downside MIGHT be that your internal meter will only recognize 64(T) ASA. If that is the case and you are wanting to shoot a faster speed film then I would suggest getting an incident light meter. The meter will allow you to enter your ASA and shutter speed (360/shutter angle x fps) and will give you a reading in T-Stops. - Chris Gravat Orlando, FL