Max Smith

Someone has already started one on the super8wiki - here: http://super8wiki.com/index.php/Super_8_EK..._in_old_cameras Max.

Debal, You can download the latest red manuals from http://www.red.com/support . I don't think you can adjust viewfinder brightness. Regarding not having any prep time: failing to prepare is preparing to fail. There are thousands of pages of discussion at reduser.net regarding picture recipes/look ideas - but without sometime to familiarize yourself with the camera you are not going to produce your best work. Your best bet is to have an honest discussion with the producer indicating that he will save more money now - by allowing you to have a day of prep time - than by allowing an inevitable series of mistakes with the camera on a set with tons of expensive people and equipment hanging around doing nothing while you figure out why the camera isn't working - or accidentally erasing footage. Worst case - argue that you can grab some second unit type stuff that might save the edit later on as well as adding a touch of production value.

Okay - but have you lined up somewhere to develop the K40 ? - not that many places still do it. At least comparing the exposure reading with the K-40 cartridge loaded and the E-64 cartridge loaded should tell you if it's reading it as ISO40T or ISO160T. Good luck.

Steve, I've never used the camera in question - but it certainly looks like it is going to be confused by E64. You may be able to correct for it - if you can master setting the exposure manually - but it is tricky - and you need a good understanding of camera exposure to get it right. My recommendation is to get a camera that can handle it automatically, and it'll probably be on ebay for less than the cost of a Super 8 cart. Regarding 24fps versus 25fps. Shoot at 24fps, telecine at 25fps - it's what happens to all US films in Europe. The 4% speed-up is too slight for most people to notice. You may get some flicker in the finished film with artificial lighting/TV screens - so be warned. Max.

It might be worth trying VLC ("Video Lan Client") - it's probable that the files are just mjpg encoded (motion jpeg). Max.

I just wanted to share the fix for a problem that's been bugging me for the last two weeks. I installed Final Cut Pro 6 a while back (At version 6.0.2 - I think) and it's been good as gold since then, however after some inactivity and several FCP version hops - it suddenly got extremely unstable with XDCAM timelines. The screen video overlay would flash green during playback or freeze altogether. Dragging through timelines quickly - or applying 3 way cc filters would trigger crashes back to the desktop. After trying several different things - out of desperation I tried deleting my preferences files - and it magically fixed the problem. Basically I just followed the instructions here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TA27510?viewlocale=en_US - adjusting for the version number change. I googled extensively while I was having the issue - but couldn't find anything helpful - so I decided to post this incase anyone else has similar problems. In summary - if you are having strange unexplainable crashes with Final Cut Pro - try deleting your FCP preferences files.

Right you are: Autozoom has a 150 degree shutter (so 1/60th of a second at 24fps). For some reason I thought you had an XL-S.

If you have a dig through (page 22-24) http://www.apecity.com/manuals/pdf/canon_8...nd_1014xl-s.pdf Basically the shutter has two modes - daylight (150 degree) and indoor (220 degrees) - the daylight mode lets less light through to the film (a faster shutter time), the indoor mode lets more light onto the film by leaving the shutter open for longer. The side effect of the longer shutter is slightly more blurry images. This is entirely independant of the CCA switch (page 26). So on the 814 - you pick: film speed (18 or 24 fps), shutter speed (angle), CCA engaged or not, and set the f/stop (page 30) according to what you DSLR is telling you the exposure is. With 500T at f/1.4 and a 220 degree shutter you can shoot on a well lit city street at night (with a bit of underexposure).

I've had audio sync issues with FCP that have been down to the easy setup settings being out of sync with the project settings (PAL versus HD): This resolved it for me: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1256 Worth double checking.

Set to the ISO on the DLSR to the film stock you are exposing and 85 filter setting - i.e. either ISO 500 or ISO 320 with 500T (or as close as you can get). Set the DSLR to TV mode (shutter time priority) - and set the shutter speed (assuming 24fps) to 1/60 (outdoor) or 1/40 (indoor) based on the indoor/outdoor setting on the 814. Meter with you DSLR the scene you want to photograph (half press the shutter button) - it should give you an f/stop setting that it thinks is right. You might need to put a fast lense on the DSLR to give it the range to get the exposure right (a f/1.4 50mm should do the trick). There is an exposure dial on the Super 8 camera that should move a small needle in the viewfinder - set that to the exposure setting you are getting from the DSLR - i.e. f/2.8 or f/4.0, etc. Again ... err on the side of 1 stop of over exposure. That's it. Max.

