Adam Garner

Tim: Check out http://scoopicguy.com/ I think John Longnecker is a good resource in SoCal. A few things I noticed on my Scoopic (I just bought). My auto-aperature servo started whining after about 45 minutes of use. Then, it simply stopped. Not sure if this was a common problem, but the motor may be something to listen to. Could just be this thing hasn't been loved in so long... Also, take a look at the spools (the reels) as they spin inside. Bernie noticed one of mine is just barely bent. I have NO idea how this could have GOTTEN bent, so my guess is that they this axel for my spool could have been manufactured like this. Watch for wobble as they spin. The only issue this causes in my case is a very slight (and only occasional) rhythmic squeak of the film being taken up. It's not a deal breaker, but something to look for. I never would have looked. Other than that, scoopics are tanks. I think at least John or whoever is able to help will have batteries to test (also very important). Consider having bernie at super16inc.com modify it to Ultra16. I've just gotten mine back.

Yeah, the show is rad. I read a while back they shoot on S16... maybe Arri416's? Anyway, it's got a great look, no doubt. And the writing is great!

It's difficult to focus on the film since the transfer is pretty rough. I'd spend a few bucks and transfer your film, even to SD at least. The "flashing" overpowers any pretty pictures you might have caught. Other than that, I think you're on the right track.

Tim at Bonolabs just confirmed they're U16 gate in operational for transfer, though they aren't doing lab anymore. I'm going to send a test reel to them.

Like Hunter said : cinelicious.tv great transfer/price ratio. Lots of options for output. You'll be very happy. PS: Hunter, they did a great job on your a-minima tester. I enjoyed the footage a lot. Paul is transferring Ultra 16 footage for me next week and I'm super-anxious.

Is there something pre-manufactured that I can buy to do this, or do people just build their own system on a board?

Luke: It's a scoopic 16M. Lot's of very good points being made in this thread. I'll say that I like that the scoopic is light, easy to use, comes with a VERY sharp lens, has macro, and converted to U16 without a hitch at all. In the end I have spent less that 1200 on the whole thing, even after the Ultra modification and a full CLA (clean lube adjust) with Bernie, AND new batteries. I mean, how can you pass that up for a tasty little film camera? It's almost disposable eh? And, something I was surprised to find, is that the scoopic is relatively quiet. I thought it was going to sound like a coffee grinder given the awful comments I'd gotten on other forums about sound sync-ing. In actuality it runs quieter than my 1014XL-S. Sound sync is totally doable. And, if you've go the right post tools you don't have to worry about it running at 99%. You can time strech in post so easily now. I've also got a great contact for a scoopic barney I'd be happy to share with ya. You won't have all the bells and whistles that some of the more expensive cameras have, but do you need them? I've always thought that "an artist uses his tools creatively and is not limited by them." Video taps, mags, crystal sync, etc... these are all really nice. But, if you don't need them for your projects, you don't need them for your projects. Also, Cinelicious is definately doing amazing work, and with your/our budget it's much more desirable than other transfer houses doing S16. U16 will, I feel, get some more momentum in the coming year(s). It's only "drawback" is that it's not the "standard."

Luke: I'm in Austin as well, and just "invested" in an Ultra16 set up. I'm shooting a test reel next week for a film. I did the math and U16 is just more within reach than S16 for what I'm doing. 1: U16 and S16 are nearly identical as far as how much film real estate they use for an HD transfer at 1:1.78. Depending on who's math you look at it's about 3% difference. 2: If you have a fixed lens, like a scoopic, you HAVE to go Ultra... and the conversion wont run more than 400 bucks or so since it's just a gate widening. 3: If you buy an Eclair or Bolex, you'll have the option to go Super but the camera body will be more expensive AND the conversion (it's about twice as much since they recenter the lens), AND the lenses you'll need to cover the S16 frame. This is a several thousand dollar venture. You will then have a S16 frame that you can get transferred on the highest quality scanner... but that will also cost you muchos pesos. 4: With ultra (on a scoopic) you can't change your ground glass so it's not great for critical framing, but you can get really close. No biggie. What are you shooting? Can you deal with 2.5 minute 100' loads or do you need a longer shooting time? For me I wanted the hand-held option vs. something I had to tripod or dolly for movement. Again, saving $$. Ultra isn't common, that's for sure. BonoLabs and Cinelicious are both doing it. Other transfer houses are researching it. You can get it developed same places as S16. The challenge is that the scanners need to read between the perfs. Some can, some cant. Ultimately it sounds like you're an independent filmmaker on a budget which is what Ultra is designed to do... save money. There are plenty of options for transfer since there's more than 1. If they made a good handheld super16 camera for 1300 bucks I'd have thought more about it. Problem is they're more like 13,000. The NPR's and EBM's are not really that ergonomic at all...

