Simon Wyss

Hands off! That turret plate tells a sad story. Bent shutter lever, a motor thread socket missing in the housing, switches missing with the Perfectone gear, all the rust, this is a NO-GO. Not even for parts, you have rust everywhere. If you don’t want to pay a lot purchase a simpler camera like a Revere. They run for 50 seconds by the way. Cinematography comes out of you, not the camera.

Let me tell you why some choose film. Because they have to wait for the takes to be processed, for rushes to be printed, processed, screened Because picture and sound have to be synched Because there is cooperation with lab people Because they like moving pictures lacking half of the action due to 180 degree shutters Because there’s more lighting, more work, more human friction in film I had the chance to work with a cameraman who assisted Eugen Schüfftan in the Twenties. Having to wait until rolls were developed meant that he could open a bottle of wine and share it with those who wanted. He smoked all day. At the age of 76 he went for another Indian Sea turn like almost every year. Film work is slower but more intense. You’ve never prayed in the dark next to the step printer that it might swallow a heavily shrunken film, still after the stripe has been given total overhaul, perfect cleansing, moistening. For me it has to do with the inner freedom to do what I can do. I use my senses. I want to feel that somebody projects a film, a person. She or he adjusts the focus while looking through binoculars. Somebody is payed for doing something, not for doing nothing.

Let us see: Aaton 7 Arriflex 16 BL Beaulieu News 16 Berndt-Bach Auricon Cinevoice, Pro 600, Super 1200 Bolex 16 Pro Canon Scoopic 200 S/SE Cinema Products 16 Debrie C 16 Sinmor Eclair ACL Frezzolini FR 16, LW 16 Mitchell R 16 Single System

Everything you want to have copied must be cemented or welded in the case of polyester base film. I think you don’t find a lab where a film full of tape joints will be put on a printing machine. Dailies/rushes are taped. Some work with Catozzo and likes, some prefer Rivas and likes. Magnetic stock is taped only. One can produce inaudible joints. Cement splices last as long as the film itself. Pressure-sensitive tape slowly dries up, becomes brittle, may fall off. Some of lesser quality tend to smear. Also consider film and image formats. CinemaScope originals must be spliced in two rolls. Actually, 16 mm must be A- and B-edited as well in order to make splices invisible. Same with all 8 mm film. Ninepointfive can accommodate the splice between frames. All this does not apply when pictures are being scanned and the edited data transferred back onto film. You learn to respect film and human work within it by making wet splices. I’d like to suggest reading this book: The Technique of the Film Cutting Room by Ernest Walter. Focal Press

Oh, no! Now I know why your camera rattles, it was on that Pier where I met the sweetest Swedish girl, and we were very sad at the day of departure. Unbelievable how the neutrals can cause trouble but we did. Her name is Rose.

formulae, not formulaes formulae is already the plural of formula

No, there isn’t. No lab technician in the world, not even Rembrandt if still alive, could add to a photographic colour picture what’s not in it. RGB printing light systems influence the copy as a whole, I want to say: you alter the base for the exposure, not the colours alone. These interrelations go overlooked a bit with the electronic simulation because there contrast, density, and hue seem to be variable separately. In fact, one can change a single colour channel’s value alone. Chemical film responds broadbandly, we have to set more distinct points than the computer-educated client expects. You see, bigger steps on the printer light scale alter the colour balance so much that a subtle filter is just outdone. Personally, I’d never dare attempting to time for anything else than a combined colour-grey board. The rest must be before the camera. Isn’t this what cinematographers demand from a lab, repeatable accuracy?

Jean-Louis, entièrement d’accord. The braking pads of the governor are leather. They are meant to run dry but dry leather becomes hard over the years. At 12 f. p. s. the momentum on the pads is more force at less diameter. That is the reason for the vibration. Yes, molycote lubricant is a good choice. I once lubed an H 16 with grease also on the governor. She came back to a reasonable life but like Jean-Louis Seguin says that may turn sticky as well. There is nothing else than regular maintenance. With the Bolex H I’d speak of five year intervals or after 20'000 feet of film when the camera is in serious use. Last time I was in Hastings seems to have been in 1977. Pier still standing?

It’s the governor. This most important piece of the mechanism requires one single drop of oil for its brass drum in which three braking pads revolve. So nobody of those who opened the camera did really take care. The governor bearings most certainly need lubricant, too. The Paillard-Bolex cameras are prone to runnig dry, all steel axles in bronze sleeves must be attended to. Two to three hours of concentrated work for a well trained technician, no major problems included.

Kamil, you have to be national to become international. Everything else is rubbish. Jiří Trnka, Zoltán Fábri, Mario Monicelli, Ula Stöckl, everyone is understood in their home culture. Only American movies, for the majority, start from international abstracts and very basic instincts. How did Mozart say in Amadeus: German, let it be German. The emperor: Plain German for plain people.

January 2006 I developed the content of this can after more than 37 years. It came to me out of the basement of an animation movie specialist’s apartment. You can’t read it perhaps, there is a stamp 17 SEP 1968. Turned out as good negative. To know that it wasn’t already processed I cut 100 feet off and run it through my Eyemo. There was double exposure of content I didn’t know and of mine. Colour film is a different thing.

