Aapo Lettinen

my Bolex H16RX is the most reliable camera I've ever seen, I have used it for 12 years now and it has missed a frame only once (that was operator error and not camera's fault :P ) if you can manage with the straight viewfinder the EBM would be excellent for the project I think :)

bolex has dimmer viewfinder image but otherwise it is better than k3. it is also much more difficult to convert to s16. (if the Kinor 16 would not had such badly designed motor I could recommend one if you could get it cheaply with a 10-100 lens. but the motors are quite unreliable (most of the eBay stuff seems to not work correctly, I have purchased couple of them and none was ok) . unless the motor is updated to chrystal sync by for example Olex it may be a bad idea to buy one. )

it should be ok if the conversion is done correctly and it does not cost much. you should choose the m42 version and make sure the loop size is absolutely correct when you shoot, otherwise it may scratch the film quite easily. even if you decide to buy the Arri or Aaton later you can still use the k3 for handheld MOS shots, it is great for that purpose :) don't invest too much money to it though, couple of hundred bucks max including lenses

it is quite a lot cheaper per feet to buy 400ft rolls so a 100ft load camera is mostly practical if you can spool down your negatives from 400ft to daylight spools (like I do all the time, don't even remember when I last bought a new 100ft roll of 16mm) . if in good condition, the SR is a wonderful camera and easy to use. the question is, is it possible to get one in good enough condition at reasonable price and ALSO get good quality S16 lenses also for cheap. the latter one is much more unlikely I think because there is quite a bunch of kids with digital cameras buying the old 16mm glass for aesthetic purposes so the lenses are remarkably expensive compared to camera bodies which have fallen about 1000% in prices in the last six years. if I would have bought a bunch of them old Lomo anamorphics 10 years ago (less than 1k for a good condition 3 lens set!!) I would be millionaire by now <_<

the thing is, if you don't use the camera very often you can get much better gear by renting or borrowing from a friend. for example, Alexa is too expensive for me but I can get Scarlets, Epics, FS7, F55, maybe Amira to a small production if I need to because I don't want to buy them all. it depends a lot of what you shoot, how many days, the production structure, locations (availability of equipment) etc. I use my own three fresnel Chinese set if I have to save money or if it is more practical but otherwise I also rent the lighting gear. It's just, it is complete madness to buy tens or hundreds of K:s worth of gear just to shoot a two day short film twice a year. If it would be couple of months per year it would be a whole lot different though. you can of course purchase a film camera from ebay and sell it after the productions but it may double the price if there is something wrong with it in the beginning and you can't sell nonworking camera so you have to get it repaired anyway. If it's something you can't repair by yourself then I would buy a serviced camera from a reputable seller and not some garage find ebay stuff

krasnogorsks scratch film quite easily if you're not careful. otherwise they are actually quite good and reliable cameras. the K1 &K2 cassette systems are garbage though and if you're interested in K-cameras you should just buy the daylight spool load K3, remove the loop guides and use Western (metal) daylight spools with it. you can also test rental cameras as easily as your own gear, just shoot a registration test on b/w film and develop it by yourself if you're not near a lab. aligning can be checked on quick change mag cameras with flashlight "projection" method and does not need film test at all. with dummy roll you can hear if there is something wrong with the camera or mag. you have to know how they should sound like though, lots of film camera problems can only be heard on set and it's too late to repair or adjust anything when the film comes back from the lab. as said I don't disasseble movement parts so not much which could go wrong here other than accidentally breaking the plexiglass mirror of the Konvases... I test the ffd after each time I have opened a camera and if there's something wrong with it, it's usually just that you have tightened the screws in wrong order which can be very easily resolved

those Russian cameras are quite easy to service as long as you don't disassemble the movement/shutter combo or move the groundglass. cleaning/lubing is easy and magazines are easy to service and adjust. if there would be something wrong with the movement I would probably send it to Olex for adjusting and retiming or buy another camera body which can use the same magazines and accessories... with old cameras the movement and shutter gears are usually completely dry and the magazines are also in bad condition. you can almost see the metal dust coming out from the bearings if you try to run them out of the box :o the Russian gear is usually garage finds and other old stuff which has sat unused even decades. if you buy a camera from a person who really shoots with film gear, then you can maybe find something which can be lightly used without immediate disassemble and complete cleaning, adjusting and lubing <_<

