ck filmworks

Death Interrupted was shot on a S16mm CP16 with (9.5mm, 12.5mm, 16mm, 25mm) Ultra-T prime set, an Angie Compact Zoom (sold exclusively through Whitehouse AV), and an Angie 5.9mm (wide-angle). I've worked with all the lenses, going back to early zeiss and I love my Kowa glass. There is actually a video online somewhere comparing Ultra-Ts to Zeiss MK1s. The difference that I saw was in color resolution, and I don't know if it was the film, processing, or lens. The difference seemed to be in the lens, with the Ultra T's having a bit more bluish/greenish tint to it. That said, my footage looks great to me. My favorite lens, and most used, is the 25mm Ultra-T. I move my camera around with the 25mm, instead of switching lenses in most cases. The only thing I do not like about the Ultra T's is that they only go up to a focal length of 25mm. I would die for a 75mm Ultra-T with the Kowa. I would give an arm for a 50mm. Please check out my award winning TV pilot shot on Ultra-Ts... www.watchdeath.com I am never parting with my Ultra-T's. Never.

It's hard to tell what will happen to our cameras. People are still shooting. It;s the service side of the business that has changed the art form. I am selling my CP for less than what I paid, but I already got my worth out of my cameras to the point I could give them away and still come out on top. I think the lack of interest now boils down to two things; 1. Many film schools no longer use 16mm or super 8mm film, and those cameras are available. 2. The cameras are not in demand anymore, not to mention the older cameras are not easily serviced. The whole indie film fad has died down a bit and many folks have left in debt. And there are many DV and HD cameras out there that are now obsolete. But your film camera is probably worth more than an old SVHS or Hi-8 camera, and there is a market for it. Film has become a specialty item, whether its a prop, antique display, or a working tool. And let's not talk about the price of silver right now, and it doesn't seem to be stopping. I hate to wonder how Kodak and Fuji will deal with $100/oz silver.

I have a CP16mm on sale right now at ebay. I'm actually selling the camera with its sound head where you can record on magnetic-stripped film. I just saw sound film on ebay, too. http://cgi.ebay.com/Special-Rare-Cinema-Products-CP-16R-16mm-Camera-/300543086389?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f9c38f35

I shot Death Interrupted on my S16mm-converted CP16 camera. Lenses are CP Ultra-T primes. (footage up on the site now is before my DE:noise process) www.watchdeath.com I shot an older short film (The Chosen) on S16mm film as well, and all my commercial work except for my AT&T ads (35mm). I have two Telly awards for cinematography using my CP16. It's alive and well. The Rosanna Arquette film, Exodus Fall, is shot on S16mm. But I agree that the telecine options have dwindled. Most of the shops closed up since all the mid-low-range shows are using video. Telecine -- Good telecine is much harder to find. Ent. Post was offering $175-$200/hr., but they closed. Fotokem is higher, but they will try to work with a filmmakers budgets. There's still options out there, but if we all stop shooting S16, then sooner or later they all will be gone. I cannot imagine why people are not shooting film right now. It is the best it has ever been. The vision stocks are so amazing. I am selling a regular 16mm CP16 body w/ Zoom Lens and Zoom controller. It has been my back up, and S16mm conversions are ideal for this camera. If anyone or anyone you know is interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/Special-Rare-Cinema-Products-CP-16R-16mm-Camera-/300543086389?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f9c38f35

Well said.

The lenses will obviously will make the 16mm look better, but what's wrong with Zeiss? Do the lenses even fit? PL is half your problem. You still have to check the distance from the lens to the film plane. When all is said and done, why not just use Zeiss MKs? You digi guys are crazy over toys to play with, I swear.

You probably won't learn anything useful from a Colorist, and you would be paying a lot of money to learn it. I suggest walking into a facility, and asking them for a tour. Not even 8-12 hours with a colorist would be enough time to teach you the things they know. I just came off a show with a really easy work flow, but the post house went out of business right after I completed. But here's a work flow that worked for me, and was very cost-effective. Your footage starts with shooting. Use Vision2 or Vision3 stocks with good lenses. Then film developing which is a small cost in comparison. You should let the lab's telecine scheduler do the transfers for you. Or you need to find a good post house that offers good footage for a reasonable price (150/hr - $400/hr). You can also try Colorlab.com. You can either scan to file or layback to tape. I personally prefer tape (so I have a backup), but it depends on money. If you go to tape, you have to get it onto the computer. So usually datacine saves time and is worth the extra price in the end. But if you do tape, you either need to rent a deck from a place like digdif.com or you have to hire an editing bay with the appropriate hardware/deck. Telecine and Digitizing can be super expensive, so be careful on pricing... Telecine should not cost more than $400/hr, but high end facilities can charge up to $800-1,200/hr. I recently paid $175/hr for S16mm to HD-1080 onto HDCAM with award-winning results. That same facility only charged me $100 to transfer each hour of footage to a ProRes422 file. For that same job, Cinelicious.tv quoted me $1200/hr for a 2k DaVinci transfer. This is the highest I have ever seen, and I don't believe anyone should pay this much for telecine when you have Dalsa 4K out there. So I figured they were either way overpriced, or they were trying to take me for a loop. In my opinion, if you are new and shooting regular 16mm, don't bother with high-end telecine facilities or dealing with tape. Have your lab do datacine in-house, unsupervised. Film is not video, so it will be a much more expensive toy to play with. I prefer transfers using the old standard-- Spirit 2K, with high saturation, high contrast, and a solid balance of exposure (sometimes on the lighter, and sometimes on the darker side). To make your footage look better, you can color correct in the computer yourself or have an indie guy do it. You can buy plug-ins to reduce noise and grain in the edit bay, so don't waste money on high end DVNR (DV noise reducing) bays. I recently used a denoiser in CS5 and the results with S16mm were really impressive. http://www.revisionfx.com/products/denoise/

You should buy the battery and charger for $300 if you want to shoot on the CP-16. The batteries are custom, 20V. I am actually selling a CP16R with zoom lens & zoom control. I'm not selling mags and batteries, since I am using those on my other CP.

How has the cp16 treated you Freya? I like the CP so much I own 2 of them. Welcome to the club. The CP camera works well with the Ang Zoom. Whitehouse audio and visual will rebuild it from scratch if you need it done. Visual Products will do the S16mm conversion if you have interest & they can also install a video tap. Ebay is perfect place to find used parts. Just ask questions, and get a guaranty from the ebay sellers. There's a few recommendations I can add; 1. There's 2 types of cp-16r's. One has the bowtie shutter (135deg) and the other has the halfmoon shutter (156deg). The only difference that's noticeable is you might see a bit more flicker in the image with the bow-tie shutter. You cannot add a color tap to the bowtie shutter cameras. B&W is fine, though. 2. Try to find an orientable viewfinder if you can. Here's one currently for sale on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/Cinema-Products-Orient...id=p3286.c0.m14. 3. Look for the CP Ultra-T prime lenses. I own a set, and they make my CP's footage look excellent. The set includes the 9mm, 12.5mm, 16mm, 25mm (most opening to T1.25). You might be able to rent them from smaller rental houses. CP created these lenses so the users in the 70's could make films using superior glass. I believe CP licensed the Ultra-T glass from Kowa. Images and footage attached. 4. Maintience is an issue. Have it looked at every 2- 4 years after rebuild/check-up. You can replace at least one of the motor belts yourself. I've done it. But I suggest having a local camera house in Europe rebuild or fix if needed. Whitehouse audio visual would be best, but he can get pricey. The rebuild he offers is a good deal. 5. Bite the bullet, and buy new batteries from Whitehouse av. My CP's usually run a whole day on only one battery. They last a very long time in my experience. I always wanted to buy a CP, and lived a similar experience as you when I paid $800 for one on ebay. It came with the 12-120 zoom lens, mags, older batteries, and an extension eye-piece for the viewfinder. I had to buy new batteries. This camera I bought on ebay was owned and was used on the Faces of Death series (1970's- mostly used for the dramatized footage). I had that camera rebuilt, and then traded it with Ken (@Whitehouse AV) for another body that has a 30fps modification on it. I later found out David Giancola in Vermont (edgewood studios) was selling his 16mm CP's. David is another CP fan, and owns CP-S16 & CP35mm cameras (modified to 3-perf S35mm). (Serious CP lover). I bought a set of pristine Ultra T's from David at Edgewood (the same lenses used on his film Illegal Aliens with Anna Nicole Smith). Shortly after that, I bought one of his converted CP-S16r camera bodies with a b&w video tap. The same camera used on Illegal Aliens. (history of CP keeps going) Here's some pictures of my latest film shot with my CP-S16R with the Cinema Products Ultra-T prime Lenses; Here's some ads I shot with my CP & lenses; http://www.ckfilmworks.com/footballfan%20ad.mov http://www.ckfilmworks.com/movingday%20ad.mov http://www.ckfilmworks.com/mandel.php I really hope you enjoy your camera. It really is a great camera, and it only gets more interesting as people rediscover them. Happy Shooting! Todd C. www.ckfilmworks.com

Sadly selling mine on ebay. I used the Chinon 12SMR throughout film school, and it has been my camera of choice for Super8mm. The lens is far better then most cameras. It has functionality that can improve your shots. Just one look at the lens, and you can't help but fall in love with the camera. I shot with reversal and most of the kodak stocks. I prefer to shoot with slower film stocks, and use the lighting to bring up exposure. If they make Fuji-vivid160 for super-8, then that would be the ideal film stock-- Lots of color saturation and mid-range grain. I have a few basic recommendations for shooting with the Chinon 12SMR-- Use the built-in ND filter whenever you can. I only shot with the ND on, and it gave me great images everytime. Just make sure you compensate with the t-stop. Use Manual Exposure and Manual Focus. Shoot on Reversal film-- It looks awesome through this camera. -Todd