Doug Gorius, student ?! I sometimes have the impression that posts or thread starts like this one could be home made, I mean written by insiders for keeping the forum alive. Who can be so non-read as a student to ask such questions? Resolution? Resolving power, film versus video, come on, Douglas living person, are you not aware of the basic difference, that one is something organic, the other anorganic? Because you LOVE film, why not tell us your love story? Where are you, who are you, which direction in cinematography are you taking?

David W. Samuelson, Motion Picture Camera Data, Focal Press: Mag. is upright when lettering on footage indicator reads correctly. Remove left lid of mag. by releasing three cornered safety catch and rotating mag. lid 90° anti-clockwise. (Note three-cornered safety catch on take-up side has a small felt insert for identification in the dark.) Place film in mag., thread end through light trap, re-set footage indicator lever against film and replace lid. If film is in take-up side of mag. remove and can-up in the dark. In the light pull out beginning of film, locate under sprung holder with perfs. located on ends. Tear off loose end of film whild holding down holder. Place an empty core on spindle on take-up side of mag. and check footage indicator lever is resting against it. Replace lid without threading film further. Connect camera to electronic control unit, check module is in place and knob is set to com-mag if single system sound recording required. With camera door closed attach mag. to rear by engaging at bottom, hinging upwards and locking it. Turn loading knob fully clockwise and hold until yellow light goes off and camera stops running. Return loading knob to original position. Camera is now fully threaded and ready for shooting. The loose end of film will attach itself to take-up core automatically during first take. Mag. cannot be removed from camera until film is completely run-out or until camera stops running. Mag. cannot be re-used until film in take-up side has been removed and an empty core fitted. Note daylight spool loading film may be used for take-up after removing spinning flange/core adaptors and locking footage indicator arms out of the way. When using spools for take-up, film end must be manually attached to spool after threading through camera. In replacing spinning flanges note one for take-up side has a white dot for identification purposes (similar to white dot on safety catch). Hope this helps.

That’d be new to me, too. There was the 10-element D-mount Switar 13-0.9 for 8 Millimeter cameras, five groups of two cemented elements each. Brass barrel.

You fortunate son! Rodinal (after the french artist Auguste Rodin, 1840–1917) is fine for your work. Kodak TXR has no anti-halation layer that would come off, it’s a grey-base stock. Jump into it, who knows if you won’t end up with a lab like me. Replace what’s missing! Welcome to the wonderful Grauzone between anorganic and organic chemistry.

To come around let me put it this way: I should never bother if a movie like The Apartment were shot in 3:4. Regular 16 is 3 to 4 aspect ratio. Wide screen is fine, but the regular format, if you want, also the contained triangle with sides 3-4-5, are very dynamic. Regular 16 helps convey depth for the action. Many motion pictures go so perfectly with that geometry like, let me see: The Women Mon Oncle I soliti ignoti The Third Man Ursula oder das unwerte Leben . . . Let’s not forget that 9.5 mm and 16 mm were created for the promotion of safety reduction prints, old Pathé productions in the first place.

There is that scene in The Apartment about a healthy soup . . .

Well, actually I wanted to write only the first line at first: has digital video not always been dead? Then I got carried away somehow.

Elektra, has digital numeric video not always been dead? Are you alive, does blood flow in veins of you? Do you bear the eternal spark in you? Gea, hold me firmly in your arms, and let me not flee in flight! Urania, you count the days. Do we have a day for everything? No, we don’t. Chemistry is Gea’s home. But there hasn’t been an earth day in the week for thousands of years, and no uranic day, either. No wonder film and video have become rivals. Five out of twelve missing. Scar Wars.

What about a semi-automatic developing gear like what I’m preparing? Cargo will consist of spiral reels that one uses by hand, and drying drum on stand, driven by an electric motor, activated by pedal. With two drums one will be able to work continuously. The reels will be adjustable to different film widths and available in 100, 200, 500, and 1000 ft. sizes. The biggest one will necessitate two workers. Spooling from reel to drum is a safe and neat action. Best materials, the system evolved out of the experience of years in commercial film lab darkrooms. Rough calculated price for the basic kit around US$10'000. It will last a lifetime.

Yes. I wish people would know about the positive side of pedantry. In Latin it means to go by foot. It has everything of natural rhythm, to walk lets us breathe, not breathless. I feel we all are in a deep need for our own pace. The speed-up is over, that was around 1989. And the drive is upwards again, gone is that decadent 20th century. I have an H 8 Reflex, it must be just one of the first with the new housing: big base, 1-1 shaft, T-I knob switch instead of lever. The instruction booklet is accompanied by a leaflet on which the changes are illustrated, dated 1963. It is not so important.

1963 Every Paillard-Bolex H 16 can be fitted with sprocket drums toothed both sides or one side, they are just screwed to the shafts. Bolex, Yverdon, has both articles on stock, and so have many repair people. Important that loop sizes are correctly set

Standard procedure would be wedding first, children afterwards.

Please, Millennium, with two n, the latin words mille and annum hide in there. C'est tout.

Of course does it mean something. You probably don’t understand what I want to express: there’s this swiss german saying that it’s dark like inside a cow’s stomach or inside a cow. Sometimes we say Two Black Men Fighting with each other in a Tunnel at Night. High key would be called An Eskimo (I know, not PC) Fighting with an Ice Bear During a Snow Storm. I downloaded the picture data and made it appear full size on my monitor. It looked better than I first thought but still . . .