Curtis Alexander

Wow. That really is loud. :P

 

Another bidder got the camera. I couldn't bring myself to do it, despite really really wanting it. Here is the auction...

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120809871638?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_500wt_1132

 

It would make a damn fine MOS camera. Were I not committed to a Scarlet purchase, I might have sprung for it.

Everybody that is buying a scarlet should at least have a scoopic or a k3 or bolex or somethin'. :)

I'm really going to try to give my k3 a workout this winter.

I shot a short with a scoopic in 2008 which you can see here: http://unidob.ca/

If you listen to it I think you will reconsider trying to record sound while the camera is running without some kind of sound dampening.

At some point I'm going to have to redo the sound completely. :)

I don't feel too bad about it b/c the whole entire thing was done analog, sound onto tape, mixed analog with insanely old equipment, etc and was a good learning experience.

There is no way I'd try to record dialogue while that sucker is running unless you can blimp the crap out of it.

OK, thanks. I bought a couple inexpensive grey cards and when they get here I'll start muddling through the process, hopefully learning as I go. Sure like my K3 camera though...really are built like a Russian tank, and with a nice M42 mount as well. Much to learn.

Under and overexposure tests and lighting contrast ratio tests are good places to start, then also color-contrast filter tests outdoors.

 

I'd shot a face and a grey scale chart for the over and under tests to determine your workable range.

 

You may also want to test push and pull-processing as well and how that affects contrast and graininess, if you plan on any push or pull-processing.

Where does one buy inexpensive charts? And then once you've shot a chart, how do you go about interpreting the results?

(ps. I think it's amazing you post on forums, David Mullen ASC, and help people out!)

So I recently bought a Krasnogorsk-3 and I have a whole whack of kodak 3374 (is a high contrast b&w film meant for sound use) and I don't know how to test it. I'd really like to try to get good at shooting this film (perhaps it's not such a good idea given what the film is meant for, but I would imagine testing film is a good skill to have anyways). I picked up a Sekonic l-758CINE and would like to try to profile the k3 if I can. I've seen a couple examples of doing so for DSLRs (which is perhaps what the l-758 profiling is meant for) but I'm wondering if the same concept can be applied to film?

My workflow would probably be to have it scanned digitally, so I would assume that would be part of the process as well, but I don't know how I'd set the film up to be tested/profiled and also take into account the digital scan.

Any pointers on where I should start reading as to how to approach this?

Thanks,

Curtis.

Specifically I'm wondering how they got the 12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST look...I know it's Kodak 35mm film: http://www.42kmfilm.ro/en/12-08-east-of-bucharest/about-the-director but does anyone have an idea of how one might approach getting a similar look?

Here's one snapshot from it. The red couches looked a lot better on my tv than my computer monitor.

Well, I think it's pretty obvious that HDSLRs have brought some cameras down in price. But, while I own a Canon T2i, I really want to pickup a 16mm camera, so I have ebay searches going on pretty much every camera mentioned in this thread, and having said that, I'm not sure they have dropped that much, at least not today. :)

I made something similar for a film class a few years ago. So much fun to work with film; I think it's so important to do that given how things are going digital. I imagine it wasn't part of the requirement, but some sound would have been good. Given that you have a digital copy, someday it might be good experience to revisit your short and add in some sound. I should do that to mine as well--I have sound, but the canon scoopic makes a lot of noise and given I don't have any dialogue I could go back and re-do all the sound.

FYI, Fish Tank, pretty recent movie was shot 1.33:1 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1232776/technical I thought it was a great. I saw it in the theatre and have the dvd. I admin 1.33:1 was a little surprising, but I don't think anyone else in the theater cared.

Yup - that darth vader thingy - looks like his shoulder pads

 

so it wont go in far enough ? into the minus zone ... hmmm, I think if people try to force (heh heh) the diopter when the locking pin thingy on the top is still in you can shear off or simply loosen the thingy bob that does the focusing a bit so when you push it into the minus zone it moves the whole thing out of reference so you can never get that negative again without pushing it back and tightening it/fxing it. You'll have to excuse the lack of technical terms, it's just hard to remember, let alone describe if I could see it right now - anyways, you do need to open it up to fix it, and you've got an RX5 there - boo! - you need a driver that get through that hole...

 

Yeh, that really long hole - boring huh.

 

Unless, well, maybe try simply pushing it in - go all the way negative, then give it a reasonable shove... Does it move on its own ?

Hmm, yeah, it seems so close in the negative but I just can't get all the way. I can't try moving it more without fear of breaking it. I think I will just return it in the new year and let them know I couldn't get focus. I've used this camera a few times before and have had no trouble at all with focus, so I think it need some maintenance.

Thanks so much for all the replies!

Sometimes the diopter adjustment thingy can get loose - especially after its been forced - if I recall it loosens something similar to a grub screw kind of set up and then just spins freely, if not that exactly, something about as technical and boring ;)

 

If its a proper super16 conversion and/or an RX4, RX5, SB, SBM, EBM or EL it should have the 13x finder which I know if you look at the eyecup and rotate the darth vader thingy you can see it rack in and out - does yours ? The 10x finder probably works this way too, I just have no memory of experience with them to draw upon.

Re darth vader thingy...if when I say diopter and you say darth vader thingy, :), we both mean the eyepiece on the far left of the attached img with the white markings, then yup, I can alter the focus using it, that I can never get it racked in, ie. never in focus. Close, but not quite.

Have you tried pointing the camera towards a bright light when doing this? I always have to do it this way, or point it toward the sky during the day...when you do get it in focus you will see the grain of the ground glass, looks like film grain almost. Bolex's are pretty hard to see clearly through.

Yup, I'm looking at a bright light, tried a couple different spots out into the sky. Can't get it into perfect focus though.

Hi, I rented a super 16mm modified bolex from my local film co-op and I cannot get it into focus just by looking through the eyepiece at the ground glass and manipulating the diopter. I'm doing this with no lens on. Also with my glasses on and off. I asked my girlfriend to try as well and she could not get it into focus either. (Where in this case, focus means trying to get the markings and the dust and such on the ground glass into focus.)

What I'm wondering is...is this me? Am I doing something wrong? Or is there possibly something wrong with the camera? I've used this camera before, but not for a year, so perhaps it's not been maintained, or I've forgot how to set it up right?

Any suggestions would be helpful. I'm not sure what model of bolex it is.

Thanks,

Curtis.