Luke Hill

I'm selling these like new (literally used once): -NRG – Varalux professional on camera light http://www.tristatecamera.com/lookat.php?refid=279&sku=NRG56001 - Bescor 18amp battery belt http://www.tristatecamera.com/lookat.php?sku=BESPRB18XLR&store=&levels=&sti=962628 - Charger These items are like new and still in their original boxes. Everything works perfectly. New these would cost you over $300... $200 OBO Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, Luke

Hi everyone, I bought this new a couple of years ago, and have literally used it one time. I keep holding on to it thinking I'll get to use it one of these days, but I'm doing less and less camera operating these days, and I'm strapped for cash at the moment, so it just doesn't make sense for me to keep it. FOR SALE: Like New (used once!) Indicam Pilot 207 with High Shot arm extension and Stabilizer Basics training DVD. You can see more info here: http://www.indicam.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=4&Itemid=26 New, this package costs $2015 (Indicam Pilot - $1950, High Shot Arm - $30, Instructional DVD - $35) $1500 OBO This is a great deal for someone looking for a camera stabilization system – get a system that's like new at a significantly reduced price! You can check out photos of my rig here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukehill/sets/72157624909656254/ Please let me know if you have any questions! Thanks, Luke

Hi Everyone! Several months ago, with the help of many of you on the forums, I finally purchased a new 16mm camera and had it converted to Ultra 16 by Bernie at Super16. Unfortunately, right around the time he shipped it back to me, I had some changes in my financial situation. I've been holding out hoping things would improve, but it looks like I’m going to have to sell this camera after all... FOR SALE: CP-16R 16mm film camera - 3 batteries - 2 chargers - 3 magazines - Angenieux zoom lens - flight/shipping case - 'laser brighten' modified viewfinder - owner's manual - Ultra 16mm conversion I had Bernie at Super16 convert this to Ultra 16mm as well as check out and refurb the entire camera and the magazines (still have the receipts) – I haven't shot anything with it or taken it out since I got it back, so this camera is completely revamped and ready to go! The only issues I can think of are 1) one of the magazines has a small crack in it – Bernie recommended not using it just to be safe, but I'm including it nonetheless. 2) One of the batteries does not have the plastic case on the back part – it does not in any way affect the functionality, just thought I should mention it. You can see photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukehill/sets/72157624894601974/with/4964760177/ PRICE: $3000 OBO This would be a great camera for the right person – I wish I could hold on to it, but my finances just wont allow it... Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, Luke

The places I spoke with weren't at all reluctant to convert the CP16r to Super 16, for me the only issue was the approximately four-fold increase in price.

I have a CP16r and I'm having the conversion done by Bernie at Super 16mm: http://www.super16inc.com/ They're great, very friendly and very affordable (not to mention Bernie's an Academy Award Nominee!). RE: the Ultra 16 / Super 16 comparison - for me there's no question that all other things being equal, Super 16 is the preferred format, however the availability of decent (albeit limited) processing and telecine options coupled with the greatly reduced conversion price and the ability to continue to use my current lenses made Ultra the obvious choice in my particular situation.

You should be able to find some posts about Ultra 16 by doing a search in the general 16mm forum. There's not a ton of information out there, and I'm certainly no expert (I'm waiting on my first conversion right now), but my understanding is that it basically just entails widening the gate a little on both sides. Here's some good information about the format itself: http://marylandfilms.com/16mm-super16-ultra16-compared.html

Yeah, I know the grain will be much more significant on 16 than 35, but wasn't aware that the softness would be significantly different, so good to know. I was kind of thinking the Eternal Sunshine stock, which isn't quite as grainy as I'd like (but is 35) might be a good bet because I wouldn't mind some more grain, but the softness could be an issue. Also, anything's possible, but I'm guessing this will be transferred to HD and maybe projected digitally at some festivals on the big screen, but will primarily be viewed on TVs and the like.