buying vs. renting is always a serious issue in indie productions. if you're shooting couple of days with digital for example with over 5000$ to camera equipment, you have to decide whether you want to for own for example Blackmagic Cinema Camera + basic lenses or do you want to shoot this single project with Amira or Scarlet or F5 with good rental lenses and maybe get some lights also. if shooting digital I would maybe rent FS7 or similar lower cost camera package, rent some basic lights and use the rest of the budget for other expenses like transportation, wardrobe, makeup, marketing, etc. with film I would rent SR3 or 416 and couple of superspeeds (or optars if the budget is very tight) and some lights and again use the rest of the money for something else. Owning all the equipment is necessary if you do longer productions like features or documentaries or live in area where it is difficult to access rental equipment, otherwise you usually have to compromise quality or pay lots more if you want to own all your gear

some cameras, for example Krasnogorsks, can be quite easily serviced at home (to a point) and you don't necessarily need Camera Technician for that. you have to shoot tests though and it is not possible to get equipment to 100% condition by yourself without special tools and experience. about 80-90% condition is good enough for me most of the time so I do most of the repairs and service by myself (krasnogorsk, kinor16, Konvas, Cameflex) to save lots of time and also money. for me it is more important to be able to resolve problems very quickly so that I can continue shooting without needing to send the camera out for service which could take even months and ruin the entire production. ebay cameras are usually not in usable condition out of the box, even if claimed to be unused or 'serviced' so if it's not a Krasnogorsk-like simple design (if it's an Arri SR or Aaton for example) you should prepare to pay some serious money for proper cleaning/lubing/repairs before you can use it for any kind of project... all of my Konvases for example had film chips, lots of dust and even small rocks inside them, plus dried lubricants and metal chips from the screws and lens mounts :blink: I got them in good condition by myself but it took quite some time and nerves... ---- about half of the film's budget is headed towards equipment purchases, if you know ANYBODY who can lend or rent you the needed gear for student prices you can save some serious money and put it to other expenses, for example transportation etc. costs which always blow the budget in indie productions. you would get better equipment for less money and probably also better movie I think. unless you are going to sell the gear right after the shoot and cover other expenses with that

it is also possible to purchase a lower cost standard 16 camera but rent a super16 set for couple of days if needed. it is quite practical if you have for example lots of daylight scenes you are intending to shoot on 50D anyway but two or three low light scenes which need 500T. mixing different formats in scanning is not a big deal as long as you have shot framing charts and the same camera format rolls are after each other in the telecine roll

I recommended Bolex or similar low cost camera and maybe even regular 16 because it is much much cheaper way, not just because the camera body is a lot cheaper but the lenses are also. you will get considerably more grain however, with 16:9 crop it is close to doubling the graininess maybe depending on how you shoot, scan and post the material. Super16 PL lenses are quite expensive compared to cameras nowadays and the arri bayonet lenses don't all cover super16, if they do they are more expensive. You can use bayonet lenses in PL camera with adapter so I would stay away from bayonet Arri SR unless it's dirt cheap and N16 is enough for you. I myself use usually N16 cameras with shooting mainly 50D and F64D and switching to 35mm (konvas, cameflex) if I need more speed or less grain. for me it is cheaper than getting a S16 camera with a usable set of S16 capable lenses, especially wide angles are difficult and expensive. I mostly shoot MOS with them, with sound scenes the S16 would be much better choice. if buying the arri you can maybe find used Optars for reasonable price. I saw some of them on ebay for less than 1k per lens, you could cover the wide angles with them and use other lenses for longer focal lengths

