Sam Wells

Wel once you're into Zeiss Variable Primes it might be time to question why you're using a Bolex.... for me the subversive charm would be lost even with an Ultra Prime. Using 35mm format glass - & the sweet spot as you say - hmm. What you don't want is an exit pupil too close to the film plane. More so the case than putting an f 3.2 limit on aperature, so says "St. Dennis" Long ago I used a Kinoptik 9mm on a Bolex Rex, it worked fine although I don't think I tried to focus at infinity. Nor do I know for sure it would cover S16 (but doesn't that new Swedish S16 camera use a 9mm Kinoptik ? -- the small 9mm not the 9.8 Tegea) -Sam

Oh if it's S16 -- I've wondered why Kern didn't try and re engineer the 10mm Switar.... I guess they want to concentrate on selling the 12.5-100 with the Aspheron... which is a nice lens, but..... I don't know what the solution is..... -Sam

Glad to hear it. Sometimes I'll unload a 100' roll in a changing bag if it's a rollout where I want every last possible frame. (Helps to use a lab with "good hygene" here :) Where I'd be extra cautious is Super 16 in 100' spools as any edge fogging will go on picture area. But, I've found that typically you don't have to go nuts (I tend to use my Bolex in "less than optimal" conditions... partly why I bought it..) -Sam

I agree with David re exact 3200K not being neccessary (when I do lighting I often use "CTS" gels on 3200K lights anyway). Avoid 3400K photofloods, they'll last less than half as long as 3200K ones. Tungsten halogen lamps for consumer use can be under 2900K for longer life. (It's not untypical in Theater to use 3000K instead of 3200K for the same reason). -Sam

You can get most negative emulsions in 100' spools also. I like B&W reversal films, I prefer them for 16mm but one should be aware that are designed for projection contrast. I find they look bolder, sharper for a given speed but will not yield the subtle tonal scale in midtones that a B&W negative will. In any case you can shoot some reversal stock as an experiment and look at it, it should give you a very clear idea about how you've exposed your film. Then you can try negative as a comparison etc. You don't have to be locked in the trunk of your car to load the camera, if your girlfriend is really into this I'm sure there are other forums to discuss this in greater detail :lol: -Sam

If this is for a Bolex I'd stick with the Switars, they were designed for Bolex reflex prism system, Superspeeds are not. -Sam

Diopters would not work for you (say Century's aberration corrected ones) ? -Sam

And then there's the "Morey Amsterdam" --- -Sam

I stopped watching Star Trek when the Enterprise' engineers replaced the analog Transporter with a Digital upgrade; I mean Kirk and Spock were just, like *warmer* when they were reconstructed on the mollecular level...... -Sam

I dunno Adam, if you're asked to be the DP on Collateral II, you're all set :) -Sam

The problem of automating this stuff with a spot meter is, what are you exposing for ? A spot reading of a piece of sky in daylght will yield - if not intrpreted - underexposure, reading of same sky at night would yield very significant overexposure on say a illuminated street at night. You are going to have to ride shutter speed as well in this scenario as there are no t 0.5 lenses AFAIK ! I don't see how you'll get any precise accuracy by dividing iris stops into 32 segments ! Even 1/4 stop can be tricky on some lenses. Film neg has latitude, use it -Sam

You should start with local (to you) Arts agencies (does NC have any kind of arts council ?) and also Public TV in your state. Rockerfeller, Ford, and Guggenheim would likely be out of reach at the begginig of a career. The AIVF and The Independent magazine can be good sources for this kind of info. -Sam

OK, well maybe NYFA owes me a Martini or two for supplementing their curriculum ? The important thing is he wrote my check upon wrapping & it cleared. Give that graduate an A :D -Sam

Agree the costs of ad and marketing are an issue but theatrical screenings can be a good way of advertising/ building an audience for the subsequent DVD release don't you think ? Especially when the work can have a core constituency, a community of interest which seems like the case here. Plus there's nothing like a "live" screening. -Sam

Well 24.00 135 should work with any ballast, but it must stay on that speed. Without a crystal controlled motor (and crystal gennie if you're reunning off one) you can have problems. I've never used HMI w/ Bolex, it's two different cultures..... -Sam

Even electronic ballasts can bite you.I don't have a safe speed chart at hand that would apply to 135 degree shutter. (there must be one online somewhere). A spring wound Bolex may not run at a constant speed even if it looks constant enough for tungsten or sun light. They also may not run at the marked speed, it's a mechanical governor on the motor, they wear and the cameras have a tendency to run faster than the speed indicated. -Sam

As far as making equivalents to human vision goes, a focal length that's "normal" in terms of perspective is not "normal" in terms of angle of view. What's more, we're talking about motion pictures here which implies (IMHO) the fact that our eyes 'scan' (The fixed gaze as often represented by perspective painting and still photography is an idealized construction). In that sense I have some problems with the whole concept of "normal lens" -Sam

I like Pale Cosmetic Rose (Lee or Rosco) for some reason. I dunno, it's.... rosy I guess..... but since it's pale, it's not TOO rosy. I don't want to spread false optimism ;) -Sam

I've used the little Miranda box to go from DigiBeta SDI to Firewire & DVCam/miniDV, seems to work well. (I confess I know zilch about D-9 format) -Sam

Why you say that ? If you have a camera, film, and light you can make a film. Film *by its very nature* is a dream space brought to life. Forget all this showbiz poop for the moment. Make a moving image. -Sam

"Daylight" can and does go way over 5600K to considerably under. Skylight can be well over 10,000K. Tiffen's LLD is designed to block enough UV in these cases where you don't want an 85 correction filter. -Sam

Honestly I imagine S8 has little to no effect whatsoever on Cintel's bottom line. It's a dividend that you can do S8 on a Cintel or Thomson machine at all. Out of curiosity, how many S8mm-only Cintel facilities are there ? No disagreement from me S8 is harder to do well. BTW more than a few people shooting S8 skip scanning Telecine altogether and use Brodsky & Treadway: http://www.littlefilm.com -sam

Hi, I didn't want to be the answer person on this because my experience with the MSW900P is more in lighting / gaffing than any setup (I've done some B camera shots w/ it, but..) Skin detail is common on most good video cameras, it essentially turns detail correction off in areas where the camera sees skin tones (really sees those colors). Of course if you're shooting with no detail correction it's irrelevant. Electronic soft focus I have no idea other than I guess it's what it sounds like. Matrix lets you adjust the camera's colorimetry. The only setting I've worked with personally is "ITU-709" I wish I knew where to refer you (we had a first rate DIT, in fact I think there was no manual at all when we first used the camera as I suspect it hadn't been written yet). However, the MSW cameras essentially share the same DSP as F900 (perhaps not the same as F900/3 ? I'm not sure) so some of these settings & features would apply although the menu structure might be a bit different. -Sam

Well the best way to take some grain out of the equation is to shoot 35 no ? But then, it won't likely be newbies doing this. -Sam

I'm pleased enough with transfers of my 16mm on C-Reality that I would seriously considering going that way with a 2K or HD transfer Hardly an exodus from film :) (maybe an exodus from optical printers..............) OK, it's not an old Ursa Gold, and I would want to test this on a Spirit as well, etc etc -Sam