Aapo Lettinen

Has anyone else had any experience with this lab, I tried their Black Friday developing deals this Spring and ended up never getting my hard drive or developed film back (they screwed up the return shipping: sent with Italian post with non working tracking service which transferred it to who know else which transferred it to UPS and UPS did not send me the changed tracking number nor send any notifications for delivery attempts so I could not get the shipment the first time... then it was returned to Film and Sound and they refused to send it back to me unless I would pay them another 35euros for another shipping try (the shipping error was clearly their fault so I wanted them to pay the 2nd try and charge UPS for the error... ) . ended up in conflict with them with getting all caps emails and never getting my stuff back which was already fully paid for including shipping and everything) . I was just wondering at the time if their "lab" is some kind of Italian Mafia's web scam or if there really is a pro lab there developing film for real customers.... especially when the developing took close to 3 months plus shipping and communication problems with customer service etc :unsure:

I had a Bolex H16rx0 and a Krasnogorsk 2 with me the last time I visited Varanger Peninsula, used 7203 and 7219 and it was great choice for those Nothern Norway colours and contrasts. But if you need low light and relatively small size etc. I would maybe go with the Sony, probably with the a7s2 or a7r3 if you can wait for it. the GH5 can do 10bit and slow motion and can use smaller easier lenses which may be a benefit (I regularly use my GH4 on making of shoots with a tiny 12,5mm f1.4 cctv lens and rode mic, can fit the whole kit to my pocket even with couple of extra cctv lenses if taking the mic off. but low light = sony better , I think. you don't want to carry tons of memory cards with you so you probably won't use the 10bit that much anyway

the screw mount lenght can be an issue with some lenses like Samuel said. they can most likely be modified however, especially if the mount part can be taken off easily. I modified one Canon lens with sandpaper years ago (was 1mm too long mount for Bolex RX0 ) , can also be done with for example a metal lathe, belt sander, etc. and is relatively easy to do as long as not causing damage to the threads or letting metal dust go inside the lens. the ffd can change if taking the mount off for modification but otherwise quite easy

I personally use 3-sec drop as a base. but the balance depends on the moves you are going to make with it. bottom heavy may be ok for straight moves but for fast turns/arcs longer drop (more balanced) is better. you just have to test it out with your current camera setup and adjust based on the shot if needed

the one year for frozen film would be totally wrong estimate... for refrigerated it would be somewhat correct though it would be more like 1.5 - 2 years for refrigerated in an indie production (using the same batch for the whole movie) and maybe 4 - 6 years for frozen film. freezing does not stop the ever-going gamma+cosmic rays damage so frozen film does not last forever either, you may start to see small blue flashes etc. radiation damage after the years of storing in the frozen state. one catch with the long refrigerating is to make sure all the sides of the can stay at the same temperature. so it is not a good idea to completely fill your refrigerator with film and other stuff because the other side of the film cans may have very different temperature compared to the other side and the other half of the roll thus ages quicker than the other which may lead to the extremely irritating "pumping grain" in the final image or other weird symptoms. this is one reason why it is best to have a separate refrigerator for film and keep all the food stuff in the kitchen refrig, your wife was correct in that you should not fill the kitchen freez/refrig with film stuff ;)

you don't really want to store exposed film for long periods before processing, couple of months is absolute maximum and you will see elevated grain and fog levels if storing it for long. I have stored exposed film in fridge on doc projects normally for max. 4 months before processing and that is ok if you don't have to match it to other footage stored differently (for drama shoots a month or two would be fine I think). some rolls have stayed in the fridge for about a year before processing and I don't recommend it, you will have very visible contrast and grain issues with the stuff and difficulties matching it to any other footage. especially 16mm will be very bad for long storing because of the smaller frame/more magnified grain. I would never freeze exposed film, if you have too much humidity in the can you will ruin the film and you will need to process it soon anyway so there is no point doing so in any circumstances. If you have issues with storage space you can buy a separate fridge which you will keep in the garage... if you have some factory fresh rolls which you will want to store at least three or four years before shooting them it may make sense to freeze them but otherwise one does not need to freeze any film and take the risk of ruining it. if you have factory fresh roll which you want to shoot next year the fridge is fine for it, and if having a short end you don't generally want to freeze them because of the possible humidity in the can which may cause serious damage if freezing it

