Matthew W. Phillips

I was referring to eyeing it.

The labs I deal with that do MiniDV will give you tapes that will work with any miniDV camcorder. DVCam usually cost extra anyway so I doubt they would give you that when you ask for miniDV. You should be fine since miniDV is a very tightly followed standard.

Your transfer may look good but not as good as shooting on S16 since you are cropping out much of your resolution. I really think its better to shoot Super 16 for HD transfer if you can.

Thats a really good point...thanks.

Then what would I come along as? A PA, DP, or just as needed?

Yeah, Im primarily a Director but I do have a bit of gear. Anyways, I get offers from time to time to rent out my gear, but I never know what to quote, so i was wondering what you folks think would be a fair price to rent out the following: Sankyo Supertronic XL-620 Super 8 cam which includes 24fps and manual exposure. Incident/ reflective light meter Decent tripod capable of handling much more weight than the camera aforementioned. Audix UEM-81S Super cardioid shotgun micrphone. 10' high adjustable boom stand (can work as substitute for boom op on static shots) 1250 watt 3 -piece photoflood kit w/ umbrellas. I know this isnt pro gear by any measure but I get inquiries from low-budget directors and some film students to rent out my rig. What do you guys think is a fair daily rate for the gear mentioned? Any special things I should consider? Any comments appreciated.

Forget Kaptain, I may well be interested in it. And if all thats wrong with it is door seal replacement, I would offer you more than $2.50 for it. I could always use a backup 24fps, manual exposure cam.

With all due respect, I doubt your eye is going to detect the 1/24th- 1/48th of a second that your film is static.

i know there are some people who like to get both sides done at once for quicker finish and also as to allow "improv" in scenes. However, if you dont have two cameras, this wont be an option really. You will have to do a single camera shoot and probably stay tighter to the script. I know it can create interesting variations by allowing one person to bounce off of another and you can seriously get wicked improv that way, but honestly, you would sacrafice the best lighting that way also.

Very impressive...I hope you have a good festival circuit.

Not to denegrate the ASC or any other organization like DGA or SAG, but arent we more advanced as a society than to trip over foolish good ole boy networks. Seriously, I thought, at least in the USA, that we werent suppose to respect titles that lord one person over the other. I dont think being a member of any organization proves anything. It's just as silly as respecting someone more because they went to Harvard instead of Berkeley. I dont much respect Lucas as a filmmaker for anything other than his unwillingness to kiss the DGAs behind. I am glad that him, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarentino have chosen not to continue in something so archaic and foolish as a guild of Directors. Why not just be a Freemason and get it over with?

I doubt any of them are scam sellers since they are all power sellers with ridiculously higher feedback than any of us, Im sure. Probably just one person made the stock photos.

Oh please, Kevin Smith shows why a Director and a DP are two entirely different things. Some could argue that he's not really a Director either, but only a writer.

Hey mate, Matthews good folk...just young thats all. He is 15, I believe.

With all due respect, Im getting so tired of people acting like you just have to have a gazillion dollar rig with crystal sync, and timecode, and metronomes, bells/ whsitles, and everything else. It is absolutely ridiculous to assume you cant sync sound with Super 8. Let's not forget that many S8 cameras were Sound cameras also. These cameras are going to be pretty well synced. If you are on a budget, just remember... the shorter the take, the better! You will not lose sync at all on a 10 second dialog clip. It wont happen. I have done this many times and I guarantee that, with a 24fps sound camera, you will not lose sync in a short clip. If you want to shoot 2 1/2 minute scenes, dont try it without crystal motor because it will drift off. But for short, there is nothing to worry about. I find that you can do anything on a small budget if you use a little creativity. Hell, if you are really concerned, just record scratch track, noisy or not, and use that as reference for full ADR in post.

A digital incident meter isnt even necessary, i have an analog that works fine and still has shutter fps settings. Whats more, I got it for only $70.

That sounds good but I discovered last night that I still have a problem with the lamp i used not being powerful enough so I have to modify. Also, I didnt point this out earlier, but I dont have an electronic device advancing the film, it is a crank system. Would this fit in or have to be changed? Right now, the only electrical part is the lamp which is a basic flood light mounted on the inside (wanted to make replacing lamps cheap)

Ok, wait a sec...this is getting heavy and I wanted to point out that the least amount of technical skill necessary, the better. I dont want to try to make a RANK. Just trying to come up with a frame by frame projector capable of some decent scans. I am not an engineer and i dont wish to become one. Any electrical work would have to be cheap, easy to understand, and safe.

I like Super 8 over 16 for many reasons: 1) Dont have to worry about magazine changes and risk of exposing the film 2) Here in California, Super 8 is much cheaper than 16 in everything but RANK transfer which still doesnt offset the total savings of S8. 3) Super 8 has a look all its own where 16 looks like "baby 35" 4) I have found that, when comparing S8 cameras to hand cranked 16 cameras, S8 cameras hold sync much better for 24fps. I have a Sankyo Supertronic XL620 and I can actually do sync sound with it. I dont know if its because this was a sound camera initially or what, but it will hold sync for the short scenes I shoot. The hand cranked K-3 will not hold sync very well, in my experience. 5) Super 8 is great for Guerilla shooting, if that's your thing. 6) Many low cost S8 cams have great features available to you for prices that would be unheard of for 16 cameras. My Supertronic has dissolves, fades, intervals, slow, fast, and stop motion, and some other S8 cameras even have backwind capability. Try getting all that in 16 for less than $100. 7) For grindhouse horror, Super 8 cannot be beat. It can instantly give people the chills with most any setting. I think all horror movies should be shot on Super 8. This is all I can think of now, anyone else have any ideas?

I would recommend getting an incident meter and taking an average reading based on a few areas on or near the subject. I do this and it always worked well for me. Many people will tell you you need an expensive digital meter for "utmost accuracy" but I use an analog meter and it is still close enough. I dont think that the 1 micrometer you might be off will affect your exposure noticeably.

I may aim for this idea...it is more time concuming, but the payoff is worth it, I feel. I am definitely not expecting a marketable product out of this. Maybe something that I can benefit from or at least have fun doing when I drink... :D

Thank you Scott for the encouragement. However, anyone have an idea of how I can (cheaply) devise a method of syncing for 24fps (or any particular rate for that matter)? No idea is too silly for me to try! I also wish to tell Jim Jannard that I have posted my prototype so I would love to see his for RED. Dont be ashamed of the beast Sir, be proud of it!

Mike, you have a good attitude and I may like to utilize your services some day. Take advice from him, a good fellow indeed.

Auto should work fine...check out this link http://super8wiki.com/index.php/Super_8_EK..._meter_properly

You want it, you got it...although my digital camera is buried in storage so you have to settle for webcam grabs...so sorry. Here it is. I will try to get better images in the future, but this is the general idea.