Rick Palidwor

Interesting. Thanks. My experience is restricted to old-school film-chain telecine so I am clearly a little behind the curve. Interestingly, I once had a project with 9fps footage transferred at 9fps (might have been ramped to 10) and it looked amazing. Rick

Rob What's the conversion rate exactly? 20 fps translates to 30 easily: every third frame is made up of a field of the two adjacent frames. When transferring 24fps to video it occurs every 4th frame. what is the relationship between the film frames and video frames if the film runs at 18 fps. Rick

I have. I say go for it, but try the following to increase your success: 1. Shoot 24 fps. 2. Keep your takes short 3. Do a tail slate as well as the head slate so you can measure speed aberations easily. I know some people are going to disagree with me but I say crystal sync shooting is over-rated, because the odds of getting good location sound is pretty slim, and you are likely going to ADR and foley all your sound. Therefore, even if your location sound was in perfect sync, poorly done ADR and foley will leave it all out of sync anyway. Of course good sync on your location sound will be a better guide for your ADR and foley, but at the end of the day it's the ADR and foley that will end up in the movie and even if your guide track was not perfect sync you can tighten up the ADR and foley in digital editing and, if it was done well, no one would ever know you shot with a non-sync camera. My two cents. Rick

Steven Welcome to Super 8. 24fps is "better" in so far as there are more images so the motion is a little smoother, but don't hesitate to shoot 18, especially if you are not doing sync sound. That's usually the deal-maker/breaker with 18 vs 24 because 18fps is transferred to video at 20 fps so there is a speed change. Without sound to keep in sync you won't notice the slight speed change. Once it's on tape it is 29.97 fps video so no changes required to your NLE timeline. Generally I rely on the built-in meters, so try it, but make sure it's working as you'd expect. Point at light and see how quickly it responds, and slowly move aaway from the light and see how accurately it responds. If it's "lazy" check that the meter batteries are not losing their power. Fresh meter batteries definitely recommended. Use the light meter for readings only, and go into manual and set the aperture where you want it. Shooting it auto will be too limiting. I can't answer your question about labs and telecine as I don't know where you are. Check www.onsuper8.org for resources in your area. The Canon 518 Autozoom is a good starter cmaera. Rick

Except that you often don't know when it ends, which isn't much fun, which is why I recommend one of those few cameras that actually tell you, like the Nikon 8X super zoom. Rick Of course, but what about when you have a cartridge with an unknown history? I deal with a lot of them. Rick

Lisa, after I posted my first response I played with my camera again and my initial post made it sound easier than it is. The first time I opened it, after reading your post, the battery compartment popped out with the forehead rest and it was easy to separate the battery holder. I played with it again just now and often the forehead rest slips off, leaving the battery container attached, which is then hard to get out. This is probably the situation you were describing. I found that I just had to shimmy it out. Anyway, for such a highly rated camera I find the design highly frustrating: whether it's the battery container, the film compartment (you can't run the camera when it's open) and the bizarre (to me) controls for the aperture. I have had this for a while but have not played with it since the lens is fogged. Does anyone want to defend the design of this camera (the "super", maybe not the "special" since I assume it's a little different. Maybe I am an idiot. Rick

If it's the same as the Leicina Super (which it probably is) there is a little tab on the lower side of the battery compartment. Squeeze and the two parts come apart easily. Hope that helps. Rick

Some of the original film that we shot for Sleep Always? You're joking, right? In case you are not joking, the answer is no. I don't have my sales list in front of me but I think I remember you bought the DVD. If not, hint hint...:) If you want a couple of super-duper 8 frames, to study the dimensions, I could do that for postage, but they won't be from Sleep Always. Rick

Not exactly an answer to the posted question but related: One of my favourite cameras is the Nikon Super Zoom 8 or 8X Super Zoom because they tell you when a cartridge is finished, regardless of when it was loaded. Most cameras don't give that indication, as the film-end signals are linked the the footage meter and not the film itself. On the Nikon's it's linked to the film itself. Worth owning one of these strictly for shooting cartridges with unkown histories. Rick