Hello everyone. Well, I finally got a 16mm camera and before I can do any test shots, I've got to decide on a film stock - there's a particular look I'm going for - one that's a bit 'older' looking in terms of color reproduction and grain (more of it). Unfortunately since I have no experience in this area, there may be other qualities that I'm looking for that I can't put my finger on. With that in mind, I was hoping I could show everyone some screen shots and see if that sparked any film stock recommendations. The screen grabs are from two films: Tarkovsky's The Mirror and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Both are beautiful and I love the grain they have (The Mirror even more so than ESOTSM) and I like the 'feel' they both seem to have. The color reproduction on The Mirror I'm especially fond of. For me, five minutes of that movie illustrates why I've gotten rid of my video equipment for film better than anything I could put into words. So... I know that Eternal Sunshine was done with somewhat of a more natural lighting approach (which, as much as possible, is how I hope to shoot my upcoming project) and I know they used Fuji Reala 500D (from Ellen Kuras' interview in American Cinematographer: http://www.theasc.com/magazine/april04/cover/index.html) and I've considered trying that myself, but before I spent any money on film stocks, I was just wondering if any of the experienced members of the group had any recommendations? The one thing I'm thinking is that because I want to try to use as much natural light as possible, I'll probably need to use a stock with a large amount of latitude (and I believe the Fuji fits the bill for that). Anyway, here are the screen grabs - I tried to pick shots representative of the look/feel I'm after. The Mirror: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukehill/sets...57619936489337/ Eternal Sunshine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukehill/sets...57619937915279/ Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Luke Hill http://www.LukeHill.com

Thanks guys! Yeah, I'm pretty excited - it was really hard receiving the camera today and having to put it right back in the box and ship it off again! Oh well... they say patience is a virtue. ;)

Hi everyone, After lots of research and plenty of trolling around on ebay, I've finally purchased my first 16mm camera! I'd narrowed it down to either the Eclair ACL II or the CP-16R and ended up getting the CP-16R (I got a really good deal). I'm pretty excited about it. I just got it in from Fedex today and I've already shipped it back out to Bernie at Super 16 to get the Laserbrighten done and to have it converted to Ultra 16. It came with 3 400' Cinema Products magazines and 1 400' Mitchell magazine, an Angenieux 12-120 f2.2 Zoom lens and two batteries. Anyway, I don't have any photos of it yet as I wanted to get it out to Bernie as quickly as possible, but since this group was instrumental in me learning what I needed to know to make a purchasing decision, I just wanted to share my new acquisition with the group - and say thanks for all the help! I'll be sure to keep everyone posted once I get it back and start shooting my first rolls of film on it. In the meantime, if anybody has any tips/suggestions/ recommendations for a new CP owner, I'd love to hear them. Thanks, Luke

Wow. I'm a director and occasionally do some camera & lighting work only out of necessity, but I never show up on set without a shot list and a plan for exactly how I want to shoot every single scene on the agenda (often even including ideas about lens types, DOF, etc.). I know that every director (and DP for that matter) works differently, but I work with the understanding that it's the director's job (certainly with input from the DP if they give it) to decide what shots are in the piece and it's the DP's job to be able to realize that vision with lighting, camera, etc. I know there are plenty of people on the boards who have a lot more professional experience than I do, so maybe this is more common than I realize, but it certainly sounds to me like the director is ill-prepared (though somewhat understandable as he's coming from a theater background). Guys (and gals)? Do the directors you work with typically have all of their shots planned out themselves or do they expect you to do it? (By the way - hopefully some of the advice on the board has helped - it sounds like you've certainly got your hands full!)

Maybe you're born with it - like being double jointed. :huh:

Are you directing this piece yourself or are you acting as DP?

A lot of it depends on the staging/blocking of your scene and what you're hoping to achieve. There are many different approaches you can take, but if I were in your shoes, I would rehearse the blocking with the actors and decide exactly how I was going to shoot it ahead of time. Whether you're going handheld or locked down, etc. will make a big difference in how you approach the scene. You could establish different lines for each 'set' of characters, have a handheld camera within the group shooting whoever's talking at the moment with little regard for strict 180 degree lines... if you have an idea of what you want the scene to look like you could probably find some films with similar scenes and see how they were done. For my money I'd rather know exactly how I intend to shoot and spend the time putting in the work up front to know exactly what I intend to do rather than shooting every single actor from both sides. In my (admittedly limited) experience you risk taking a lot longer having to get multiple takes of each actor than you do taking the time to plan it all out in advance.

