Patrick Neary

Hi- I have shot a few low-end music videos in Super8, mainly because the director wanted that gritty look. I've tried to hawk Super8 to other folks I shoot corporate and commercial stuff for, but it's a hard or impossible sell. In corporate-land, you don't often have time for the processing and telecine, and the producer can usually do a "super8" effect in post much faster/easier/cheaper, and considering the audience for most corporate vids (poor saps) no-one would appreciate real super-8 anyway. In commercial-land, well now you're talking about clients and creatives all hanging around watching the shoot, and people tend to get nervous about super-8 as a production medium for their $$$ spots!

Hi Giles- I'm very curious, is this pursuit an excercise in arcane discussion (I don't mean that in a bad way) or is it aimed toward some real-world practical purpose? (because I'd love to know what that purpose is!)

Hi- Don't know about them, but have used Flying Spot in Seattle- they're tops!

Ok, here I go jumping in way over my head, but it seems the answer you're looking for also has to take into account some kind of post-production process (ie telecine or printing, not to mention variables in processing) to be informed, unless all you are doing is producing a camera negative that is to be viewed directly. Information placed on either end of the film's exposure range, especially the extreme ends of over and underexposure, won't necessarily survive an IN/IP/Release print flow, for instance. Kudos for an interesting thread!

5 Pages! you got a bonanza compared to my edition (the first, i think) which has 1 page buried behind the 35-3 section. He mentions the "repair and parts manual for Arri 35-2C" in the bibliography put out by cine press in 1966. good luck finding that! The Carlson's book (prof. cameraman's handbook) is much more helpful with older gear like that.

A rule of thumb I consider every time I get the camera wants (which is not as often as it used to be, thank God) is that if I don't know if there's a demand for a certain camera, then it's kind of a moot point to buy one. Cameras don't make work suddenly appear. But if your clients are demanding better quality and throwing more money at you, it's time to upgrade!

Hi- I think by "high grain" film you mean "fine grain"? If you're using 200asa or 100 or 50asa, you'll end up with great looking stuff. I've done a couple low-end features that were shot regular 16 and cropped for 16:9. we used all 200 asa or better and grain wasn't an issue. Overexpose a 1/3 of a stop. Also, on two of the projects, we shot with a BL and I just eyeballed the "widescreen" in the viewfinder, (it gets easy very fast) you use the inside points of the square TV brackets, that's pretty close to a 16:9 or 1.85 crop. Line up a framing chart in your viewfinder and see where the top and bottom cut-offs are in relation to your finder markings. If you're finishing via telecine anyway, you'll have the option of reframing up and down if you need or want to. good luck!

how about the medium over-the-shoulder shot, followed by the medium over-the-shoulder shot, followed by the medium over-the-shoulder shot, followed by the medium over-the-shoulder shot..... "Gladiator" was a terrible offender on that one, maybe the curse of directing via the video assist rearing its ugly head.

hi- assuming NTSC video and 24fps film, you need a 144-degree shutter, crystal sync and some kind of phasing box (attached to the camera) to roll the video bar out of the picture. good luck finding that on a super-8! Or you could just live with the roll bars...

the biggest advantage of a zoom happens when your grips have just spent 30 minutes laying track and setting up a dolly shot and the director looks at the tap (or through the eyepiece, if they're old-fashioned) and says "tighter" :)

...also remember that most, if not all prosumer/consumer camcorders are blessed with lenses that are junk. trying to get a better signal from a camera head that can barely produce DV-quality images seems kind of pointless....

One of the beauties of cropping reg16 for widescreen (again, talking telecine here) is that you have room to reframe up and down (unlike Super-16, or presumably Ultra16), so no worry about inadvertent haircuts!

what I'm trying to point out is that "native widescreen" is only a frame of mind, if you're ending up with a 4:3 letterboxed NTSC product. Put 1:85 or 1:66 crop marks on your Std. 16mm ground glass, and boom, you're shooting widescreen. I've shot miles of Super-16 and regular 16 that ended up just this way (4:3 letterboxed standard def) and the differences between the two are for the most part unnoticeable. I can only think of a few super-16 projects that actually required super-16 because they were being mastered to HD for HD broadcast or in one instance, a 35mm film-out. The rest could have been shot regular 16 and letterboxed. My point being...in the world of low budget, what's the point of Ultra-16, if regular 16 does just as good, without the headaches induced by non-standard (and apparently unavailable) telecine?

