Tyler Purcell

Dude, the mini has NO VIEWFINDER OR VIEWFINDER PROVISION!!!!! I have yet to use any other viewfinder on my pocket, what's the point? It works great, it keeps the size/weight down and keeps the price in-line with it's value. If you spend $2k "upgrading" your $1k camera, you're failing.

The only way to diagnose is to post a sample.

I haven't seen anything impressive from ANY home processing, motion picture film or still.

Most scanners like that are ULTRA slow. It make take upwards of a minute to capture each frame. I'm not sure how they go about capturing Super 8, but not 16 or 35? I think someone made a small mistake when they wrote the info page. Also, even if it DID work, there is no registration. Yea scary, now when it doesn't come out right, you have no recourse. At least when you do it yourself, you can only blame yourself. :) Again, Cinelab in Boston deals with european stuff constantly. Just shoot them a call via skype and they'll hook you up! :)

The Morse (rewind) system will never work. Film can't be touching each other during the processing phase. Also, no color once again.

Sure, but that market is even MORE myopic then then B&W. Most people who take the time to shoot something, doesn't matter what it is, care greatly if what they shot looks good. Yes, there are a hand-full of people around the world, that only shoot film for artistic purposes. I personally don't understand the market, because it's easy to take something that first looks good and turn it into something that looks bad. Give me a perfect negative and when I strike a print, lets mess it up. It's useful for hobbyists who are only interested at screaming "eureka" when there is something that resembles a processed image. They are tricky, I've loaded them before. The film is so close to each other, it's impossible to know if it skipped a rail. Plus, the lomo tank is only 50ft at a time. Complete impractical for any serious work. So how do you do 16mm? Do you break the film in half mid scene and splice it back together again?

The Blackmagic Micro Cinema camera is not an "update" to the pocket, it's an entirely different camera body, with identical electronics to the pocket, designed specifically for drone cinematography. Why Blackmagic have delayed brining 60p to the pocket, is not clear since its the same camera head. But the micro has no viewfinder, so it's really not anything like the pocket in functionality. Blackmagic also have a new 4k camera called the micro studio, which is the same form factor as the micro cinema, but has an all-new 4k imager. It has no recorder or viewfinder, so you'd have to add those things, but theoretically you could. But you'd be loosing the 12 bit RAW capability of the pocket and of course, loose the all-in-one form factor. If you're going to build a multi-thousand dollar rig to contain all the different components that makeup your "camera", might as well go with a different camera body. The whole point of the pocket is that it's self contained and doesn't need rigging to work.

If film is a specialty market in of itself, Black and White is a myopic specialty within it. Most people are looking color negative solutions, as that's where the cost is. Right, so when you're talking about super 8, an image HALF the size of what you're use to, those things are a REAL problem. Plus, the other inconsistency you didn't mention were the developer and fixer phases. If there isn't enough gap between the film during these phases, there will be further inconsistencies. I'm unaware of a super 8 tank/spool which works properly, for 16/35 there are a few difficult to find ones, which require spooling off the film inch by inch in a dark room. Anyway, I've processed my own B&W and color film for over a decade at specialized facilities. I couldn't imagine doing it at home and unless quality makes no difference, there is no point. If you make something and don't want it to look good, just buy a digital camera. :shrug:

Welcome to the forum! Unfortunately there are no benefits to processing at home if you expect any decent quality in return. There is a pretty decent startup cost associated due to the hardware, chemicals and building a dark/clean room with heavy ventilation. Sure, you can do a lot of outside, but you still need to load and dry it, both steps are difficult without a clean room. Super 8 is the cheapest film format to work with, but minute by minute, it's not much cheaper then Super 16. Super 8 is around 15-20% less then S16, which isn't a big number when you consider S16 is twice the resolution. There are literally hundreds of DYI solutions for home processing, but none of them solve the basic issues of retaining chemical temperatures, keeping the film from touching each other, removing the rem jet layer automatically (color negative) and drying. These four things are really what separates lab processing from home processing. The results of home processing are always SUBSTANDARD as a consequence. The problem with home processing in my eyes (having done 100's of 35mm still rolls in my lifetime) is that cost of stock is so high and the cost of lab processing is so inexpensive in comparison ($0.34/foot for S16mm stock and $0.12/foot for processing), the RISK of buying that stock and getting a crappy product in the end, seems hardly worth it. You don't get a second chance with film, the moment it's messed up, it's messed up forever. So you've not only wasted the stock cost, but the time you spent shooting the stock and the time and money you spent building your processing apparatus and chemicals. Working with color motion picture film is always going to be costly. Either you pay the lab or you loose time you could be making money, mucking around with home-brew solutions. I have yet to see a DYI scanner solution that shares any quality resemblance to a real film scanner. With 16mm and 35mm motion picture film, it's a bit less of a problem then super 8 because they have less gate weave. However, with super 8's gate weave issue, it's extremely time consuming to build a working scanner and fix the gate weave in post. Where it's easy to do that with a modern scanner which can look at frame corner as a registration point, rather then the perforations or edge of film, like a projector or telecine machine would. In the end, working with film has an associated cost. No matter how much you try to skirt around the issue, it will always come back to bite you. If your goal is to save money, the best way to do that is cut down on stock cost (buy 16mm short ends instead of shooting on Super 8) and send in big batches at once, which helps reduce the processing/scanning rate. The guys over at Cinelab in Boston, offer phenomenal package deals for processing and transfer, you can't beat'em.

I see the UK wanting to have control over their own laws, vs a larger governing body (the EU). The big problem comes down the fact, if there are ANY issues related to travel/immigration, they MUST be dealt with in the heavily bureaucratic EU courts. So it really has nothing to do with protecting AGAINST immigration. It has to do with having CONTROL over immigration. The UK is a bloody island, so they CAN very well institute their own legislation on travel/immigration. Heck, when it really comes down to it, we're an island as well. The only difference is that the US conservative party, the guys who spout the constitution all day long when it comes to their rights to own guns, forget where they came from. We are a country of immigrants, those ultra conservative crazies are too stupid to look into their past and realize where they came from. By contrast, the UK was not a country of immigrants until they opened the flood gates not that long ago because they wanted a lower-class to do all the work for them. It was a HUGE mistake and now they're backpedaling on it. This decision in 10 - 20 years, may make the UK a much more conservative country and probably a better place to live for white folk scared of anyone with a hint of dark skin or funny accent. :shrug: I'll say this much, having lived in the mecca's of diversity in the US, I like it! There is nothing cooler then being on a subway ride where people are speaking 10 different languages, wearing cool clothing from all over the world and all getting along nicely with one another. That to me is mighty awesome!

Yea, you can use a super high shutter speed for sure.

JD, the Mexican's won't stop coming over the border thanks to a wall. The drug cartels can throw more money then we can at crossing that wall. So Trump can build it all he wants, but there are rivers/lakes which can't be bordered up. The cartels will build deeper/bigger and more intense tunnels then they've ever made prior. Furthermore, if you trap them, they will use brute force to get through. The death toll to border agents will increase, our government will be forced to enforce the wall with military officials and there will literally be a border war. Meanwhile, in select sections of the wall, people will still be crossing like the wall was never there. The drug cartels won't give up. The only way to "solve" border issue, is to send US military troops over the border and take out every single cartel member, their families and their relatives. We've had 50 years to do that and it's never happened and I don't think a would-be president Trump will either. He talks a lot, but a lot of people have already tried what he wants to do and failed. Ohh and the Canadian border? HA! Nobody is touching that. It's 4x the length of the Mexican border. It goes through heavy mountain/forrest areas with lakes/rivers and literally thousands of roads. People live and work on opposite sides as well, so there is a HUGE work community that would be disrupted. Plus, the cost to build a wall would be astronomical and the Canadian government (like the Mexican government) is going to stick their middle finger up at Trump if he even gets close to proposing it. Trump is not getting the people of this country to pay for a wall tall enough, wide enough, with enough protection on either side, to make it worth while. Might as well build a new, high speed transcontinental railroad, it would probably be cheaper in the long run. What "Fence" people don't realize is that, the VAST majority of illegals here in this country are NOT border crossing mexican. They come here on airplanes and they over stay their visa. Heck, as the US has become more and more unstabilized, the Mexican's are moving back! It's getting harder to find decent work here, even for them, which is crazy! So no JD, sadly none of what Trump "thinks" is going to happen, will happen. He talks a big talk, but he is a failed businessman, living off loans the big banks have granted him because he has a big mouth. Honestly, I hope Trump does get into office because it will be the final tipping point for an all-out revolution in this country. My hope is that it will lead states to disband from the union. It would be great to see the entire west coast come together and leave the union. It would be great to have the entire north east from New York City up to Canada, to split ties and become their own thing or part of Canada (I'd move back there if that happens). Trump can have all the uneducated, gun swinging, jesus loving, gay hating, racists states, and the rest will break away and become their own country, as it should be.

Well, it's a digital camera, so it can run shutter angles that film cameras can't. Most digital and film cameras run 180 degrees stock. A high speed camera would help resolve the motion blur issue, but at an added cost.

HA! Well, not to get into politics, but I think he would perpetuate the status quo, so will Hillary Clinton. These are people who thrive off power and money, all they want is to maintain what is currently a failing system for as long as possible. It benefits their pockets, it benefits their clients pockets and it benefits every other rich person who funds candidates like them. What we need a government by the people for the people. None of this matters anyway, the bubble is going to burst with or without intervention. When the middle class salary average is 50k a year ($38k take home times two people = 76k) and the average cost of living is roughly $4k a month = 48k (housing, vehicles, insurance, taxes, food/clothing, child care), there is no money left to be a "consumer". We have no buying power as citizens anymore because it costs too much money to live. When it finally bursts I will clap my hands. People will be FORCED to learn about the truth and I hope this time around, we do hang some bankers.

Who gives a poop about markets and money, that is the problem with this global economy. Everyone is so focused on getting rich off everyone else, they'll do anything to screw each other. The whole "system" needs to crash, everything needs to go down to rock bottom. We had some of that in 2008, but not enough. Had the banks been left to fail, had the bankers who caused the meltdown been hung by the neck until dead, things would be a lot different. Here is the problem Richard, we live in an unsustainable system. No other civilization has made it as far as we have and I hate to break it to you, but we are going to fail like they have. The ONLY way to really fix things is to LET IT FAIL! Every time we get the opportunity, the government spend more money to perpetuate their position. When it fails, they will no longer have the power.

I've been looking around for quite sometime. The problem is re-aligning the lens. Most all 16mm projectors have fixed lens mounts. It will be interesting to see if anyone responds to this, as I will be working on Super 16 with my students and don't have a great way to project the prints.

Yea, well what do you expect? poop is going to hit the fan and as a consequence of the pound being not worth as much, it means what they make will be more affordable to the rest of the world. I don't believe for a second the UK is going to flounder.

I will say one more thing that I forgot to mention earlier. I had been pushing the Rokinon's for quite a while because they looked pretty good on the pocket. However, when I switched to the Super 16 Optars (and zoom lens pictured above) all of a sudden the pocket camera came to life! All this time I never realized how BAD the Rokinon's were compared to REAL cinema glass.

You can avoid motion blur by simply increasing the shutter speed (decreasing shutter angle). Increasing frame rate can also help, but going from 24 - 30 may not help enough. I shoot at 45 deg shutter all the time and my stuff has very little motion blur @ 24fps.

Can you send some more pix? Does it have a video tap? I can't tell if it's PL or Aaton mount. What is your price?

First off, the EU is falling apart. The UK was spending quite a bit of money helping them say afloat, helping the whole "system" work, when you have countries like Greece and Spain, who are basically failed states and Italy not far behind. The only superpowers in the EU were Germany, France and UK. Now with the UK pulling out, Germany and France have to do a lot of soul searching. They need to figure their poop out or dissolve it. Economically the EU seems like a great thing, but financially it has two ways to go and unfortunately it's gone the wrong way. Another thing that's gone the wrong way is immigration. This whole cross borders EU passport nonsense, is absolutely stupid. It adds too much bureaucracy to the process of deporting and far less security/scrutiny. It's scary having huge open borders, not knowing exactly who's coming and going. There needs to be FAR more scrutiny on immigration, especially for a smallish country like the UK. I'm probably the only person who is happy with the UK leaving the EU. I'm happy because it gives a message to the rest of the EU states; the grand experiment is in decline. It would be difficult for some of them to leave as they are indebted to the EU for their mere survival. Yet, I think France is on the tipping point from what I read. I bet they are next and if they are, Germany will have no choice because they need the French capitol. In the next 5 years, the EU will most likely collapse. It will be the end of a great dream that was poorly executed and clearly not a great idea.

350Tb = The reason I don't shoot RAW and 4k. TO me, that's a non-starter, might as well shoot film. The time it takes to transcode everything is costly, the storage is costly, the labor to prep and manage the storage is costly and worst of all, if you have any glitch, even if it's small, resolving it is also costly. One of the doc's I'm working on, also shot over the last 3 years, but it's all 1080p Pro Res HQ, so the total amount of storage is around 8TB so far. We're not done shooting, so maybe another 4TB when we're done? Still, it's a HUGE project that already has a theatrical deal (the director has great distribution connections) and it's a very cool story that people will want to see. The average film I work on, either documentary or narrative, is between 10 - 24TB, with most of them being in the 10 - 15 range and only a few higher. Of course, I'm working on what.. 2 feature doc's, 5 30 minute training videos and 1 narrative feature. Yea, I basically eat, sleep and work. Worst part is, three of those projects are deferred payment, they went through their primary editing budget already. So the only money I'm getting is for the training videos and I'm sharing that work with an assistant editor because it's so much. :sigh: The life of a freelance editor kinda sucks. I miss the ol' days when I could wake up at the crack of whenever, wonder in to the office for 6hrs and go home to do whatever I wanted, stress free because there was a paycheck in my bank account every other friday. It's too bad the industry has collapsed in on itself and there is a bigger divide from the haves and have not's then there has been for a while. :( I preyed for a good year this year and I got it. Too much work for one person to do, but still for some reason, not enough money.

:gulp: Yea, that's a lot of storage! So it's 80TB times 2 (since you need a backup) and 30TB times 2 as well. So you're talking 220TB of storage for one project! Totally doable if you have months to sit around and copy/transcode stuff. LOL :D

Absolutely! Plus, you will meet people and talk shop, that's the fun part. I'm sure if you contacted some of the smaller rental houses in the entertainment hubs of the world, you may be able to find someone willing to help you. It's just a first step, but it's a worthwhile one for sure. I honestly wish I had pursued it more myself, but I always needed to make money (still do today) so I couldn't work for free. But if you CAN work for free, then it maybe perfect for you.

I don't work at Panavision, so how could I know about anything they've done? Furthermore, if you said they did it and the results were horrible, that means it's possible. I'm not an optical expert, nor do I claim to be. The technical problem is the fact the imager in this scenario is too far away from the back element of the lens. So all you need to do is have an adjustable lens that re-focuses the image that goes between the lens and the camera body. It would clearly consist of a few elements, but I can't imagine it being a problem. Good quality results are a totally different story. I would imagine it would be LESS quality then not using one of these gadgets.