Evan Ferrario

I did not realize the pictures were so small, I can email larger versions if anyone is interested.

A friend of mine recently picked this up at a government auction. It is a photo-sonic 35mm camera. It did not come with anything other than the camera body. He also got 70mm camera which looked very similar in size. Currently I only have pictures of the 35mm version. It has a 24fps cine mode. Also the viewfinder works by sliding a mirror in behind the lens, you focus, then pull the mirror away. I do not have any magazines either, I don't know how possible it is to find for this camera If anyone knew anything more about this camera I'd love to hear it. What kind of lens mount is on it if any. Is it possible to get this camera working. The camera was purchased for next to nothing, I also didn't know if it had any value and if I should consider selling it on ebay and using the money to get a more practical 16mm camera.

I am planning on shooting a short film this coming spring. I have shot 16mm before, but always with regular 16mm framing. I have seen a few examples of anamorphic lens used on a 16mm camera, this turns out to a 2.6/1 widescreen frame. For this project, I really wanted a super wide aspect like that of the anamorphic method. Another reason I wanted to do anamorphic instead of masking is that I have 2 regular 16mm cameras. It would be much cheaper for me to buy an anamorphic lens instead of a super 16 capable camera. This project is mostly going to be viewed on dvd, and I plan on keeping the film in the 2.66 and putting black bars in the 16:9 frame. I have tried to research others who have done this. There was a spanish feature film entitled "Japon," if you look on google image you can see some good shots, they show the right aspect ratio. Also there are a few low quality movies on youtube. From what I have gathered, anamorphic puts a lot of restictions on how you shoot. I was looking if anyone had shot anamorphic and could tell me the true problems with it. I assume it is used a lot more on 35mm but the principles should carry over, only much less forgiving on 16mm. What I've gathered so far, please correct anything that i have wrong. Lens behind anamorphic lens should be between 50 and 100mm Shooting 1 or 2 stops down helps with the problems associated with focus. if the lens isn't perfectly alligned, the image will be stretched strange. Now I've read about how the focus is different for the vertical and horizontal planes because the lens does the 2X stretch on only 1 axis. I don't quite understand this. Does it mean that there is only a certain distance from each lens that can be in focus in both fields. So I would always have to have the actors stand the same distance from the camera in order to be in focus. Or is there a way to focus the vertical and horizontal seperatly. If anyone who has shot anamorphic or knows the process could enlighten me on the focus method with anamorphic. Also are there any other things to look out for.

I am looking for a transfer house in the New York City area to telecine Regular 16mm footage. The project I am transfering is just under 2 hours of footage shot on Fuji Eterna 250D. The film is being mixed with footage from a sony V1U HDV camera which was shot in 1080i. The film is being entered into several festivals and I am hoping will be played on a few theater screens. I want to get as much quality out of the transfer as possible so it will look good when played on the big screens. I was hoping to get a HD transfer direct to hard drive. I am relativly new to working with film and I do not know what kind of results I can expect. My budget is around $1000 for the transfer. I had the film processed with cinelab and they have been great to work with but currently, they only offer sd transfers i believe. I am still considering doing a SD transfer with them but I wanted to know what other options I have. Also, since I am working with a low budget, I have also been looking at 5-blade 16mm projectors on ebay. The pluses I see to doing this is that I could use my V1U with the projector to transfer the film into the same format as my digital footage. I know this is not highly regarded as a good method for transfer, but I have been considering all the options. My first choice would be to go with a professional transfer and I just wanted to know if anyone could recommend a place. My goal is to get the film in a digital format that will be as good or better than the HDV footage. I will post a few screens from the digital footage for comparision in a few days when I have access to it.

I have been trying to transfer some 16mm footage to video using my own and some borrowed equiptment. I am projecting the film onto a small white surface and video taping the image. I am using a Singer Graflex 16mm projector and a Sony HDR-FX7 video camera. I can run the projector at 16fps or 24fps. The video camera records at 1080i60 and has normal shutter settings 4,8,15,30,60,90,100. My problem right now is flickering. No matter what combination of shutter and speed I set the two devices at, there still is a flicker. I have read about projectors with 5 blades which are specifically made for video transfer. How does this work? Do 5 blade projectors spin faster than the 3 blade versions? Is there any way to change the projector I have, or do I need to find a new one in order to have 5 blades? Pretty much, I'm looking to get the best results I can from what I have. Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated.

