Jim Carlile

Here's something interesting from the Kodak web site. This has obviously come up before:

DS8 100D is still available via special order, I'm sure, and with a minimum, it's just that Kodak had for the last several years put DS8 in their catalog as a regular stock item. Now with the 100D push I'm surprised that they would be cutting it so soon. But more alarming is their cutting of the big 35mm cores. You'd think the fact that they are promoting this film bigtime for studio work would make them want to keep it in, at least for the time being. BTW, any B/W negative camera stock can be processed as a reversal, with a little tweaking.... so it's not all hopeless. I suspect Kodak will come up with a universal B/W stock soon, possibly a T-Max? In the past they were not happy with the TMAX results for MP work, but with consolidation, who knows these days?

Anybody else notice this strange discontinue notice last month? http://motion.kodak.com/motion/uploadedFiles/PCN050510_Q.pdf Kodak is getting rid of both double super 8 and the 35mm 1,000-foot core versions of their new Ektachrome 100D. You'd think they'd want to push studio use of 35mm, instead of only offering the 400 foot rolls. And double super 8, though always available through special order, was a new offering for them that apparently didn't get much time.

P.S. Here's a great resource and some nice formulas for what you are doing: http://www.handmadefilm.org/resources/technicalResources/processes/developing/ecp-ecnTable.html http://www.handmadefilm.org/resources/technicalResources/processes/developing/colorReversal.html

It's perfectly OK to remove the rem jet afterwards, too, by soaking it in the borax remover. Some people prefer this method, like Martin B. It's much easier, too, especially with the Morse tank. You can use the ECN prebath but borax and a little sodium carbonate works well too, And yes, that's 100 degrees Farenheit! Warm water makes it easier to remove the remjet, but not too warm. As for sodium hydroxide, I've never seen a prebath formula with lye in it! Some developers may have a bit of lye in them but not the soaks. I can't imagine what that would do. ..

There's a metal key that fits into a slot at the top of the camera-- it looks kind of like a big lift-off tab on a soft drink can. The idea is that it's normally used for shooting tungsten film indoors, like Kodachrome, where you don't need the internal filter. Later cameras had a slide switch to do this-- the early ones had a key. What's happening is that when you take the key out, you're set for outdoor filming with an 85 correction filter; put it in and you can use the same film indoors without the filter. So inserting the key pulls out the internal 85 filter, and at the same time it also sets the exposure meter to the indoor filter-less ASA rating, which would be either 40 or 100 in those cameras. It does this by retracting a little metal shield inside, which is not retracted by the notchless daylight cartridge alone. What you're basically doing is tricking these cameras to meter at ASA 100 without the internal 85 filter in the way, when they were designed to only do this at ASA 64, which would be the normal "daylight" film speed for that odd speed-notch size. If you don't insert the key then what will happen is that the E100D daylight cartridge will set the meter to ASA 64. If you don't have the key, then you can push a small screwdriver into the slot to toggle it back and forth. BTW, those early Kodaks are unusual in their design. This method works only with the M4 and M6. The M2 has no meter-- it's manual exposure all the way.

Why are you putting sodium hydroxide in the pre-bath? That's lye-- no wonder your emulsion is washing off. I'm surprised your skin isn't, too. Just use a little borax in warm water, about 100 degrees, and maybe add some sodium carbonate. You can also use this same solution after processing to wipe the rem-jet off the base with a sponge or soft cloth, carefully.

The M6 is part of the Kodak M2-M4 series, so it should be OK to use-- those cameras have the old gear material but with far fewer and larger teeth, so they aren't prone to the same cheese-gear syndrome as the M22's, etc. That means it should meter the same as the M4, which can read ASA 40T/25D and 100T/64D films. This same question came up a few months ago with 100D, and although there are several ways you can tweak it around, the best way is to insert the cartridge and also insert the metal key on top of the camera. The cartridge will set the meter to ASA 64 without the internal 85 filter-- which is the SMPTE protocol for daylight cartridges-- and the key will further retract a metal shield, which fully opens up the meter's light path to match an ASA 100 setting. BTW, the early 1964 M-series cameras were designed to use a planned ASA 100 'high-speed' film, which never materialized in the end.

62mm

I think it was A Polish Vampire in Burbank http://www.amazon.com/Polish-Vampire-Burbank-VHS-Bruce/dp/6300230317 Big difference, Burbank vs. B.H.

