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Marty Hamrick

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Posts posted by Marty Hamrick

  1. The batteries for the beaulieu 5008 cost a bit to recell and die in a rather explosive manner. The external battery socket/dummy battery will allow you to use an external battery similar to the ones being offered for the 4008.

     

    Robert Skates

    http://www.sk8scamera.com/

     

    I had one explode in the charger which at the time, was on my floor by my left foot.I felt the shrapnel whizz by about an inch from my ear.

  2. I, for one, am all about encouraging any and all technical minded folks to design and build prototpyes of film MP cameras of any format.I would like to see someone come up with a roll loading base of super 8 cameras.To my knowledge, the only cameras capable of accepting super 8 film on a single strand roll were the Beaulieu 9006 and the Wilcam SOF news cameras.You might consider getting a few standard 8 and super 8 cameras from ebay to see what you can canibalize from.That's how Frezzolini got started, by modfying Auricons.

     

    About wooden cameras.I have a friend who built a replica of a Moy and Bastie for a showcase piece.It wasn't built as a usable camera,but from the outside it appeared like a fully working camera, you could turn the crank and it would look,sound and feel like the Real Mcoy.Just building a non functioning replica like that took months of painstaking work.

  3. Difficult camera to convert to Super 16.

     

    -Tim

     

     

     

    It can be done, I've seen some ads for conversions of Arri BL's and Arri S's.Yet for the price I think you would do better with an Eclair NPR or ACL or Aaton LTR.These cameras convert much more easily.

  4. although there are pictures of the camera without any clothes on. :rolleyes:

     

    -Tim

     

    I think those open lens port pictures are what did you in. :lol: Very nice site!Yes, put a page in there about super 16 conversion and accessories, such as motors, batteries and sound barneys and blimps.

  5. I actually owned one of these things back in the early 70's as a kid.Only thing I can add is avoid backlit subjects or scenes with heavy contrast.The meter is auto only.

  6. "Empire of the Ants" had this incredibly funny scene where giant ants were crawling up a pier.The effect was so bad it was hilarious.Worth sitting through the bad movie just for that.You feel like the should be playing chorus line music when the ants are introduced.

  7. FWIW I've seen recently 70's ECO blown up to 35mm via 2272 IN and printed on Vision stock, it looked very good although a bit grainier than I would have expected.

     

    What you're saying is you want to preserve somehow the characteristic of ECO original for it's ownn sake ?

     

    ..I don't know, shoot 7229 & pull process maybe ? You'd have more grain, but...

     

    -Sam

     

    I'm guessing the extra grain was picked up in the blowup.You're right, that's my point.ECO and other defunct stocks had their own signature so to speak and once that's gone, there is a "feel" or "mood" that goes with it.There are other characteristics of an image that can evoke similar moods and feels,but it always involves going back to the drawing board and experiementing and testing.All of this can be fun, sure,I love experimenting with different looks and such, but like you said time and budget constraints don't always allow it.

     

    There was a great post on here a while back about achieving the look of a certain peroid, say 1940's black and white.Someone mentioned that "duplication" of a look was not really possible as no one today really has the same perception of what a 1940's black and white film looked like because they were never going to see it in the same original form as it was shot,printed and exhibited.

     

     

     

    Although the 5201 has the VISION2 "look" with slightly lower contrast than 5245, the tone scale and color are not that different than 5245, such that a bit of overexposure will give just enough more "snap" to the images. The grain improvement is significant, especially for Super-16.

     

    Just out of curiousity,John, what are the deciding factors on determining when to replace a given stock?

  8. ECO had a pastel look that I have never seen duplicated.Particularly in blues and cool shades.Warmer tones tended to go a little more saturated, reds particularly a light warm shadow in afternoon sun tended to give very interesting results on skin tones.Maybe it was the lab I was using at the time.I've noticed 7245 with a slight over exposure can get close in terms of contrast and grain.

