Jim Carlile

There's a couple nabobs on that site who -- interestingly enough-- have been thrown off of this one for their 'aggresiveness.' Several others will contest almost anything-- facts not included.

Only the later 'Accu-box' can be recharged. The earlier boxes-- though interchangeable-- lack the charger jack. The problem with using alkalines in the later 6XXX series is not really the voltage. In fact, a fully charged nicad Accu-box will often read 8.5 volts or more, especially if the cells are getting older. The problem with alkalines is that they lack the current capacity for running sound cartridges, even more so for 200 foot loads. That's why they weren't recommended in the 6080 manual. When Nizo folded in the early 80's, they were stuck with hundreds of bum and/or untested cameras. Most of them entered the market at some time, especially in the U.S. I think that's the origin of the bad-Nizo reputation. Later cameras had an unreliable provenance-- not necessarily bad manufacture.

If your roommate has an 801, that camera's battery box will interchange with the bigger Nizo. If it doesn't fly, the camera sounds like it's broke.

I would stay away from short ends if you need 100 foot daylight spools. It's not worth the inevitable screw up. Your best bet is to buy direct from Kodak. They've been discontinuing 100 foot loads left and right, it seems, but many stocks are still available, at excellent prices.

The rackover's way too complicated to use all the time. You should get good enough results with the Octameter. Experiment with a roll or two to see how close-ups work out. If you are really worried, get the Bolex 'critical focuser.' It's not very expensive. This slips on top of the camera and actually peers through the finder. Unless the path is extremely dirty (possible), you should be able to get a bright enough image to double-check camera placement. Parallax might still be present but not as bad-- unless you're doing a lot of close-ups, don't worry about it. Many, many good films were made with these cameras and with great success. I think the Bolex reflex models are way overrated because the viewfinders are not the greatest even at their best. What lenses do you have?

Try this: http://lavender.fortunecity.com/lavender/5...s800manual.html and this: http://www.jeffheit.com/nizo801macro.pdf

As far as I remember there is no manual exposure override, but there is an exposure lock that will fix the f/stop wherever you point the camera. If there's time, they might want to test the camera with both Tri-X and Plus-X. For a number of very complicated reasons, some cameras will either over or under expose one or the other.

The old Plus-X had a filter notch cut into the cartridge, so it was possible to toggle the 85 back and forth, if you wanted to or not. The effective film speed was registered as either ASA 40 or 25-- the film itself was rated as ASA 50. But the new Plus-X is notchless, so that it will register as the correct ASA 100 on SMPTE cameras, etc. That means the filter is permanently disabled. You can cut your own filter notch if you want to, or use an external 85, not a bad idea. But if you cut a notch, there is a possibility that the film will not be metered at the correct ASA on many cameras. The fun thing about B/W is that it lends itself to all sorts of filtration. With automatic metering the exposure will be compensated for, but dark filters can substantially increase the amount of light needed. Effective film speeds can drop quite a bit. In general, some cameras will run Tri-X correctly and not Plus-X, others vice-versa. Advanced ones-- those that can read high ASA speeds-- will run both at the proper ASA indice.

Plus-X is a "notchless" cartridge, which means it will always disable the 85 filter in the 6080, as in many cameras. This method also ensures that the film is exposed at the correct ASA 100. Many other cameras have a problem with reading Plus-X correctly, but not the 6080. In other words, there is no way that you can use the internal 85 filter with this film, even if you wanted to. If you did, on other cameras that don't disable it, it would cut down the exposure about 2/3 of an f/stop. This gives an effective film speed equivalent of about ASA 100 for that film, in terms of light sensitivity. So by disabling the filter, Kodak makes sure that on many cameras, the film speed of 100 ASA is read correctly. Other cameras will read the film speed as ASA 160. That's because Kodak speed-notches the film at this ASA size. There is an ASA 100 speed-notch size, but most cameras will not read it. Also, you don't need the filter anyway. For external meter readings, add about a stop for the light loss. Question: When you get your Plus-X cartridge, after you insert it, check your readings. Is there a difference between the "bulb" setting and the "daylight"? If so, keep the switch at "daylight." Apparently, some Nizos allow users to toggle back and forth between the notchless "daylight" setting and the "tungsten" ASA (they're both the same speed-notch size, but differentiated by the position of the filter pin, which is always pushed in by a notchless daylight cartridge.) Just in case there is a difference, the daylight switch setting will retain the "daylight" ASA of the 160 speed-notch. That's what you want with Plus-X. I suspect only the older silver Nizos do this, though....

That's basically how labs do it. You can also twist back the take up reel until you hear it break loose, then pull out the film from the gateopening. No need to open the case. Just avoid scratching. Kodak labs had extra-fancy machines that would do this automatically. The film was extracted from the gate opening.

I'd avoid the older Elmo silent cameras. The meters are almost always broken. Get the later Elmo sound cameras-- they are perfect for silent filming. Big, hefty, extremely reliable, cheap. They're like a real movie camera. Look for the 350SL, the 230, 240, 260. There are thousands of them around--they were big sellers. You won't do any better. They're always on EBAY.