The 100D cartridge should already pull out the daylight 85 filter, because it pushes in the camera's filter pin, which in theory takes the filter out automatically and sets the meter to the lower ASA of its speed-notch size, which is 100. That's the SMPTE protocol, and these lower ASAs are always reserved for "daylight" films by design-- daylight meaning those films that do not need an 85 correction filter. Since this Canon will read the ASA 250 speed indice, I don't see any reason why it is not SMPTE compliant, and thus it should read 100D accurately. Unlike ASA 160-only cameras there'd be no technical reason for it not to be. Also, remember that 100D will work well outdoors in daylight no matter the accuracy of the ASA setting. That's because there is such an incredibly broad exposure range that most of the picture will be "correctly" exposed as a whole, even if the meter is 2/3 stop "off."

Depends on the camera. Tri-X is notched at ASA 250 in a filter "notchless" cartridge, so if the camera can read as high as 250 it will be exposed correctly at ASA 160. Any other camera, just cut a filter notch in the cartridge. That way it will be sure to read at ASA 160-- without the notchless lower ASA trick. If the camera can only go as high as 160, then any higher ASA film will be registered at ASA 160 too. Without a filter notch, there is the possibility that Tri-X will be read at ASA 100, due to the filter pin kickdown. Some XL cameras that only went up to 160 disabled this kickdown function, so that they could read correctly the higher speed daylight cartridged films like Tri-X and 'G.'

If you load conventional b-wind camera original into those spools, don't you end up shooting through the base? That may not be much of a problem-- it happened all the time with lab stocks in-camera-- but my understanding is that's why Aaton uses a-wind original, because of their different feed mechanism.

What do you mean dust on the "viewfinder"? Do you mean the rear eyepiece? I'm not sure how you would have gotten access to the internal viewfinder optics. If it's the eyepiece, then all you did was just mess up the setting because it wasn't locked. It would definitely move that way. So just re-adjust it according to the instructions, which you can find online in about 2 or 3 locations.

And with the perfs on the other side because of this, I believe. You can't just flip the film. It's a different wind. Kodak has recently discontinued several Minima-cut stocks, too. :(

VISION 200T is always ASA 100 in the Kodak super 8 system, by design of the cartridge and the intent of Kodak. 200T will run well in any camera that can read ASA 160. It will set the meter to either ASA 160 or ASA 100, and that is perfectly fine for this negative stock-- Kodak prefers it overexposed, because that way you get a denser negative and have more to work with in either a transfer or a print. I suspect 200T's cartridge will remove the internal 85 filter in the Keystone, which doesn't matter, as the color tinge can be removed in post. If you really want to be fancy you can cut a filter notch in the cartridge so the internal 85 is still useable. In this case the film will always be exposed at ASA 160 no matter the camera. If you want to use the camera's 85 filter this is probably how you'll have to go...it takes about 30 seconds to do it. Yes, Ektachrome 100D is a hassle to use under artificial light-- you'll need the heavy 80 filter. That's why this is the first mainstream daylight super 8 film that Kodak has ever produced.

The Elmo 350SL will rate the film at 160 ASA, yes, which is 2/3 stop underexposed. It thinks the film is more light-sensitive than it is. Toggling the filter switch will not affect the internal filter, because the film's notchless cartridge will already have taken it out of the light path, automatically. It pushes in the filter pin to do so. If you want to toggle the filter switch anyway, check carefully to see if there is a difference with the exposure reading needle. If it goes up or down a bit on the same subject then toggle the switch to the smaller number and keep it there. What this does-- if it works this way, there's disagreement about some Elmos-- is it opens up the aperture a little bit so you can compensate for the slower ASA 100 film. Either way, there's so much exposure range to that new film that a 2/3 stop under- or over-exposure won't make much difference, except maybe in low-light situations when you need a precise exposure of a specific subject. The best thing with those Elmos is to use the auto meter to get a general reading, and then twirl the knob to set it manually to just a bit more open than the reading itself. This way, not only are you manually compensating for the slower film but the meter will also stay fixed at a precise point to give you a better, more professional result. It won't be hunting all over the place.

The question's never really been resolved, though. If you want to use rechargeable batteries, get old-fashioned Nicads at 1.2 or 1.25 volts each, and rated at 500mh. That was the stock battery. Alkalines work OK, and if you're worried about the extra voltage just run them down a bit before putting them in the camera. A fully charged set of NiCads will run at about 8.5 volts anyway. NiCads were chosen because the old sound cartridges drew lots of current, and regular alkalines would poop out after about one or two 200-foot cartridges.