     

    I understand time and budget constraints (I work for a TV station for goshsakes) but I've seen several movies where old newsfilm and documentary footage was intercut with "faked" stuff.Except for a few films in particular such as American Graffiti and Forest Gump, the differences were very jarring.Some films today I've seen use "faked " period newsy type shots where they were either using super 8 or seriously push processed 16mm where apparently the director felt that huge grain meant period look.One such film that comes to mind was the recent remake of "Helter Skelter" where there were sound bites of actors staged as man on the street interviewees.It looked like quasi avant garde newsfilm,but maybe that was the effect they were going for, a perception of how 60's newsfilm would look moreso than a more literal interpretation.I dunno.

     

    I once shot a TV promo for a news series about desegregation.The talent's standup was intercut with 70's newsfilm of desegregation issues such as school busing.I didn't want the promo to look like the news series,video intercut with old film,acceptable imo for a news story, but not for a promo.At the time I had some free samples of the higher speed Agfa neg (350 I think?This is going back a few years).The standups matched close enough to where the transitions weren't jarring and as I recall the piece was very moody, which is what we were after.

     

    The whole idea of low contrast reversal stocks like ECO 7255 and 7252 was to allow duplication through an internegative (7271 or 7272) to produce 16mm release prints that had acceptable quality. The development of finer grain films and the ECN-2 process, beginning with 7247, provided a superior alternative with much more flexibility, latitude, and speed.

     

     

    I remember, John.We used 7252 at the lab I worked for back then as a master positive as well.Particularly when reversal originated opticals were done.

     

    I remember when 7247 came out,customers were divided amongst themselves over whether or not they wanted the extra speed and flexibility or the ease of handling reversal on the bench without the issues of white dirt.I suppose that's a moot point now.

  9. Super 8 has definitely enjoyed a sort of revival in the last few years.What's ironic is the very technology that "killed" it, seems to be in part responsible for it's rebirth.So I would say it's far from dead.What will determine it's future is whether or not it's unique look will translate into an apreciable difference in the profits for the films that use it.

     

    I doubt the serious hobbyists or small independent filmmakers will be able to purchase enough film and gear to keep it going as there certainly weren't enough of them buying to make an apreciable difference when the format went almost "terminally ill" back in the 80's.Unless someone is able to make it affordable to them, the trend for the small indie will continue to be DV.

     

    The feature films that use inserts and music videos seem to be where the "business super 8" is going.This will continue up until the difference in the bottom line becomes seriously noticeable.

     

    No matter how you slice it, it still boils down to money,profit, the bottom line.

  10. (I work in broadcast production and shoot with high end DV equipment all the time) on this same vacation I shot footage with my Canon GL-2, and I love this camera(spent $2500 when it was new).

     

     

    I hear you.I work for a TV station and shoot news all day.Fun, but it ain't film.I can get access to my BNW 7 or a Canon XL 1 whenever I want.I used to shoot alot of film back in the day,but since video creeped in, it looks like my opportunities to shoot film have to be gotten on my own.I know what you mean, I have home movies of my family on all formats of film and tape and every time I show something with an old projector I had to blow the dust off of, the images always bring a better response from audiences who aren't film/video savvy.

     

    Lately I've been experimenting with super 8 and have had the same luck, or lack thereof with decent cameras on ebay.Just gonna have to bite the bullet and get something decent.The film stock's too expensive t be wasting it on cheap junk.

     

    Thinking about playing around with the old regular 8mm, but stock choices are getting limited these days.

  11. Ok it seems that Kodachrome along with those that died off before such as ECO 7252 and the VNF families as well as the ME 4's that bellied up over two decades ago.Then you have those Agfa stocks that had a unique look, now gone forever.If you're given a project and the director wants to emulate a certain look,let's say a simulated Vietnam era newsreel, possibly even intercutting real footage with staged, or say you want the look of Agfa stocks, 16mm or 35mm.I've heard several ideas on recreating the looks of kodachrome and ECO, namely using '45 and timing it for either color saturation or some desaturation depending on what stock you're trying to emulate.

     

    Let's hear some ideas.