Great camera. It's basically the same thing as the 1014XLS, but less telephoto to the lens. The sound quality is excellent-- if you can, get ahold of some sound cartridges just for fun. You can plug any decent tape recorder mike into the jack. Use a cheap high impedance earphone. The manual is a must. The 814XLS was one of the first, if not THE first, microprocessor controlled consumer item back in the late 70's. It's very reliable. A little noisy, with that slight pause before the solenoids click over. I think it's the best, most solid S8 camera out there. Nothing flimsy about it. Great viewfinder.

You're pretty right-on with your calculations for 24fps. The light loss through the aperture is a little more than one f/stop. The best thing to do when using manual exposure is to experiment, bracketing your exposures and keeping a little log so you know how your specific camera handles things. It might take a few rolls. A lot depends on the idiosyncrasies of your meter. About the VISION 200 stocks: Kodak designed them to deliberately disable the onboard 85 filter. Your observations are correct. They also set it up so that the film would be exposed at ASA 100, not 200. The reason for this is that they think one-stop overexposure benefits the film. As a 'professional' film, they also figured that most people would prefer using an external 85 over the lens, which you must do with this film outdoors. They did this by providing VISION 200 with a 'notchless' cartridge. If you notice, the cartridge is made so that it pushes in the filter pin in the camera, at the bottom of the film chamber. Kodak also speed-notched the film at ASA 160T. By doing so, the 814XLS-- and many other cameras-- will recognize this as a "daylight" film, and then set the exposure meter for the "daylight" ASA that is associated with the cartridge's particular speed-notch size. In the case of ASA 160T, the daylight speed associated with that speed notch is 100D. This is the technology that was designed into the super 8 system back in the mid-60s, and it's actually very clever and simple. Of course, VISION 200 is not a daylight film. But Kodak chose to treat it as such, in order to basically "trick" the camera into running it the way they prefer. The super 8 system allows cameras to run "daylight" films at their respectively lower ASA speeds, without the unnecessary 85 filter in the way. This can be altered. If you take a pair of pliers and snap off a bit of plastic to allow the filter pin to stay out, the 85 inline filter can be used. It won't be disabled any more. Also, in that case, with the pin out, the meter will be set to the tungsten (high) ASA of the speed notch, which is 160. The 814 will then rate the film at ASA 160 instead of 100. That's close enough. There is no specific ASA 200 speed-notch associated with the super 8 system, so these cameras have to be tweaked a little bit-- by either Kodak, or the user. As a basic rule, the most common speed-notch associations are: 40T/25D, 100T/64D, 160T/100D, 250T/160D. Each ASA twin has its own size speed-notch. That's how the camera tells the difference. When the filter pin is pushed in, the filter is disabled, and the meter is set to the daylight ASA. Kodak designed their daylight films to have ASA speeds that conformed to this standard. Not all cameras do this, but the 814XLS does. It will also read higher ASA films than many cameras. If you notice with Tri-X, the same thing happens with the 85 filter, but the 814XLS will also read the film at 160T, rather than 100, because it can read the larger ASA 250 speed-notch.

Hi Steve, I posted a longer and more detailed (confusing) answer at another forum, but in a nutshell: -- VISION stocks are NOT filter notched. That means you cannot use the internal 85 filter in the camera, you have to use an external 85A, B, or C filter. The thinking was that professional use of negative stocks is with external filters only. -- The silver Nizos like yours can only read up to 160 ASA tungsten, and 100 daylight. -- VISION 200T is speed notched for 160T/100D. The notch size is the same. What this means is that many cameras will read it at 100 when the filter pin is pushed in by the notchless cartridge. That's what makes it a "daylight" cartridge. The Nizo is one of those cameras. -- This means the film is overexposed by one stop (the difference between 200 and 100 ASA is double, thus one stop, because the ASA scale is linear.) -- Supposedly, the Nizos can 'toggle' back and forth between the 'low' and 'high' ASA (daylight vs. tungsten) of the speed notch. This is done with the filter switch. If you slide the switch to 'b' it retains the 160 ASA. Don't know if this is true, but worth a try-- see if you get a difference when you toggle with the cartridge installed. -- Without a filter notch, no inline filter is possible. But that has nothing to do with the 100 ASA effective speed. The camera system sets the low ASA automatically by the notchless cartridge, even though the filter is never in place. The reason for this is long and complicated, and has to do with allowing Super cameras to efficiently read a variety of film speeds. -- You can easily cut a notch in the VISION cartridges. This is the easy way out. If you do, the filter pin in the Nizo stays out, so the meter reads the film at 160 ASA-- the 'tungsten' speed. When you slide the filter in place, the film is still 160 ASA, but because the filter takes away 2/3 stop of light, it effectively makes the film the same thing as 100 ASA. It's not really 100, it just acts like it is. But this is all done auotmatically by the meter, so you don't have to worry about it. Cheers!

The lens is very good. If the M6 is anything like the M2 and the M4, it has the white nylon gears that won't fall apart the first time you use it. It's easy to fix as well. Just make sure you load the separate meter battery, which I believe is located in the main battery box, hidden underneath on the left in a black pull out ring. These early M cameras are capable of very good results.

The 3056 does indeed offer manual exposure, as well as a 'fix' switch to lock the aperture at the meter setting. But it's meter-dependent, meaning that the meter has to be working in order to use it. It's controlled by the meter mini-motor, so if the meter is broken, it won't work.