If I had to guess as to why it's not 'realistic' most of the time I'd say it's because holding something in your mouth and then spitting or letting it fall out just doesn't look the same as having something forcefully projected from your throat. That's my guess. I just shot something recently where a character had to throw up, and I think we pulled it off, but it was a tracking shot in which you saw the, um, 'result' hit the ground before we tracked back to reveal him throwing up - the fact that you didn't see the initial 'spewing' I think masked the difference and helped sell it.

Please do, Adam. I'd love to see it.

Is that specific to the Angenieux lens or would it apply to any lens of that size?

Good work - I thought it looked great! Congratulations!

This is really good to know! Was under the impression that an Ultra 16mm conversion would work with the exact same lenses as regular 16mm.

So far most of the super 16 camera packages I've seen have been out of my price range, but the more I look the more I think, "You know, I hardly ever ride my motorcycle anymore..." so I might just have to figure out how to gather up enough money to get something a little better. Tim - I'd heard of the approach you mention - using regular 16mm and cropping for aspect ratio. Your footage looks great, by the way. It would be great if I could do this (it would save me a lot of money), but I have a couple concerns about this approach: It's likely that what I'm shooting will end up on HD or DVD, but I'm hoping it will get some play at festivals before that and whilst it's unlikely, there's still the possibility of some sort of theatrical release. Unlikely, I know, but my concern is that in the event that I do get that sort of opportunity, and even for the festival showings, the cropped standard 16mm footage will not 'hold up' when projected on a large theater screen. From what I've read, Super 16 is basically 20% more image that regular 16 and when converting regular 16 to letterbox, you lose roughly roughly 20% more of your image resulting in a total difference in image resolution between Super 16 and standard 16mm of roughly 40% (yikes!). Is that accurate? And even if it is, would the cropped standard 16 look good enough (subjective, I know) for theatrical exhibition? Thanks again, Luke

Thank you, everyone, for all the replies - this has certainly been a very informative discussion! While I'm still mulling my options, it does seem that if I could scrounge together enough money to buy something in the $5500 I'd probably get something I'd be a lot happier with! Unfortunately adding an extra 2-3 grand to the price is probably more than I can swing right now. So, the search continues, but now I have a better idea of what I should be looking for. I'm going to go ahead and sell my digital gear and just keep lurking on ebay and hoping I get lucky. Thanks again! Luke

Thanks, guys, for your input. I would, if I can afford it, like to get Super 16 just because of the ubiquitous nature of the format (and the relative ease of finding telecine services), but if it's just simply out of my price range, I'd rather have Ultra 16 than nothing at all! I'm still holding out hope that I can find a Super 16 camera that will do what I need in my price range. I do have my eyes on an Eclair NPR right now, but Adam's comments about the ergonomics of the camera concern me as I like to shoot handheld. Adam - what kind of camera did you have converted to Ultra 16? Marc - I was considering the ACL, but was concerned that it would be too noisy for Sync sound - have you found that not to be the case? Thanks again... Luke

Hi all, I've been a filmmaker my whole life. As a kid I shot on 8mm, then Super 8 and eventually VHS. As an adult I've shot one thing in 16mm, then a lot in mini-DV and for the last few years I've been shooting in HD (well, HDV) often using a 35mm adapter. Anyway, I'm going to be shooting a feature later this year and after considering the Red and many other options, I've decided that I want to shoot on either Super 16 or Ultra 16. Whilst I'll most likely rent a camera for the shoot (if possible - I live in Austin and haven't found any place that rents them) I would like to go ahead and buy a Super 16 or Ultra 16 camera now to replace the Canon XHA1 I've been using. So... I'm going to sell my HDV Camera as well as my lens adapter and lenses and I figure once all that's gone, I should have about $3,000 to spend. I need a camera that shoots on Super or Ultra 16mm, preferably with a zoom lens and crystal sync motor that's quiet enough for sync sound work - is this possible with what I have to spend? I'm familiar with some of the options available, the NPR, H16, etc. I just don't know whether I can reasonably expect to get what I need for around $3000 (or where to look). I just found out about Ultra 16mm - perhaps that would be a more affordable route to take than Super 16? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Luke http://LukeHill.com