I ran into this camera on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/WOLLENSAK-16MM-SUPER-H...1QQcmdZViewItem I wouldn't have any use for it, but I was wondering if anyone has gotten to use one? It might be cool for super slow motion shots. But I don't know, maybe the picture is terrible quality.

Thanks for the input guys. I got the camera working with a 6v motorcycle battery. Everything seems to be working great, it's quieter than i expected. I am going to be shooting some test footage later in the week so I'll see how it works out.

I've always had luck just taking a screen shot of the video and making sure I dont get any of the box in it when i crop it. Shift-apple 4 takes the screen shot, then you just select the image. You probably need higher quality but you'd be suprised how good they come out.

yeah this is the same camera I posted before. I ended up getting it for under 200 so I figured even if it's completly worthless, it's worth a try. As for it being a "knock off," I don't really mind or see why thats a terrible thing. It seems to be well made and compared to my other 16mm camera, a pathe super 16, it has a nicer lens set and more professional build. I found a copy of the camera on olex's site. It is a sp-16, no brand specified. I also think the power supply i was using didn't have a strong enough current to power the camera. I hooked up a volt meter when I tried to power it on and there was current flowing. I am going to try a variable dc power supply I have tonight and I'll see how that works out.

I recently found this camera on sale and i had to buy it before i could test it or research it further. I am going to be shooting a film this summer and so I want to have the setup all working by then. I found out the camera is a SP-16. Some places have been saying it is made by Kinor but others say it is Konvas, I am not sure if either company makes it. I've looked on google and found limited information about the camera. It all seems to be in good shape but I haven't been able to test it out yet. I haven't been able to test the power of the camera yet. I tried hooking it up to a dc power supply at 6v but nothing seems to happen. I was told the motor was in working order. Anyone who knows more about this camera I would love to hear from. I am also interested in converting the camera to super 16 or ultra 16 if supers not possible.

I am just curious how you take pictures with a dslr camera? Do you project it and take a picture, or do you just take one of the actual film? Also, how do you go about getting the still images into video?

Thanks for the suggestion. When i looked at it after breaking it I thought it looked similar to a slide cover.

Right now I'm restricted to 16mm because I have 2 cameras available to me that are both regular 16, I am going to be spending most of my budget on film stock and other things. Thanks for the suggestions. I've looked up on 10bit and I think this is my best option. I've been looking at cinelab, I couldn't find the website for national, could anyone point me in that direction.

How long is completly based on how long it takes you to write. The standard goes 1 page = 1min film so figure you want a 90-100 page script. I try and write on a daily basis and can usually write a draft of a feature in 2-3 months. After that, I will spend a few months rewriting. Probably the most important thing is developing a routine. If you can be writing on a daily basis and always moving forward with your script, it doesn't matter how slow you write, you're still ahead of 99% of the writers out there. There are lots and lots of books out there on screenwriting, I've been through film school and read lots of these, what I found to be the best way to improving is just doing it. Once you've been through the hell of writing your first script, you will start to get better. For me, writing has never come easy but I find the more I do it, the better I feel my work is.

A small piece of glass infront of the film gate. Now before you go off on me, yes I know I was being stupid. The spring mechanism in the camera wasn't winding right so I had a friend over looking at it. We had the camera all in pieces on my table and I thought, well since it's all takes apart, why not clean the glass. I got some q-tips and rubbing alcohol and began cleaning it. At almost the exact time my friend got the spring working right, I snapped the glass. It was a really thin piece of glass that was infront of the film gate. It was diagonal and I believe it was there to reflect the image into the viewfinder. The viewfinder does not work now so this supports my suspicion. After breaking it, I started to look at the glass and how it was held in. The good news is that the glass can be replaced, it has slots for it to slide into. The bad news is I have no idea how rare or special this glass is. The slots on the camera could take a piece of glass that was slightly bigger or smaller than the one I broke, so I don't need an exact match. I just wanted to know from anyone who knew more about cameras, is this a very specific and special glass. If I was able to find a similar sized and thinness glass, could it be replaced. I thought it looked a lot like the glass that is used to cover slides for microscopes. Also, I have a few broken 8mm cameras lying around, would any of them have glass in them like the one i broke? And lastly, since the glass i suspect was only to reflect the image to the viewfinder, will the camera still work without it? Is there any way to focus without seeing through the lens? Anyways I appeciate any help with the issue. I know I shouldnt of been so careless in the first place. I have been tinkering with this camera for weeks and it seemed like we just had it all working when I went and messed it all up again.

thanks for the reply. Yeah I know that standard 16 is going to be square. I had been considering Ultra 16 because I could modify the cameras I have but I've been finding it's not a good format for transfer to HD as it's not supported by a lot of places. My other option would be to crop the image and I'm not sure about the quality of that, I figured I would get the video done in reguar 16. If I want to crop it, I will do it myself in final cut, if cropping looks bad, I can just leave it standard.