most of it doesn't look particularly diffused and even when it seems to have some diffusion it is not that much. I would maybe just have some fresnels or other lights and use either 250, 251 or 252 ( 216 if needed, I generally don't use that at all...just doubling the 250 if needing more than half diff) on barndoors depending on the look and light levels and spread wanted, and additionally have some 4x4 frames with the same diffusion medias and use the barndoors on the lights to crop a smaller area within the diffusion surface to light so that the light level and "softness" and "softness symmetry" could be controlled very easily by lighting different size and shaped rectangles on the diffusion surface. if needing more area than 4x4 just setting two of them side by side

so you don't necessarily have to use 37mm filters on the lenses, you can for example use 52mm filters which are much easier to find

one can find most types of adapter rings cheaply from Chinese eBay sellers. 32.5-37 is pretty common and should be easy to found. if you have a rare thread size on the lens you should buy an adapter ring for it which changes it to a more standard size (ideally the one you already have filters for) and then use that one filter set on all the different size lenses. I personally use often 2 or even 3 step up rings on top of each other to use large size filters on small lenses, or even using the step up rings as a lens shade. it is also useful to be able to use the same size front caps on all the different lenses and it speeds up things a lot if using mattebox. the point being, filters are very expensive compared to step up rings so it is much more economic to just have one oversized filter set and adapt them to all the different thread sizes when needed

saw one sold on ebay couple of years ago and never after that, seems to be quite rare camera. the lens mount is its own but some Ukrainian and Russian ebay sellers sometimes confuse the aks mount to the much more common oct18 mount even when the diameter and appearance is different. so it is possible to find some extra lenses for it if you're lucky. the aks mount has a heavily slanted groove's edge on the mount and a slant at the end of the mount too, when oct18 has a narrower more of a straight cut groove with possibly only tiny slanted edge and the end of the mount is usually pretty much straight cut with no slant. you can spot them from the images even if the description is incorrect. there is old Soviet propaganda/doc stuff on youtube etc. where you can see these cameras used for example for filming nuclear tests (having multiple aks's in a row pointed to the test area) https://youtu.be/INSTW8xfKU0?t=46

I was once told that about HALF of the budget of a 100M+ megabudget film goes to the marketing and distribution. so it is really a 40 or 50million budget movie with "some" marketing money added on top... studios ARE doing the small budget stuff also, it has traditionally been good business to do the cheap b-comedies and such which every film brings a little revenue and the risks are small. maybe todays audience just would like to see some good scripts and acting and directing occasionally and the studios are just trying to feed them some crappy badly written mega budget stuff which worked couple of years ago but is not that reliable anymore

the main issue with tungsten lights is the colour temperature, if you want a cold look with daylight film it is best to use high colour temperature to help exposing the emulsion layers for lower grain (otherwise would be no benefit of using the low sensitivity stock) and to be able to get the correct exposure for the look as well (better to boost the blue channel to the right exposure level on set rather than underexposing it and gaining it in post) , but that means you would need to gel the tungsten lights to maybe around 7000K or so and the gels then eat up so much light that you need really powerful tungstens to use the 50D film you have on a larger set (meaning that you would like to light an area wider than couple of feets/maybe 1.5 - 2 meters at a time). The HMIs have both much better efficiency (about 4x more light per watt than with tungsten lights) and they are already somewhere around 6000K native so you don't have to gel them as much. if doing a very unscientific "calculation" you would get maybe something like 8x - 9x more light with the HMI compared to similar wattage tungsten light if gelling the tungsten to the same high colour temp? So the 1.2k hmi compares to at least 10K tungsten light in your application, maybe more if you compare the reflectors and spread ("punch") as well if the tungsten is fresnel and the HMI is a new par or Max model. Your power options are probably limited so I really don't think you are really able to replace a hmi with any kind of tungsten in your application, you will just limit your set size so much that it makes shooting difficult and you have to use mostly tight shots and light a very small area at a time to be able to get the exposure you need for the very insensitive film. with 250D it would be not that much of a problem or with 200T not at all but with the 50 it certainly is. I personally use the 2k tungstens for cold look on limited budget only if the camera can do 1000 - 1600 ISO or more so that gelling is possible and I can still light an area wider than couple of meters at a time. otherwise it would be HMI of at least one or two 1.2K's or more, preferably 1.8K's or 2.5K's (those still can use household power here in 230V country) or with that insensitive film I would maybe use two 4K's or one 4K and one 1.8K so that could light a slightly larger area at a time and don't have to shoot wide open all the time. Of course if lighting very tight shots at a time, shooting wide open and limiting the actor movement to an area not exceeding couple of feets at a time, then some smaller tungstens would do. Could be best, however, if you could use a 200T film if limited to tungsten lights so that you would not need as much gelling than with a daylight film, you will lose about two stops on the gels so you will effectively waste about 3/4 of the intensity of the light. added with the low efficiency of tungsten lights the 2K's or 5K's are very small in your application but of course you can use them (on a small area at a time) if not having any better option available ;)

