Robert Hughes

The light loss of any prism reflex camera (of which almost all Super 8 cameras are) is due to the light splitting prism, which redirects a small portion of the incoming light into the viewfinder optics, allowing the remainder to travel on to the film gate. In-camera lightmeters are calibrated to compensate for this light loss. If you're using an external lightmeter, you need to compensate manually for this loss, perhaps by lowering the ASA reading on your meter, or by some equivalent method. Opening or closing the viewfinder optical path makes no difference, except if you keep it open and don't place your eye there, you will get light leakage from the eyepiece onto the film.

I have an Auricon "chop top" conversion (by Sollen? or Yollen?) that has some similarities to yours. But lots of shops were doing conversions of Auricons in the 60's, and it's hard to guess what your camera's peculiarities will show until you open it up and look around. Mine appears to be a "Cine-Voice" conversion, it has a 120V synchronous 60 Hz AC Baldor motor, which allows for sync shooting. Its "chop top" is laid out differently than yours - mine takes a Mitchell mag, but the mounting is non standard - the Mitchell mag itself was modified to fit the camera(?). Although yours clearly takes some sort of magazine, I don't think that's a Mitchell mount, though you may be able to modify it to fit a Mitchell mag. I hope you're ready and willing to open it up to see how it works. The lens mount is a standard "C" mount, so find a dog-leg Pan Cinor or Angenieux zoom lens for an appropriate match. Other than some persistent light leaks my Auricon works fine and with its Pan Cinor 17-85mm lens takes remarkably good images. It's not as sophisticated as a CP-16R, but it works.

Follow the above posts for cleaning the front and back elements, also take a look on the Schneider site, they have a good description of proper lens cleaning procedure. Start with the least invasive technique possible, and move on to stronger methods only if the earlier methods don't work. I've owned a few Filmos and have often seen black specks inside the lenses where I can't clean them. Ignore them, they are just bits of black paint that flaked off the shell onto the lenses. If you have mildew or mold between the elements you've got a problem - mildew etches the glass elements so that the damage is almost impossible to remove. And mold can spread to other parts of your camera, so you may prefer to keep moldy gear seperated from anything you still value. But I've seen some pretty screwed up lenses provide usable images, so don't write off your set yet.

Good luck to RED on their new offering. But this offer reminds me of IBM's practise in the 1960's of announcing and accepting orders for new computer models months before they were manufactured, soas to stifle client interest in competing offerings. Control Data Corporation took them to court and won a huge settlement, on the order of $100 million. How many potential RED clients are putting money into someone's research project when they could be running their operations with that same cash?

Which is the best Super 8 camera? The one you have.... My favorites - the ones I own: Nikon R8 - simple, straightforward, auto ASA. Mine gets soft wide open. Good handheld. Bauer S715XL - great lens, great images. Big & bulky. Needs manual ASA / f-stop adjust. Good on tripod. Beaulieu 4008ZM2 - pretty camera, nice lens. Manual ASA adj. Like a real production camera, only smaller.

I believe that Walmart does not handle E-6 film processing. Dwayne's and Walmart never agreed to a contract. You can send directly to Dwayne's for processing. Among other labs, I've had experience with Film & Video Services in Mpls which handles b&w reversal.

I don't know about the Orwo film / Foma processing connection. I have heard that Foma film in Kodak reversal processing is not reliable. Fomapan film uses a unique formulation requiring Foma chemicals, and supposedly has a silver antihalation layer on the back which must be removed (similar to old Kodak 4X reversal).

You may find vignetting along the recently expanded side of the gate. It depends on the lens.

Alternately, check to see if the variable shutter is set to 90 degrees; it's possibly half closed.

I have a hand crank for my Bolex, but it's much too small to use for real hand cranking a la Billy Bitzer. You'd probably be better off making your own.

Yeap, that's a common problem with film cameras, which is usually from the nut behind the wheel being screwed up. Try again. Like they say on the shampoo directions: "Wash, rinse, repeat"

What you CAN do is create a widescreen half-frame 16mm format similar to 2 perf 35mm, by masking the bottom half of the gate, turning over the roll (as in Regular 8) and running the film through again to expose the remaining half frame. In telecine (or projection) you show only the half frame you need, and you get a wide-screen image the height of Super 8 and the width of 16 (or Super 16, depending on the gate). Kodak used to make the Cine Special camera which incorporated similar gate masks back in the 40's.

Make your own with a leather jacket or old handbag and some woolen padding. The pros use lead lining, but you probably don't need to be as extreme.

I bought an R8 a couple years ago for $85, a fair price at the time. As for repair, you can get them serviced by professionals, yes, but you will pay professional prices for their time. You'd be better off learning how to service the camera yourself, or buying another one.

Good choice. Good luck...

Yeah, what about that guy with "ASC" for a last name? Sounds like a stage name to me... :)

Dr. Ashley - Who? Daniel Ashley-Smith! One of the prodigal sons returns! Who's next - Trevor M- without the mask, perhaps?

I know some art collectors; some prefer big wall-sized paintings that really stand out and dominate a room; others prefer miniature prints, merely the size of a piece of paper, that provide a domestic comment in a corner or along a hallway. Others collect postage stamps, which are some sort of ultimate in miniature art - every detail is at the limits of our capacity to see. Is one format better than the other? For what end? Why should small formats try to compete with large formats? By nature, 35mm is classic, Super 8 is impressionistic. Work the formats for their strengths.

I've always used sewing machine oil on my Filmos' oil holes, to good effect even in Minnesota winters. If you have a dry "shrieking shutter" mechanism (I've seen that on a few Filmos over the years) you should use a grease on the shutter slider.

NTSC has been around since, what , 1951? Go to most homes in 2006, what are they watching? Probably still NTSC. My guess is that film acquisition will not be crushed like LP records in the '80's, rather shuffle back to a healthy secondary role, much as rail freight serves as a feeder to truck traffic in a multimode transportation system. Each will have its place in the economic picture.

I respectfully disagree about your "pathetic line of thought" opinion, but I noticed that you have only a few, non-blatant spelling or grammatical errors in this post. Even though you suffer from a lifelong learning disorder, you care enough about the quality of your work to check for and correct mistakes. You are the kind of person who works harder to get the job done right and should be high on an employer's list of qualified candidates. Hey, I'm left handed, but I don't blame you for that <_< It's brought up because so many people do not have learning disorders, but are merely lazy, negligent, and uncaring; I'm not the first person on this or any other board to complain about the poor quality of work displayed by many younger folks entering the workplace. It's an unfortunate quality of modern society. To misquote the Bard, "Tis better to keep your mouth shut and have everyone think you're an idiot, Than open your mouth and prove it."

Yeah, that Mussolini was a tyrant, but he got the trains to run on time... :D

As for misspelling and bad grammar - I work days as a line manager and look at employment resumes for potential hires. I take spelling and grammar seriously, as I feel that someone who is sloppy and negligent in written communication will probably display those poor attributes in other areas of his work life. James' 7-point list would have hit my trash bin by point #2, and he would not have gotten a return call. Everything you do makes a difference, positive or negative.

DYI processing is great for camera testing. If you're fixing a machine and wanting to see how it's working, you don't need to run off 100' for a lab test. Run 10' and dip it into a D-76 bath for 5 minutes and you get the information you need.

IIRC the Mitchell 16mm cameras are designed for dual perf film. If you can use dual perf film then it's not a problem, but most cameras built since WW2 (including the Auricon and CP16 cameras) are single perf machines.