I am shooting a film on regular 16mm in a few months and I am trying to find the best transfer house to use. I live in Vermont and there are no film labs in the state. I figured New York would be my best bet to check, but I also have been looking in Boston. Pretty much I want to find a place that will process and transfer my film to HD hard drive files. I am still a little confused between telecine and di, but I am looking for the cheapest method possible, not so cheap it doesn't look good though. Eventually we are planning on entering the film in a few festivals so I want it to be nice enough quality to be projected on a big screen. Any suggestions on labs would be great.

I have been considering modifying my pathe 16mm camera for ultra 16. I know a machinest who can do it for me. What I want to know is if I can get the ultra 16 telecined afterwards. I am located in Vermont and there are no film labs around so I will have to send my film out anyways. Are there places that telecine ultra 16? Also would DI be a better alternative because in that method the film is just scanned. Anyone who has worked with ultra 16 I would love to hear about their experience.

thanks for identifying it Tim. Is this camera still good to use? If I could get the price down to 400ish? Also what do I need to power it if I want it to be handheld.

I recently found out a friend is selling his Arriflex 16 SP Camera with 1 mag, a motor and 3 lens for $750. I thought this was a good deal but I wanted to see if this is a decent 16mm camera and if its worth that price.

I have a few questions about 16mm workflow. I have never worked with 16mm before and I am filming a short film on 16mm in a few weeks. I wanted to get a final cut of the film on 16mm. If I have money later, I wanted to transfer the final 16mm cut to HD. Is getting a final copy of a film on 16mm exspensive. As I believe it works, I send the film to the processing house, they make a cheap dv copy, I make an edit list and send it to them and they cut the film. Could anyone who has done this process let me know the details.

I am shooting a short film on super 16 next week and I have been looking for a good place to buy film. Right now I've found filmemporium.com which have visiontek2 for 33cents a foot. The camera I am using takes 100 ft. spools.

Thanks for all the help, I am starting to understand all the pieces of this camera. I had an mechanical engineering friend over last night and we took the camera apart. Right now we are planning on removing the spring that winds and replacing it with a motor. This way I will not be restrained by the time limit of 1 wind which is about 30 secs. Our plan is to put in a motor and use the existing fps switch and on/off switch to control it. Another part I have been looking at is converting for super 16. I do not want to spend a lot of money and i have access to a few people who are very comferatable with mechanical devices. Is the square film gate the only piece that needs to be widened so the camera will capture super 16mm images? I know that usually the viewfinder is modified, but I think we will be okay guessing. What I don't know about is the actual lens. If i widen the film gate to super 16 size, will I need to recenter the lens in order for it to work properly. Again, I'm sorry if Im asking stupid questions. I will post pictures after I put in the motor and I am going to try and shoot some regular 16mm film this weekend.

Hello everyone, I apalogize if I am asking a newbie question, I have been reading posts on this forum the last few days and I just wanted to make sure I'm on the right track. This is the first time I have worked with film and I am a little nervous. I am shooting a short film I hope to enter into a few festivals. The movie is going to be shot mostly on HD, but there are a few segments I wanted to do in 16mm. I recently found a Pathe Super 16 camera to use for this. I know the camera isn't super 16mm, but it is okay for the image to be square. I was planning on having bars on the side for the 16mm segment as the rest of the project will be 16:9. The camera is all in french and I have been trying to figure it out. I can set the fps at 8-80. I also found that after cranking all the way, it will run 24fps for about 30secs, this is more than enough time for what I am shooting. On the front is a switch that says 1/2 OUV, it has an option to be opened or closed. I am not sure exacally what this switch does. Also there are two viewfinders, i assume one of for focusing and lighting the shot, and the other is just for reference while shooting. Am i right in thinking this. Is the image I see out of the one viewfinder going to be similar to what comes out on film? The last thing I want to figure out is the film I should buy. I figured the camera would take 100 foot film considering it isn't big enough for 400. Do I need a special cartidge of film for this camera, or will a 100 foot roll of kodak film work in this camera. I am planning on having the final film telecined to either HD or maybe just DV. All the camera parts seem to be working. The person who lent it to me told me all the parts were working. I have seen a few people post about these cameras and I just want to make sure it is possible to shoot with such an old camera.