My scoopic battery charger has a bad transformer. I just need the charger. Contact me if you have one! I'll keep searching eBay too... Note : The 16M batteries are squarish, vs. the 16 which are round. I need the square hole charger.

Awesome, and thanks. Sounds like I need to build something. No one makes a "spooler" I'm sure? I'll pay special attention to the side the perfs are on as well. I hadn't considered that.

The software : DV Film Raylight to wrap the MXF in Quicktime wrappers. No actual import. See if that gels with what you're trying to do.

No, I didn't mean shoot with the 200 attached. I meant if you didn't have a "reader." If you have a pcmcia slot, which older macs do but I think the new ones don't, you can just put the p2 card in the slot. If you don't have a slot, you'll need a firewire pcmcia dock. All this being said, the P2 stores the footage in MPX files. You can't just drag and drop them. They need to be structured or reconnected or something. So, FCP does this upon a "log and transfer" command when the 200 is attached. If you're importing just the card to a folder it won't work. There is a software package out there (again I don't recall the name) that will allow you to import outside of FCP. Dig around for it and I'll ask some friends what it was. You HAVE to have it though. Adam

By the foot, yes. For example, 100' of 16mm is US$38. 50' of super 8 is US$15. So raw stock comparable, but 50' of super 8 lasts 2.5 minutes. 100' of 16 lasts 2.5 minutes. It's a larger frame. Therefore, one has to pay 2x for processing the same "length" of footage as far as time is concerned. I thought it was the same price basically too, until I remembered that your frame (and therefor length) is bigger to get the same amount of time. after film and processing, it's all the same $$ to transfer! And, actually, the film is the cheap part when you consider how much it costs to transfer at a good place. I'm about to shoot my first roll of Ultra16 next week.

I am interested in understanding the process of taking 400' cores and spooling 4x100' daylight load spools for my scoopic. What equipment do I need, and how does one measure in total darkness? Any help is appreciated! Adam.

I ran into the same problem. Friends of mine routinely hire college students to transcribe for beer money, basically. Though, on many projects I don't trust anyone but myself with transcription since I have to edit it, you know? Here's a trick I use: If you have Pages (mac), you can import a quicktime file. I clean up the interview raw footage and export the audio with no breaks/pauses etc, and import the aiff file to a pages doc. This allows me to hit play/stop/rewind within the doc while I type. It means I don't have to click more than once to start typing or playing. When you click play, the aiff plays... but when you click on the text to transcribe, the aiff stops. Then, you click play to start up again. It's 1 click. Nice. Another option you could try (it just occured to me), is to play the audio in quicktime and use command+k to bring up the playback controls. Play it at 1/2 speed and I'll bet you could keep up typing. It keeps the pitch the same so it doesn't sound like andre the giant.

If you mean using the camera as your reader: Hold the mode button while in VCR mode for about 5 seconds to turn the HVX200 to a firewire device. Your laptop (mac right?) will show the 2 cards as drives. You need to "log and transfer" in FCP to get the footage to work. FCP does something to the mpx files so they're readable. It also connects spanned files from p2 card 1 to p2 card 2. There's software out there that you can buy to do this step (converting the mpx files). That way you can just get a pcmcia card reader and attach to your laptop, plug the card in and transfer footage on the fly. I can't recall the name of the software but it's only a few hundred bucks and is WAY easier than attaching the camera everytime. It's also a little safer too, I think, as far as making sure all your files make it to the laptop. Does that help?

No biggie on the wedding comment. I was just giving credit! No sync from Gus as far I've seen. I know for Paranoid Park he wanted small cameras to attach to skateboards. There's no arguing that super8 cams are light and easy to move around with. They also achieve a nice "gutter-punk" feel. Gritty. Check it out. It's pretty cool. Not unlike your experience, directors choose mediums that evoke an emotion. Sometimes it's "home-movie" ish, or "amateur" ish... sometimes it's 80's gaudy through using piss-poor video tape. I think super8 moreso for the grit/grain, color depth and the fact it's obviously film when watching it. While you could do this, to a certain extent, in AE, why fake it when you can do it for real for the same peso?