I totally agree with Bryan's comment. And make the decision based on the nature of the project and your budget. I shoot a lot of super 8 and if I am making a significant project (significant meaning something I am spending more than few months and more than a few thousand or was hired by a paying client) I choose to transfer to Beta, if possible, simply to have a more robust master format with more reliable timecode. From there I make a miniDV copy with window burn timecode so I can go back to the Beta for an on-line. In other words, I base the decision on paper-trail (time-code trail) and archiving more than the compression question. Rick

That was fast. I sure hope you like it since I did lure you a little. Rick

I have shot winter snow scenes with double 85 (internal and external filter ) and I still wished I'd had a little more, so if in doubt go for it unless somehow your scene would suffer from being too warm. Rick

We shot "super-duper 8" for our feature Sleep Always and the aspect ratio of this wide super 8 is actually about 1.55:1 (a normal super 8 frame is about 1.33). From there you can mask it down to any aspect ratio you like, but you are cropping image at the top and/or bottom. We masked Sleep Always to 1.85 becuase we like that shape. I am pretty sure Justin did the same thing. Jason, if you like widescreen super 8 you should check Sleep Always (plug plug). Rick

Use your gray card to get an exposure reading and you should be okay. Take the reading in the same light you are planning to shoot in. If you took a reading from the general scene and there was a lot of snow in the frame the meter would give you poor advice - underexposure and the snow would be gray. In that situation I would over expose 1 or 2 stops from the reading. But use your gray card. And if shooting colour film make sure that filter is in place and even consider additional 85 (orange) filtration on the lens, as winter scenes might be a little more blue than you like. Rick

The differences, as I am aware, are that Pro8 recentres the lens and marks the viewfinder. Important improvements over the super-duper home-modification, but worth $3500? That's for each individual to decide. Super-duper gets my vote. Rick

81 minute feature Sleep Always was shot entirely on super 8, or are you referring to a 35mm print of a super 8 originated movie? That, we didn't do. Rick

Then I guess it'sin the specs, because it certainly doesn't look like the Nalcolm FTL Rick

I am confused by the inclusion of this particular camera ad, as I am pretty sure it's not the camera in question. Rick

Some Elmo's, like this one, have a "T" setting on the power switch. T stands for tripod. It allows the camera to run when the grip is folded up. You go to normal power "on" when grip is down. I have no idea what was behind this weird design - it's screwed me up in the past - but there is nothing wrong with the camera in this regard. It was designed that way. Rick

Rodney, If the lens cover says 62mm, then that is bound to be the size of the hood and filters. The 60 meter cartridges are no longer available to my knowledge. The Supermag is something someone was trying to develop but I believe it died. Google it. These larger film loads were possible because you'll notice that at the top of the camera, above the film compartment, is a little door which flips up, accomodating the larger size. Rick

For those of us who have never used Pro 8, can you tell us what stock "01" is? Rick

Use the 814. They are good cameras, whether it's the older Auto Zoom or the later-model "E" version. Rick

Personally I don't think its a good camera and for $60 you can find something better. The lack of complete manual exposure control will drive you crazy. And it sounds like the batteries corroded in the compartment if you can't get the compartment open. Keep looking. Rick

I would stick with the internal meter if I were you and then compensate the exposure a little as Alessandro instructs. The internal meter will always know the speed of the lens, the shutter angle, etc - information required to use an external meter accurately. (I am always surprised by the number of people who recommend an external meter in super 8. I have used the internal meter exclusively on dozens of cameras on hundreds of rolls with no problem). Besides, information like shutter angle is often not available, even if you have the manual! Also, a quicker (and less expensive) way to determine your compensation is to simply load a cartridge of 64T and note whether or not it depresses the notch detection pin in the film chamber. (Top right-hand corner, above the gate area, is a tiny single pin.) If it is depressed by the cartridge, the meter will read it as 40. If it is not depressed, it will read it as 160. Either way, compensate exposure accordingly. Rick

The 1.5's should be fine. (Some people might bicker the finer points but I have been using 1.5's as a subsitute on all my super 8 cameras without problems.) Rick