Probably easiest to talk to Kodak: Kodak FINLAND Kodak Nordic AB Sari-Anne Ekola (located in Sweden) Phone: 46 855563616 Fax: +46 855563615

I actually did a similar exercise recently. I came away extremely impressed with Vision 3 500T - and extremely unimpressed with E64T. 1) You can hot swap - you'll lose some frames (worst case about 2 seconds), and the film remaining counter will stop working. If you have a light tight box and a film changing tent/bag - you can of course avoid that loss. 2) Due to my doubts regarding a similar question I used a light meter when exposing. I would imagine the camera is going to get it wrong. If you don't have a cine light meter - but do have a DSLR - you can always use that as a light meter. One thought - the 500T holds over-exposure of a stop very well - if it does expose it as 250T - it's still going to look very good. Good luck. PS - Real names only on this board.

If you have some time to experiment before the shoot - you could try making some lights. Assuming they are going to be out of focus - use some coat hangers, aluminium foil, paper mache, 12volt bulbs and build semi-spherical reflectors. Aim reflectors at the camera. If it's too harsh tape some paper over the front to diffuse it a bit. Using direct light rather than diffuse light means you'll be able to get away with tiny 12v bulbs (test, test, test) - run off a battery or two. You can always have a "hero" china-ball light or two in the pack a bit closer in with a more powerful bulb and the back half lined with aluminium foil. Might need someone on the other end of a radio to tweak them during the shoot of course.

Never actually tried diopters - but thinking about it - you may be at risk of Anamorphic mumps...

Anastasia, Where are you filming (US/UK/Europe) ? Options I can think of: A) Abandon the look. Shoot-day-for night. Black and white. A combination of red and green filters (green and red wratten 23A, 25, 56, 58) should give the ability to manipulate the brightness of the sky to get an acceptable day-for-night look - add lots of flags and silks to soften the light. Take some black and white still test shots (ideally on the film you intend to use). I'm sure others will be able to advise further/better. B) Shoot what you can in a blacked out studio (the image you showed is mostly black) - with a few prop branches, and distant lights. Checkout greenset.com. For the rest - build/buy/hire the biggest tent you can afford and line it with blackout material, and build an outdoor set (for where you need the ground in shot). If you can find someone who owns some forrest - perhaps you can decapitate a few trees and build the tent around that area. Shoot wide shots at night with doubles in the same clothing. Shoot clean plates of the backgrounds for close-ups and green screen/rear project in the child actors in the studio. Use the few hours at the end of the day to shoot everything else. C) Go abstract. D) Shift the location to an abandoned factory, etc. E) Find someone else who is building a forest set and beg them to let you use it (not impossible) F) Use non-children to play children or at least the roles that require extensive after dark photography. G) Look for a nearby state/country that has more liberal child labour laws and shoot there. Texas (till 10pm or 12pm). Mexico ? Seek legal advice before doing so. H) Cast adults in the roles - and play it straight...

I would suspect that the camera may have other problems. Does the claw actually move - or is it just sitting there ? Being extremely quiet might be the indication that not all of the gearing is engaging. It's unlikely that it has worn down through use - so making the claw bigger may just result in it getting stuck, or damaging the film more dramatically. The cost of the Super 8 film to find out is greater than that of the camera... My 2c.

Have you checked the actual camera ? The manual says no - but it may actually have a stop for 150 degrees (seems like a curious ommision) I'm pretty sure 144 degree won't work. The other options are: 1) 75 degrees (might be too strobey... too much light loss for 75fps...) 2) Manually tweak the shutter for 150 degrees. I think you can do that on a 235 - not as accurate as going by a stop - needs careful calibration. 3) Shoot 24, 48, 72 fps - confer with the sound department about re-syncing the audio (won't work for a music video) - it can be done without shifting the pitch. 24fps -> 25fps happens all the time in Europe. Max.

Answers to your questions as best I can: 1. Looks more like E and L to me. A guess: might be opening and closing a shutter behind the lens to prevent light entering the camera when not in use. Does it rotate easily or is it stiff ? 2. A guess - distance in meters (comma instead of period is a strong hint). Unless you are shooting at a wide f/stop - I would leave at infinity. 3. Possibly a shutter angle control. If you can email me an image of the chart I might be able to help. I would recommend a light meter - but then again if you are going for a period look - dramatically over or underexposed may be consistent with that. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_speed for a DIN to ISO conversion (You want 21 degrees) 4. Light brown side towards the lens. A photograph of the internals may be helpful - in particular the effect of changing the E/L dial and the shutter angle control. I'm sure if you went to a motoring forum and asked questions about how to perform an oil change on a model T Ford you may get a similar lack of responses. I would recommend starting with a Super 8 camera - as the probability of something going wrong/being broken with such an old camera is fairly high - combined with the probability of making a basic newbie error doesn't tend to suggest a happy outcome. Max.

