Bart Smith

Some people are of the opinion that V2 500 is 'really' a 320 stock. Does that sway you towards giving it the thumbs-up for a quickie dose of X-rays? On the one hand you seem to be saying that 500 is a no-no, and on the other that 3000 can be fine. Make your mind up purleeeeze.

Seems a pretty arbitrary cut-off point to me, there's only 1 1/3 stops between 200 and 500. What would your considered opinion be on a 320 ASA stock as that's pretty much half way between an example you consider a 'yes' and another that you consider a 'no-no'? Some people are of the opinion that V2 500 is 'really' a 320ASA stock. Does that sway you towards giving it the thumbs-up for a quickie dose of X-rays?

I am sorry to hear of your problems. I think we can probably help you, if you can get your Arri 16BL to us we will be able to look at it and have some answers re servicing within 24-48 hours. We can definately help you with the camera. The Tobin milliframe may be slightly more problematic, it is almost certain that it will need to be returned to Tobin in the USA for servicing. However, we may be able to loan you a milliframe controller in the meantime so that you can continue shooting. Our contact details can be found in the signature below.

Grant, your cheque is in the post! Ralph, contact me by phone at Blue and I'll go through the options that we can offer.

The company being referred to is probably Bray Imaging Technologies Ltd. They are based in Bedfordshire, just north of London. They have a number of possibly suitable products in their portfolio, including the E Series Film Processor, E6 version. The reality is that it would be entirely uneconomical to try and set up a commercial enterprise for Super 8 reversal (or neg) using this sort of setup. Pay the money and get a pro lab to do your developing. You would never recoup your investment, and you would never be able to process as economically as a proper lab will.

There is no simple answer to that, as you have to weight up the benefits of price over convenience etc. What stock do you need to develop and how many rolls?

Todd-AO only develop neg stocks in Super 8 e.g. 200T & 500T. They run their baths Tuesdays & Thursdays when I last checked. The Widescreen Centre don't develop any Super 8 themselves, they farm the work out, almost all of it to Germany. Film & Photo in Acton can in theory develop Super 8 E6 reversal, but the prices that they quote are so extravagantly exorbitant that you could probably fly to Berlin, get you film developed there, stay in a hotel, have a beer-drenched night out with a 3 course meal, AND still have spent less money than if had taken it to them. Although they do have the equipment & the ability to process it, I get the impression that they're not really interested in Super 8. I'm not sure if this is the case, but I think that Nowhere lab might be able to develop Super 8 B&W as neg. Could well be wrong though... There are other companies that handle Super 8 processing in London (but like Widescreen don't do it in-house), including Sendean and Blue Audio Visual. At which point I must declare my personal interest, as I am a director and co-owner of Blue!

The mounts should be set up (or collimated) for the correct depth for a Bolex camera. If the lens is way out of focus it means that either the mount adaptor is out, the lens is out or the camera is out of specification. There can be slight problems with ultra wide lenses when using these adaptors (eg 5 or 6mm lenses). This is because of the way the Bolex camera works and the way that light passes through the prism in front of the gate. If you are going to use a really wide lens it is best to have a dedicated mount that is specifically collimated for that individual lens. This collimation issue with wide lenses is one of the reasons that Bolex did not manufacture a lens wider than 10mm (except lenses with aspherons on the front). All the mounts we sell are correctly collimated for lenses at 10mm and above. If you require recollimation for wider lenses we can reset them.

Our adaptors are CNC machined by Arri trained engineers with decades of experience between them, and are made from high grade stainless steel to very high tolerances. Our main engineer is fond of recounting the fact that engineering tolerances in lens mount engineering are significantly tighter than in the aerospace and space exploration sectors! Although it may seem expensive, it is a high quality piece THAT WILL WORK!. We've seen a number of customers that have bought poorly machined adaptors from a variety of places including ebay. I've seen PL mount adaptors which don't even fit onto a camera. Bart Smith http://www.filmcamerakit.com http://www.blueaudiovisual.co.uk

Some people may find the position of the viewfinder a bit tricky. The handle can feel a bit flimsy, and is not very ergonomic. The battery packs often seem to wear out and break. But it is a lovely camera all in all

What about the Marantz PMD 660?

http://www.filmcamerakit.com/html/supports.htm

We resell Andec vouchers here at Blue Audio Visual, you can call us on 020-7713-6865 7 days a week. We sell Ektachrome 64T process-paid at £19.99 inc VAT which , *I believe*, is cheaper than our other competitors in the UK. We've also got good deals on VISION2 stocks, £10.79 per cart inc VAT. Any Super 8 users out the in the UK are welcome to contact us at any time or come and visit us in our shop. I'm going to end my little bit of self-promotion there, it's all starting to sound too much like an advert.... Bart

I think you've got the wrong Mike Valentine- Mike used to work for us (he never owned it), but he is not the famous under water DP! Up until the end of August 2006 Film Camera Kit and Blue Audio Visual were always separate businesses sharing the same space. We have formally merged as of the 1st of September 2006. Hope this might clear the confusion up a bit...

I work in the same building as FilmCameraKit.com, and have known Alex Freer who runs it for years. His camera technician worked for Arriflex in the service department for many years and knows what he's doing. As far as I am aware pretty much all the cameras are serviced and overhauled before being put on sale, but you should check this with Alex - give him a call.