I'll check the 612/1012s again and see if they can toggle back and forth-- you might be right. But the 350sl will not, and the later 200 series of sound cameras don't even have filter pins! As a general rule, if the camera says "XL' but it only reads to ASA 160 and not beyond, it will not do the SMPTE override trick with a notchless cartridge, and thus will not read daylight films accurately. One of the conditions of the XL cameras was the need to read daylight 160-straight films, like 'G' and Tri-X, which are packed in daylight cartridges that automatically take out the unneeded filter and kick down the ASA setting to the lower value of the speed indice. Because for this reason they are both by necessity speed-notched at ASA 250T with the kickdown to 160D, SMPTE-compliant cameras have to be able to read this ASA 250 speed indice in order to use them. The Elmos cannot. That's one reason why for years Kodak made it next to impossible to buy Tri-X and the old Plus-X, because they were irregularly notched and many cameras would misread them. Most of this B/W film went to special-purpose industries or the military.

Are you sure about that? I toggled the filter switch back and forth with a new Plus-X (same as E100D) and there was no difference in readings. I'll check again-- E100 will work well on those Elmos but not sure if it's because the exposure is spot-on. Also, remember that Phil sometimes notches his films differently by design. Was he using the new Kodak E100D, or his own cut? I need to correct something, too-- the results will be underexposed by 2/3 stop, not overexposed. The 40/160 'G' cameras will read the notchless 160T/100D cartridge as ASA 160, which means they think it's a faster film than it really is-- so they don't open up enough. But it's just 2/3 of a stop, which is still within the latitude of modern films. About the ASA 100 with a filter thing, and why the instuction books make you think they will read ASA 100 and 25 films: just remember that SMPTE compliant cameras will meter at ASA 100 and 25 without the internal filter in place. The others will not-- what they are actually doing is metering at ASA 160 or 40, and then the internal filter cuts down the light by 2/3 stop, so the film acts as if it's ASA 100 or 25. But it's only an effective "as if" ASA with the internal filter in the daylight, not a real one. The key is this: if your camera says it is "XL" but it only reads up to ASA 160, then it will most likely not read daylight films correctly, at least according to the SMPTE protocol. The reason for this is so that it can read properly notched ASA 160 daylight films like Ektachrome 'G' and Tri-X. If they used the SMPTE filter pin/kickdown method, but only read up to 160, then anything speed-notched at 160 or above in a notchless cartridge would be keyed in by them at ASA 100. So, the manufacturers disabled the filter pin kickdown. As mentioned, some 160 'G' cameras will override this limitation by a toggling back-and-forth of the filter switch, like the silver Nizos, but not all.

I agree with you-- the new Kodak negative stocks look like digital video on a good day-- just way too translucent and detailed. What's missing is that old fashioned contrast, saturation and density. The glubby look, in other words. E100D is an interesting alternative, though... Sharp and very saturated, almost too much so.

Here's the perfect question for you, since you seem to be the goto guy for Fuji now (congratulations!): What is the possibility of getting Fuji's elusive Neopan B/W 16mm film distributed here in the U.S.? Now that Kodak has us down to one B/W reversal stock and one negative, there just might be a market for it! We've lost Plus-X, so could Neopan be in the future...? Exactly where is it sold these days? Fuji makes it sound mysterious....

The old 7276 needs to be exposed at ASA 100 with the new chemistry, which means you would underexpose it a stop by comparison. If you expose it at the old ASA 50, the new chemistry will basically push it a stop, so it will be overexposed. This explains it all: http://www.kodak.com/country/US/en/motion/16mm/features/newBWFilmsQA.jhtml The new developer is 94A, not 94. The bleach is different too, so not sure what would happen if you used 94 with an ASA of 50, along with the new bleach...? If you are processing it yourself, you could always just formulate 94 and use the old bleach, too, and rate it at 50. 7276 is a nice stock. It took well to processing as a negative, and it had a nice spread out curve-- a great range, not as contrasty and fussy as the new Plus-X version, or Tri-X. Some people thought it was too "gray" but that was the point.

Those mikes were all junky, really, with few exceptions. Any old cassette mike with a sub mini plug will work fine. Most cameras on sale will have the mikes with them in the box or bag.

It's actually the other way around. If a camera detects ASA 100 films as 160, then the difference is only 2/3 stop underexposed-- it thinks the film is a little more light sensitive than it is, and ASA 200 is one-stop from ASA 100 on the speed scale. If the camera thought it was an ASA 40 film, then the difference between ASA 40 and ASA 100 is about 1 1/3 stops overexposed. It thinks the film is less sensitive than it really is by this amount, so it's giving you that much more light than you need. After testing, I have found that the Elmo 350SL will read E100D (and the new Plus-X) as ASA 160. The same with the Elmos 612SXL and 1012SXL, and the later 230-260 series of sound cameras. Here's the deal, though. E100D is so contrasty and saturated that a little bit of overexposure looks good-- it gives a more pastel result. And if you happen to project the film then this gives a nice bright image on the screen. In the old days this was a neat trick, to overexpose a little for a brighter picture.