"Academy of Motion Picture Entertainment and Sciences" maybe? most of the movies have not much to do with "art" anyway, they are like pop music = pure entertainment for the masses where the "artistry" is limited to certain art and creature design related things...

that differs quite much from the look you were describing. the kind of lighting in the video could be done with some smaller fresnels and /or larger led units easily but if you are after a lower contrast look, especially if needing a cool rather than warm look, then you would need lots more light. you would then need to gel the lights past 6000K or alternatively neutral around 5000 - 5600K+ grading later to cooler look (pulling the reds down) which loses the same amount of light than gelling to the same color on set but makes a slightly different grain texture because of the different colour layer exposure. How did you light the 2-perf scenes, could you just use the same supplier for the lights, just getting more of them this time? I would get lots and lots of shiny blankets, mirrors, kapa reflectors etc. reflecting media for the daylight in scenes and experiment a little on the locations for how much you can bring the exposure up with them and how much you actually need extra lighting units and how much can be done with directing natural light

if using the 250D stock on ultra16 but overexposing quite much to tighten the grain it would be easier to light, even if getting to around 125ISO or so would be much easier... are you shooting mainly day or night interiors+exteriors? If you really need to use tungsten lights as you main units you could try gelling with 1/2 ctb only and go with that warmer look, possibly gelling the windows with a quarter cto or so? depending on the look you are after of course. I would use lots of mirrors and reflectors to direct natural light, especially if you are for a flatter look, and then use something at least 2k tungsten gelled and diffused to fix the rest. If there is only video production stuff available, you could use Blondes? they may have some 2k fresnels as well... at least some studio versions which are pretty basic stuff, even some theaters may have them. 5K's would be nice but would be more difficult to find and you may have problems arranging the needed power even for the bunch of 2k's. If you have possibility to get even a single hmi unit it would be much easier for you to light, even a single 1.2k would make your life much easier :)

not compared to Fresnels no :) but they are lightweight so can be rigged to some weird places and may have quite ok light quality if diffused

then I would go mostly with rental lights instead. you could use the daylight leds though. but I would add some higher power HMI pars or max's (at least couple of 1.2k or 1.8k) and if you have lots of power available then you could supplement with some gelled 5k or 2k and 1k tungsten fresnels if you can get a good rental deal for them. It is just, a 50D film with CTB gelled tungsten lighting =not effective at all, you will lose half of the light output even if gelling to around 4500K for "warm daylight" look. the vnsp 1k's would probably do something useful if the ctb does not melt on them but I would really try to use mostly natural daylight reflected around and add some punch with cool led and hmi units. Of course if you have a very cold indoor location with no heating then the tungsten units may be a good idea, you can use them for heating up the space and will also get a noticeable amount of light as a side effect :lol:

redheads are very good as working lights though, I have one of the Chinese ones as a backup which is most of the time used as a work light and is not actually lighting anything within the frame :) (you can use market work lights for that as well if attaching barndoors and spigot for a stand. technically that would not differ much from a redhead except being a little heavier and having rectangular housing :P )

I would not base a movie lighting kit on 800Redheads unless I would get them for free... they are not good for much else than bouncing or filling up diffusion frames. of course you can light with them if setting them up to the actors face but they are not very useful as multi-purpose lights and are pretty bad for direct lighting (too much spread and falloff, poor shadow quality, not very adjustable) , their main design point is only them being lightweight for ENG use and cheap to manufacture so that they can be sold for huge profit :P . I would look for fresnels and par cans and some leds instead. Samuel, did you mean by 50D the Canon camera or the Kodak film? I think you could use a mixed tungsten +led kit. The leds can be expensive but they are good for daylight use if they are punchy enough (I would choose mainly narrow spot ones and add diffusion if needed instead of having only wide angle ones and not being able to light from distance at all) For example: 1pc 300 tungsten fresnel 2pc 650w tungsten fresnel 2 pcs 1000w vnsp ("firestarter") par64 can with barndoors etc. other par cans like source fours can be added as well if you need them. (2pcs of 800w redheads OR a 2k Blonde for diffusion frames and bouncing if you can get them very cheaply or free and really need them) 1pc high power daylight LED panel, SPOT ANGLE (something like 50w minimum, I would have close to 100w if possible. I would prefer daylight balanced instead of adjustable colour temp because of more output, it will be mostly needed for daylight applications anyway) 1pc lower power LED panel in the 30-50w range if you need it, can be adjustable or daylight balanced. I would prefer spot but can be wider angle if needed Lots of frames, kapa and styrofoam reflectors, flags. A small adjustable hazer! you may think you don't need it but you can't live without it when having one :) One dedolight type very narrow spot tungsten or led light may be handy at times but not absolutely needed. I personally use lots of 2kw tungsten fresnels (Filmgear, Arri, Desisti) which are handy and can be used to substitute expensive-to-rent HMI lights in some applications but if you want to own the gear I would try to use the par cans instead, you can save on stands and can still make some nice punchy lighting effects on smaller areas. Consider renting if you only need some piece of gear irregularly couple of times a year.