  12. Actually pulled it off with a Beaulieu R 16 once on an experiemental film.Exposure change wasn't perfect,but close enough for what we were doing, and had we made a print, we could've made it look darn close,correcting exposure in the post.What we shot was a POV from the passenger side of a Cessna 172, that "had been modified" to fly at 1200 MPH.Started at 24 fps as the plane taxied and gradually slowed down to 2fps after takeoff and back to 24 fps after landing.Did this by adjusting the speed at the same time adjusting the ASA/fps dial on the meter and allowed the auto iris to do it's thing.Like I said,it wasn't perfect,by no means would work for anything of theatrical /broadcast quality, but we all got a good laugh.The landing looked like a carrier landing POV shot.You can surprise yourself sometimes with what you can do manually, which is basically how they would've done it back in the silent days.

  13. I used to do this fairly regularly and basically, I'll just point to John Pytlak and say, "what he said".Not sure, though if it's really worth the risk of damage to the film,unless you get a really good deal on 400 foot rolls.If I'm not mistaken, 100 foot loads on 16mm daylight reels have an extra 6 feet or so to allow for threading waste, so you're actually making out better if you just buy 100 foot daylight loads to begin with.John am I correct?

     

    Also too, if you end up with a bunch of empty 100 foot spools,they tend to stack up like cord wood and if they get dropped and bent, they're useless.

     

    I only fooled with it when I got special deals on 400 foot loads.Otherwise it just wasn't worth the headache.

  14. I've never shot the color version,but I had a cleint at the film lab I used to work at that shot quite a bit of the stuff.We made 16mm reduction internegatives for him.Seems like I remember a 16mm version was made at some point that was ME 4 process,maybe I'm wrong as that was over 25 years ago.

     

    I don't know whether or not the color IR film has an anti halation backing on it or not,so I'm not sure whether or not you would have to change out your pressure plate.I shot the black and white IR film some years back and had to have a black plate installed for the shoot.

  15. I picked up a Canon Scoopic,old grey model for nothing.It was laying around a file cabinet at the TV station I work for and they gave it to me.Of course the batteries have long since been dead and there is no charger,so I'm currently working to rectify that situation.I read the post on lubrication and I'm going to be looking for another one of those repair manuals.I'm just wondering about what to use and the post about back focus was interesting.If I experience this pressure plate problem spoken of in the earlier posts,how do you fix this?Also I noticed that Canon Scoopics have a jack for an external power supply.I'm assuming this is for a belt or pack?Anyone know anything about these things?What type of plug is this?

  16. Dumb question here.If these things weren't designed to shoot negative film,what were they designed for?Was it a Russian stock they shot back in the day?Another issue I thought about was the complaints about a dark viewfinder.Anyone with experience on attaching a video tap?Is this a problem?I saw on the Commicam site several with vid taps.

  17. If you really want sync sound shooting, it's best to rent a silent camera, and use the konvas to do pick up MOS shots. It's good to own one good solid piece of MOS equipment though.

     

     

    Good advice.I've gotten away with blimping noisy 16mm cameras such as an Arri S or Arri M,worked OK for outdoor shoots.Blimping my Arri 2C was next to impossible.Using Arri's blimp added impossible weight to the camera and was rather limiting.Rent a silenced camera,it's well worth it in headaches alone.

  18. This is an interesting site with a wealth of knowledge on Russian 16mm and 35mm cameras.I've used the 16mm Krasnogorsk once,the experience was good for the brief amount of time I used it.I can see the attraction to Russian cameras for their low cost.If I am to understand correctly,the 35mm cameras are not originally designed to take film stocks with Bell and Howell pitch perfs.Is the modification for this expensive?Are there many options for stocks with Kodak standard positive pitch?The site says the Kinor 35 C and 35 H require an expensive modification of the registration pin and pulldown claw.Anyone have any experience with this?Some of these cameras look pretty nice.Are they a good,cheap alternative to an Arri or Movicam?

  19. The Canon 814XLS and 1014XLS cameras were made to not fall apart easily, in other words the Canon camera was so well made as to NOT need servicing during the warranty coverage period.