I've shot test reels with 30 seconds of sync on my 1014XL-S that were perfect. Didn't even need a tail marker. Not sure what you mean by "professionals" shooting super 8. Anyone that's making money shooting it would count as a professional to me. Wedding cinema included. A few directors ("professionals") shoot super8, gus van zandt included. While I've shot weddings, I've also shot music "videos" on super8, and even use it to test film stocks for location scouting for larger format films. I think it's clearly the medium of choice for budget conscious film-makers that want to shoot film and learn about film/film-stocks etc. While you can get a vintage look, you can also get a VERY clean and tight transfer using high end transfer houses and good film stocks. I'd say that one of the interesting things, which may account for it's gaining popularity, is that with the arrival of more modern stocks and good transfer houses, the quality of super8 rivals early 16. I've shot footage on my 1014XL-S, transferred to HD, and watching it on an HDTV (maybe 40") it looks like it originated in a larger format film. It's a really great look and I think alot of people are into it. What's old often becomes new again (ie vinyl records). I think there is definitely a resurgence and an interest for film-makers to move away from digital and back to something analog. It's a more elegant workflow since there's "planning" involved.

Very elegantly put. Consider recent resurgence of vinyl. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...1702369,00.html http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/c...teningpost_1029 It's dangerous to believe that "cheaper/easier/quicker" is better. Downloads have a place, but I prefer to listen to vinyl. It's a different experience. I pay more for physical media, but it means a hell of a lot more.

Hey Carlos: I do this for a living a small percentage of the time. While the pointers above are reasonable, here's my experience doing this for the better part of 2 years. The best camera is really whatever you feel most comfortable fumbling with during the ceremony, or first dance, or cake cutting. For me, I swear by my 1014XL-S because a: it has a 220 degree shutter in the XL position, and b: I prefer the way the macro works as opposed to my R10. The viewfinder is probably not as bright as the R10 viewfinder (for night shooting) but it has very cool light up exposure readings and let's you know (in finder) when you're about to run out of film. Honestly either is a good camera (both top of the line). I would lean towards the 1014XL-S though. Pointers: You've been to a wedding right? If you budget your film you can shoot in 10 rolls or less. Just shoot the essentials. You're not supposed to be shooting 6 hours of video tape. The art is in the "knowing" what to shoot and what they'll want to remember. My clients don't watch this once. This is a "film," by any definition. They will watch it a LOT. Don't shoot everything. Shoot the things that matter. This gets easier with experience. EDIT IN CAMERA and you won't waste film or time in post. PLEASE remember that anything closer than 5 feet to the camera requires you drop it into macro, and this takes finessing. It's not easy to focus in macro. Practice. Learn to pin-point focus your camera. Zoom in to get accurate focusing. You'd be surprised what looks "in focus" through the viewfinder isn't actually in focus at all. A lot of this depends on how low-light you are too. With wider aperture comes shallow dof. You'll have to get really good at pin-point focusing in darker conditions. Lastly, transfer it well. You can shoot awesome footage but if you slack on the transfer you may as well just flush it down the toilet. This takes a lot of practice and skill. Not too many folks do this right on the first, second or third try. Shoot a test reel. There's a reason some of us make a living at this!

The article doesn't say very much about anything other than he's a "convert." Wired isn't so much of a camera mag, so I think the perspective is a bit skewed. But whatever... it's another great tool for film-making, right?

I think I read that Bonolabs does U16 developing as well. They're in NJ or something I think. Never used them. I'd go with Alphacine for sure. Great results there.

I've transferred 18fps film at 24fps. That got all the frames, but I had to slow it down. I ended up with, EITHER: 1, ghost frames (doubled up) or 2, dropped frames when using FCP. They both suck. Doubled frames causes issues if you are editing scenes since you'll typically have a frame at the end of a take with the next take overlaid. If you drop frames it tends to feel really really jerky. Not sure what a 30p transfer offers different than a 24p. Does it alleviate this issue?

V3-500T Meters perfectly in my 1014XL-S, and the results are stunning really. I have some (though fairly compressed) footage here: http://www.vimeo.com/3021850 You may want to download the original (lower right). Performs great in lowlight, and razor sharp in daylight.

All: Looking to buy a bolex ebm or el. Anyone have any thoughts on the better camera? The light meter is what's got me hung up, since I'd prefer to have a more "point and shoot" 16mm, though they are both pretty cumbersom Would love any input from current owners. Also, too loud to record sound sync? Are barney's easy to find? Thanks!!! Adam.