if you choose the SR you can do with 15mm LW rods (buy the Arri adapter for that) and use a cheaper dovetail for balancing, for example Lanparte or Camtreehunt stuff. if you'll use the dovetail heavily and with other cameras as well it could be better to use more sturdy stuff like Arri. I have one of those Camtreehunt RedOne dovetail/baseplate sets for my Cameflex and similar weight cameras and it is quite ok for the price

if you can afford PL lenses, then the SR2. otherwise I would choose the NPR and buy couple of c-mount lenses for it as well to use for low light scenes and for shots where the angenieux's image quality is not enough. CP16R is a good camera as far as I know but the lens mount is too rare for practical use. if it's not a full package with all the lenses you need I would advise against it. if it's a silent film and not shooting in places where you could have flicker problems, then you can do with cheaper camera, for example Bolex. you mainly need the more expensive cameras for sync sound stuff and when you absolutely need 180° shutter and stable speed

battery powered led lights are quite usable if you can find ones which have good enough spectrum for your needs. I think a 300/650/1000 tungsten set is a good basic package and I would add a 2k tungsten fresnel if possible (I use them all the time in small shoots when HMI is too expensive to rent) . basic stands for the lights. the production can usually rent extra stands, flags etc. if needed because they are cheap to rent so you might manage with the bare minimum of cheaper stands as long as they are sturdy enough to be safe. couple of sandbags. If you can afford them, a dedo or two (100w range) may be handy in many shoots. You have to calculate how much you will use your gear on productions to justify whether to rent or to buy a piece of equipment. You won't need for example mini kino flo -s all the time so no need to buy one, you can probably substitute one with cheaper led gear in some situations. If you don't have ANY kind of camera you should buy one but if you already have a camera then it may be better to buy some lights before upgrading the camera body. Your camera don't necessarily need to be the best available because you don't usually get fully paid for the gear anyway and you'll be probably hired for other reasons than the gear you own

actually yes, if it helps making the whole movie better then I would definitely shoot that one scene on digital and the rest on film. I could change formats even within a scene if it helps to make the scene better (one example was a short film which I shot a while ago with 5D2 but for example a sunset scene we used sunset closeup shots which I made previously with Bolex 16RX which was easier to use for very bright objects and very long focal lengths and helped to make those shots look better) I think consistency is hugely overrated and is mostly important within a scene. You don't have to make the whole film with only one style just because of being scared of that it would otherwise distract the audience. you can also of course try to hide the different shooting mediums and blend them together hoping that the audience does not notice and only benefit from the different camera bodies which may be easier and more practical for some situations. Usually the audience doesn't notice anything if the shots are matched correctly. That's the common way to do it, I myself am trying to use the differences for my advantage rather than trying to hide them because differences can always be seen, more or less. shooting on dslr over film may be practical because of for example form factor, used light levels, ease of handling the material, small power requirements, possibility to shoot longer takes, possibility to shoot without disturbing the subjects too much (child actors, animals, amateur actors, public places, etc) , flicker or other sync issues (cheaper and/or older film cameras with oddball shutter angle or inconsistent speed) ....

If you are strictly prohibiting your project to use certain tools and mediums you may also compromise the end product. especially in documentary projects: you probably won't get the shot if you choose your tools only based on predetermined principles and methodology which you must follow. it will only make the project better if you allow it to 'breathe' :lol: The problem is specifically that quite some people seem to ONLY compare the mediums and tools based on aesthetics OR based on practical reasons :ph34r: you should always consider them together because they are dependent on each other and may also be interchangeable. for example choosing a dslr over arri 2c for a romantic scene may help the actors to deliver better performances (no mag changes, no disturbing noise...) and therefore make the scene much better even if it is not aesthetically as beautiful as with film. But the next scene may benefit greatly from 35mm and therefore should be shot with that :rolleyes: Just my 2 cents:

I think Deakins's style has always been quite close to that what's Alexa is good for when considering lighting, colour, contrast, gamma, graininess choices so it is quite natural for him to use a system which fits very well to his style most of the time. I have always thought that one of his goals is to minimise the grain and maximise the "natural sharpness" of the medium, so it is thus quite natural to shoot on Alexa then. His work is also very coherent over the years which further supports this choice. I don't know what he meant about the film stock problems, bad rolls from Kodak? sounds like quite unlikely, I've understood they have very strict quality control and would not definitely want to deliver mediocre quality product for someone like him :blink: I'm not strictly a Pro Film Guy, I'm a "pro--best-tools-for-a-shot" type a person so it's very natural for me to change the format even within a scene (intercutting and mixing crappy 5D2 image with N16mm and 35mm for example to get an emotional effect from mixing different image aesthetics) . I think most of the people who have shot lots of different formats at least partially support this view; one should always choose the medium and tools according to the project and conditions, there is no single perfect tool for all the different productions and shooting scenarios out there <_<

heavily used quality lights have to also be checked before use so you still have to know what you're doing. some 20-30 year old fresnels surely have at least some glitches and may have safety concerns because of the degrading parts (not out of the factory though like the Chinese counterparts) . Old HMI lights may also contain asbestos. So I'd suggest buying a new one or renting the stuff if you don't want to repair anything regularly

I have some first hand experiences with the Chinese tungsten fresnels and I would say it's too dangerous and frustrating to use them if you don't know how to repair them by yourself BEFORE USE. You have to check every connection, insulations, strain reliefs etc. The lights may be scratched or otherwise damaged in factory and may have for example bad quality, chipping ceramic parts, bent barn doors or low quality power cables (I have used my 300+300+650+1000 kit very lightly for a year now and have already had to replace the power cables because of the degrading rubber. I also had to do all the repairs before even trying to use them (repairing switches, connections, bent barn door, strain reliefs, etc.. One bulb base was so badly installed in factory that I couldn't repair it. did not even get all the money back) It's not that the Chinese are not be ABLE to do good products, it's their quality control which is the problem <_<

great, thanks a lot :lol: I found some info that it's supposed to be 28vdc +/- 4v. Maybe 20 or 21 NiMh cells would work. I will also ask him if acetate base 2R film would work with the camera, 2R polyester base is very difficult to find

I just got a Photo Sonics 1VN (action master 200) in unknown condition and no batteries. What kind of battery (voltage/amps) the original uses inside the "shoulder mount" adapter which is supposedly meant for sports high speed filming? the battery case itself is there but the cells are removed. I am planning to fit NiMh cells there once I know the voltage and power needed. and, is there some of the original lubricants available anymore or some alternatives for the movement? I won't use it regularly even if I get it working but may have to use it in cold temperatures (about -20°C or so) . maybe a 200ft roll once a month or so...

that is probably Metal Halide lamp and not true HMI, at least all the models I have seen for sale (Thomann etc places) were simple metal halide. the ballast design would be very difficult for cine use, you would need to make a extension cord for it to be useful because it would be very heavy and awkward if used as is. and it probably can't stand moisture/water at all because it is made for theatre/stage indoor use

one reason is that pro customers usually never pay the list price anyway (personalised quotes and discounts) so you have to pay the list price only if you are developing relatively small amount at the time. most labs also have specialised discounts for student productions and may have minimum order for certain discounts etc. Combining services (developing+scanning for example) complicates this even more because especially the scanning/telecine step is very work intense and the amount of work varies hugely depending on material and transfer options (1-light, slightly adjusted "almost 1-light", technical grade, best light, etc. + file formats and scanner type and capturing device, reel sizes, etc etc) . can take anything from 1:2 to 1:6 time wise for example so quite impossible to say the final price without seeing the material and instructions

for example 21 Grams was shot with the SL. I don't know how much of it was adr:d though. Aaton 35 was also used for sync sound in some films so it should certainly be possible

I recommend glueing velcro all over it so that you can attach it very easily to the camera, to your belt, etc. It may be a good idea to add a extra layer or two of heat shrink plastic on it before applying velcro so that the surface is more sturdy. You can even buy a cheap basic clip on utility belt from local hardware store and use it as a "battery belt", just attach the battery with velcro and you're ready to go :lol: