Bogdan George Radulescu

I don't think it was ever meant to be accurate, but coming out of the factory it probably didn't vary more than one or two fps.

Wow, that video on k3camera.com is awesome, I just took out the loop formers, though putting it all back together isn't as easy as taking it apart, I was done in about two hours, much easier than I though, mainly after hearing all that stuff about being complicated to dis- and reassemble, inverted screws, and blablabla... ("Save the life of my child...") One question remains though, why would you care where the 25fps setting is? It's probably so unaccurate that it doesn't matter, do you really notice a speed up of one or two fps? (This is not irony, if you do, you got great eyesight).

And Will, I think you have a good point saying that using this camera is the smallest of expenses when filming a lot. I personally don't understand why people buy a 150$ camera, and then spend hundreds of bucks in modifications, when it would be so much easier to get something like a Kinor (wink to Olex), or even an Arri 16BL or something, it's a much better investment. A K3 is useless for anything other than "down and dirty" documentary footage, B-Camera, Crash camera (like the suicide scene in Clockwork Orange), or something like that... But hey, it's just my personal opinion.

For the smart Mexican boy.

I have to admitt you are right regarding the option for Kinor or ARRI in order to improuve the image quality of your shooting on 16 mm. But from this point to accepting your arrogant point of view ( I quote you: "A K3 is useless for anything other than "down and dirty" documentary footage, B-Camera, Crash camera (like the suicide scene in Clockwork Orange), or something like that...") is a long distance. If you are pacient and careful enough, if you have a real artistic mind, full of imagination and gift for picturality, you could shot in a very good esthetic conditions on Frere Lumiere old Pathe camera. Please, look on youtube some footage shot with K3 (the Ian's movies on railways are a good example), excellent edited, and maybe you will less arrogant. I am not K3 advocate, and I know now very well its technical limits, but I think shooting with it is a useful school, a good and chepaer semi-professional starting in the filmmaking direction. It is very easy to show up as a lazy person, saying "bleah!! a K3 is a dirty thing" and then demanding with arrogance the latest technical achivements in oredr to justify your lacke of talent and of imagination.

Todd,

Please indicate me from where I could buy a matte box for my Chinon Pacific 12 SRM camera? Please find me some stores with accesories. Thank you

Bogdan

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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

Dear Todd,

Thank you so much for your answer. I reply you a little bit leater. Sorry.

1. So far, I didn't use yet the camera. I intent to use it starting from October.

2. Why you suggest me using the reversal film stok? Why reversal? Sincerely, I am much more intersted in the digital version of the super 8 mm (the copies on the dvd or the cd) shooting in order to make the editing process by myself and to arrange my own pleasurable sound design. I think - I am not sure if I am wrong - the reversal film could be telecined (it means, transfered into digital format). By tha way, may I put the images of Chinon in the 16:9 ratio format? How it looks?

3. Yes. You are perfectely right. I will always use the ND filter. I had useful experiences with ND on my sony HD video camera and on my 16 mm camera Krasnogorsk in using it.

4. Could you tell me please about the sound recording process with the Chinon camera mic? Did you use super 8 mm cartridge with sound track on it?