I've also had a Sandisk Ultra 2 class 4 card go bad, although fortunately it was upon inserting to start shooting. It seemed to get stuck in restore media as well. A couple of thoughts (possibly stupid questions): Could it be static discharge killing the cards ? Is the camera on when you normally insert the card ? Do you reformat on the camera every time you inserted the cards ? As for restoring the footage - did you try playing the clip directly from the card using VLC (Video Lan Client) ? It's possible it might just be a metadata corruption issue - or a bad sector - VLC may be able to play around it (worth a shot). Just to note that I'm using Kensington adapters, so I don't think it's specific to any one brand.

For 6k US you can get a Sony EX-1 with a basic set of accessories. It's been used as a B-camera for some HD TV shows: http://www.theasc.com/magazine_dynamic/Mar...eries/page1.php Additionally you can record onto relatively cheap SDHC cards with an adaptor. Limitations per your requirements: * It doesn't do "NTSC" SD (720p and 1080p/i HD only). * It does have a rolling shutter (skew on very very fast pans) * It isn't a shoulder mount (google for EX-1 "el-cheapo") I have one - and have been happy with it. However - If you can wait a year or two - there will always be something cheaper/better later.

I took a few measurements of my light (A Lishua LS-655) - with 6 x 55 watt Osram daylight (5500 k I think) bulbs installed: 1 meter on axis 2 bulbs lit : 42 fc 4 bulbs lit : 84 fc 6 bulbs lit : 130 fc 3 meters on axis 2 bulbs lit : 7.4 fc 4 bulbs lit : 15 fc 6 bulbs lit : 23 fc 1 meter away - 1 meter off axis horizontally 2 bulbs lit : 20 fc 4 bulbs lit : 37 fc 6 bulbs lit : 60 fc According to my copy of "American Cinematographer Manual" that's somewhere between a 4' x 4 bulb Kino and a 4' x 8 bulb Kino. Didn't get a chance to do a flicker test.

Those shutter times looks more like 220 or 230 degrees shutter angle. i.e. 1 / framerate / 360 * shutter angle = shutter time Could those be still image shutter times ? It may use a different shutter angle for movie mode. If in doubt about the shutter angle - my recommendation is to use the meter in photo mode. 1) Set shutter speed to 1/38 second (i.e. assuming you shoot 24 fps) 2) ISO to 500 ASA (depending on the lighting / filters you are using) 3) exposure compensation to +1 1/3 stop 4) And see what f/stop you get - and set that in the camera. If you are shooting in night/indoors - I would forget the +1 f/stop recommended by Kodak - you are going to have trouble getting enough light on the film - i.e. you are effectively rating the film at 250 ASA. If you start doing that - but then halfway through run into a situation where you need to abandon it because there isn't enough light then you are going to have an inconsistent negative density - fine if you are going to correct it digitally - but a simple negative->telecine transfer may not correct for it. Basically everyone's face and everything else will suddenly get a stop darker. But then - you could incorporate that into the look - shoot 1 1/3 stops over exposed indoors - then shoot 0 or even up to -1 in the night scenes. You could pick an f/stop that isn't completely wide open - say f/2 or f/2.8 and try to stick to it using ND filters where you need to. Wide open may be a bit soft - and hard to maintain focus, although again - that might be a desirable look. Otherwise just let the f/stop float according to what the light meter says. I hope that's helpful...

I wouldn't say that much - difference will be less than half a stop unless we are talking about something really old. I would try to slightly over-expose (aim for a third of a stop). Three things to think about: 1) What frame rate ? 18fps or 24 fps ? don't forget to change the meter setting to compensate. 2) What's the shutter angle set to ? (150 ? 180 ? 220 ?) Again - don't forget to set the meter... 3) Setting the 85 filter if you are shooting in daylight... http://motion.kodak.com/US/en/motion/Produ...0T/tech5219.htm Kodak says ASA320 after setting the 85 filter on. Let me know how you get on - I just got some Vision 3 that's waiting for a nice sunny day to test on.

It depends on your camera - read through: http://super8wiki.com/index.php/Super_8_Ca...dge_Notch_Ruler And see what your camera understands. It seems likely that it would either be: A) Totally wrong - by treating it as 160ASA or worse. B) Or at best slightly wrong - by treating it as 640ASA. Either way I would use an external meter, as a 25+ year old spot meter in the camera will likely give bad readings.

I actually got a pair of these direct from China under a different brand name. Build quality is a little rough around the edges (literally). And you may have to watch your shutter angle / frame-rate - I haven't had a chance to do much testing but the ballast frequency seemed like a low multiple of mains frequency rather than khz range. If I get a chance I'll do some more extensive testing and post the results. Tubes are standard 55 watt biax. If you are working with a paying client - I would want to rent something rock solid. But for a personal project or a no budget production it may be worth considering.