     

    That is why 25 years later many of these cameras still perform amazingly well. Your assessment that the camera is difficult to service AND is poorly made is incorrect, the camera is difficult to service but it was was also built like a tank.

     

     

    Never used the sound model,but I bought a Canon 1014E in 1979 and got 15 years of good use out of it.

  20. Are the Bolex Super 8mm cameras any good

     

     

    Depends on which model you're talking about .The double super 8 models are based on the H16/H8 cameras which are excellent,but then you're limited on film stocks.The other models,the Macrozoom 150/160 series were pretty good,but they're a bit limiting in what you can do with them.I have a 160 Macrozoom,my biggest gripe is it's auto iris only(although it has an iris lock).The later sound cameras,such as the 500 series are all Chinon based,which if you get one in mint condition,you may get some good shoots out of it,yet seeing as how they're all at least 25 years old,getting one in mint condition would be difficult.

  21. Based on wide experience on the internet and real life from people who actually shoot film and have no other agenda, any of those Beaulieus I list (2008, 3008, 4008, 5008, 6008, 7008, 9008) are worth investing in.

     

     

    My only experience with any 8mm format,besides a few school projects as a kid that got me interested in film in the first place was with the Canon 1014E.I shot two industrials and a commercial with it back in the early 80's.The images were excellent,given that it was super 8,not 16mm which was my primary format when I shot film.I continued to play with it for a few years until the plastic innerds gave up the ghost,but I did end up getting my money's worth out of it,especially when I sold it to Super 8 Sound sometime in the 90's.

     

    A Beaulieu 2008 came through my hands some years back,but I wasn't too impressed with it.The lens was always loose and the speed was never consistent.I ended up trading it for a Bolex 500 series sound camera(this was back when they still made sound film)that I played with a bit until it too bellied up.

     

    Needless to say,I haven't been impressed with super 8 cameras of late,but then again,I haven't invested much.I'm still intrigued with the format as it yeilds a very unique look for certain projects.

     

    From a design basis,not personal experience,the single 8 ,DS8,Wilcam roll camera and Beaulieu 9008 seems to be able to deliver the best quality due to real pressure plates and not plastic mass produced cartridge pressure plates.But then I understand single 8 and DS8 are quite limited as to your choice of stocks,the Wilcam suffered limited manufacture and is almost non existent and the Beaulieu 9008 is prohibitively expensive.

  22. So open up your Elmo and try and repair it. I'm pretty sure nobody on here or on the internet can tell you how to fix it -- rip it open and cannabalize it, anybody can do that. I've only opened up Canons and Sankyos, truth be told. Hopeless. Maybe the Elmos make more sense to try and fix because they are different? I don't know. Never opened one up. Even if it ends in disaster, a new one is only as far as ebay. Maybe you'll get another one that will give you six more shoots?

     

    After my own frustrating battles, I'd go straight to ebay, and wouldn't think twice. Probably only have to spend a 100 or two to get a mint Elmo 1012 on its way to you tomorrow.

     

     

    Well Santo,buddy,you were right.I would be happy to get six,maybe more shoots out of this thing if I could shoot manual iris and be able to tell what stop I'm shooting,but I decided to let me repair guy keep it for parts.The trouble was electronic.A bad resistor caused it to overheat and literally melted the optics that were responsible for the F stop readings.No worries here though,I have some good S8 cameras.Never used a Leicina,you say you recommend those and the top model Beaulieus because they can actually be repaired?

  23. Check this out- http://www.jkcamera.com/.I used the JK for 16/16 step printing and 16 to S8 reduction as well as blow up to 16 from S8.It should work well for S8 to digi,just replace the film camera head with a digi camera.I'm wondering how it would compare to the Workprinter.Same principal,do you suppose it would be better?

     

    Check this out- http://www.jkcamera.com/.I used the JK for 16/16 step printing and 16 to S8 reduction as well as blow up to 16 from S8.It should work well for S8 to digi,just replace the film camera head with a digi camera.I'm wondering how it would compare to the Workprinter.Same principal,do you suppose it would be better?

     

    Double post..sorry.

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