what was the point of that Yedlin test? to show us that one can have about similar framing and FOV with two different cameras? all this "they can be made look the same, no one will notice the difference" assumes that there is only one visual look all the movies should have and anything which differ from that is "FALSE" or "WRONG" :blink: it also forgets that the greatest differences come from the different working process which affects the director, editor, DP, acting and operating performances, lighting design, shooting ratios, setup times, freedom/restrictions to capture additional footage on the fly, etc. (the look may differ just a little but the storytelling differs a lot) Audience may not notice the difference in the technical LOOK of the movie but they will absolutely notice the difference in everything else. all the other things are therefore much more relevant in the FILM vs. DIGITAL conversation than the actual technical or look differences. For example how the storytelling differs if you are operating a Panaflex compared to Alexa Mini. I didn't particularly like that b/w screenshot either btw, have seen 100x more beautiful material shot on both film and digital, some of the stuff also in the movies I have worked on. Movie is not a single still image screenshot which can be analysed with photography terms and methods. And cinematography needs to be always analysed at least within the scene when seeing all adjacent shots and having the complete soundtrack also available. Cinematography also has nothing to do with the shooting medium, and with still frames you are basically just comparing lighting design and composition, nothing else cinematography related there :blink: again, the Deakins etc. argument that "no one will notice the difference between film and digital because they can be made look so similar" is simply not true. the look may be close but the look is not the point here: even if the look is somewhat same, all the other aspects are different when switching FILM <---->DIGITAL because the different working method affects the STORYTELLING so much and EVERY PERSON in the audience can spot the storytelling related differences right away

the main problem with the Chinese stuff is that they don't seem to have any quality control and some of the materials are too low quality. design faults are another problem... but you need to be able to, for example, change the power cables by yourself if using this type of lights. the originals are low quality and thin material and will break in use after a while (mine lasted less than a year in very light use and had to modify the lights for thicker standard power cable to continue to use them) . and you need to be able to constantly monitor the gear for problems and repair if needed before anything serious happens. They are not "as arri" in that regard, you can't for example use them in any kind of rain without very heavy protection (compared to some Arri tungstens which can tolerate mild rain pretty well if the angle is right) . Treat them like they would be indoor-use-only without plastic-bag fully-tape rain-cover everything

most B/W negatives can be developed reversal even if they are not advertised to be capable for that. you need to test the developer first though, if using a very heavy process (like the one on Ilford papers) you may experience emulsion separation or other damage (excessive swelling etc) . Some reversal films, for example Fomapan reversal, cannot be developed as negative because of the silver "remjet" backing of the factory fresh film but some others can be alternatively developed as negative even if the stock is advertised as reversal film. negative vs. reversal stocks are not fully similar in how they handle exposure when used with alternative process (negative for reversal, reversal for negative) because the reversal stock normally is optimised for reversal processing (different density image in 1st developing compared to similar negative film) but as said can be done on most films as long as you don't use totally wrong formulas on reversal process which damages the emulsion irrecoverably

couple of years ago I ordered some Chinese fresnels and tested them out, couple of results here: http://aapolettinen.blogspot.fi/2014/09/chinese-fresnels-are-they-any-good.html

we have covered the Chinese Fresnels thing before couple of times... for small jobs they may be ok but THEY ARE NOT ELECTRICALLY SAFE out of the box by my experience and really need to be checked by professional electrician before even tested briefly. the "CE" markings etc. are a total joke (there is probably a huge factory in China which only manufactures those fake CE marking stickers) and the build quality is generally quite lazy which may mean, for example, loose wires inside the casing or too thin insulation or strain reliefs which are not attached correctly or hazardous electrical design with cheap thin wires and no grounding, underrated dimmers which may catch fire, etc. It may be a good idea to save some money on gear but in this case it may cost you your life (or in the worst case, someone else's life instead of one's own) :(

or could use a power tool battery if you can find one with the right voltage. I personally use the airsoft batteries because they are flat and long so they are easy to stack and attach to the camera with velcro