...considering that the vast majority of low-budget 16mm projects are going to end up on 4:3 standard-def video (with letterbox bars, if "widescreen"), is anyone really going to notice a difference between cropped reg. 16 and Ultra-16 (or Super-16 for that matter)? There's not much arguement if the project is for HD broadcast or 35 blow-up, but let's face it, how many low-budget 16mm projects go there?

Aha! http://www.cinematechnic.com/products/lm35.html these folks should be able to help you!

Hi- I'm no expert on the Arri medical cameras, but I did have several motors at one time (high speed) with the intention of adapting them to a 2-C, but the medical cameras run (as I understood it) in reverse from the normal arri path. anyway, it's a pretty safe bet that the mags are specialized piece of that system, and to adapt to a regular 2c would be much more of a pain than than just buying a normal mag. If you find out otherwise, let us all know!

hmmmmm- here's a stab- if you count 14 frames back from the gate, I'm betting you end up somewhere near where the mag attaches to the camera, maybe there's a bum seal there, or the mag is not seating properly- sorry if this is too obvious, but when you plop the mag onto the camera, that little silver button sticking out of the front of the camera body (right where the front of the mag hits the camera) needs to be "popped" back in to lock the mag in place. anyway, there's my guess- also, there's a "periscope finder" that also fits the arri S that makes the 2C easier to use!

On mine ( a Studio Deluxe II), the center button needs to be rotated slightly counter-clockwise to unlock it, and lock the needle. Then you can push it down to free the needle for readings, or push it down, rotate it clockwise (about 20 degrees) to lock it and have the needle swing around wild and free. As far as cutting ND strips and sticking them in the top slot, I suppose that would work, but you'd need 11 different strips, (at 1/3 stop increments i think). The slides start with one big hole (for 200 asa) and progessively add more, smaller holes till they resemble the "high" slide. Presumable you could make a set of slides by drilling the holes into small black plastic or cardboard slides, but that seems like crossing over into fetish territory, especially as the slide sets can be found pretty cheap!

Edit: Oh, hm. Actually, the 80fc=F2.8 at 200 is just a product of the wheel calculator, which should be correct even if the metering is off. So... Phil <{POST_SNAPBACK}> hmmmmm- I just dug mine out and looked at the wheel, same thing. 80fc at 2.8/200 asa. I've always gone by the kodak sheets that say 2.8 at 50fc for 200asa. Maybe Sekonic has their own way of figuring these things.... I have to say that on shoots I always take my fancy-pants Minoltas, but I end up using the Sekonic because I just like it! A gaffer I worked with years ago dropped/lost his 398 out in crummy January weather on a night shoot, went back the next day and found it in the mud, and still is using it today.

Hey! welcome to the 398 club! 80fc for 2.8/200 sounds a bit hot... Have you zeroed out the needle? (the little screw on the back, while blacking out the light dome) You'll be delighted to know that you can get a set of 11 or so slides that slip into that slot and allow you to read the f-stop directly from the needle-scale, like a spectra. Each slide is set up for a different asa, up to 200 asa. Using the meter without a slide gives you direct readings for asa320, no dial twisting! the 398 is still my favorite meter- I saw a DP once with one that had a gold-face, oh how I coveted that....

well, there's nothing wrong with learning a little craft, for crying out loud! :) You can learn a lot from working with/for other pros. I wish I had done more of that!

Hi- not all 2-Cs have them, it's a buckle-trip switch. When the last of the film runs through the gate, the film is pulled tight and pulls up on the switch, cutting off the motor. Nice little option to have!

Ditto on the Chinese lanterns!!! such nice light and so easy to move around!

If the producers are legit, this is also a great way to never get hired again! Don- have you talked to the DP or any of the other crew about this? Has anyone been paid? Maybe there's some strength in numbers....

-usually (unless you plan on snapping the mag right back on) the AC will short-roll it on the spot so you send the exposed bit to the lab and keep the short end for later. If you had two shorter rolls of different stocks from the same set-up, they could just print those. Another reason for organized camera reports!