Matt Stevens

Great information. This continues to give me a woody. :)

I've certainly encountered pages where an advertisement started, loudly, but I couldn't find the damned thing because the video was small, buried somewhere near the bottom of the page. I had to scroll and look and look. When that happens now I just leave the page. Kiss it goodbye. I flat out refuse to deal with adverts.

More exciting news. I must say, it still seems like a fantasy that something like this could happen. But I guess it is. :)

I have not yet come across that, but the second I do, I am shutting that window in Chrome. I will NEVER stand for that kind of intrusion.

Any time I view a film on Cable (in HD) that was shot in 16mm or Super16 there is no question that they can suffer. Some of the channels on FiOS are robust so it's OK, while others are bit starved and so the image becomes a sea of artifacts. The Hurt Locker in HD down in NC at my parent's place looked like crap because their cable channels were old fashioned MPEG2 and starved of bandwidth. Hell, some 35mm films with grainy scenes can suffer. WILD BILL has some scenes shot in grainy 16mm and they looked wretched in HD a few weeks ago. The channel (I think MGM-HD) just didn't have enough bandwidth to handle it.

Thank you for stating this! Well said. For my feature I've created an initial shot list (for the NYC section, which will be about a 10 day shoot) and have been running into 'opinions' involving my coverage being non-traditional. Certain people seem to want cookie cutter Wide, Mid and Close setups for everything. "Wait, if you do a slow dolly in, we need to have close-ups and mid shots because no way can you just do that scene in one shot." What? Really? So then why do we need a director? Why not just have the DP direct with absolutely no visual style at all? We'll just sit the camera on a tripod and shoot wides, mids and close-ups and that's it. Our budget is low so there is the issue of setup times and that means I really need to pull a John Carpenter on Halloween and know what shots I need and what shots I do not. We're not shooting an episode of Seinfeld or Friends where everything is the same standard setup. Frankly speaking, I know exactly what I need, how I want the camera to move and when and for what reason! My biggest fight may be getting what I want so that my film is MY film and not Joe Generic's. We are still a few months away from principle photography so I have time to educate them and that is exactly what I will have to do via showing them scenes from various films so they can understand why a scene doesn't need the same tired Wide Mid Close setup. If something is planned as a long steadicam shot, then dammit, we shoot it as a long steadicam shot. We don't do the steadicam and then spend half a day breaking it up into little pieces just because one producer is completely panicked over not having enough coverage.

Thank you for that article! A great read. I'm gearing up to direct my first feature and there is no question I am nervous as hell about it. We won't have much money and we certainly will not have a Christopher Doyle around. The burden will be on me and I am doing my best to be prepared.

They have another company that sells refurbished Super8's so to me it would seem they are selling the stuff they don't want to take time to fix.

My head just exploded. :) But great post, Rob. I read every word of it and appreciate the detailed information.

Mymovietransfer does not do shot for shot color correction. I've sent them some older 8mm films my dad shot and they all came out great, but no doubt they could have benefited from scene to scene. They pretty much to a Best-Light.

$800 for an 814 in this market is simply too high. All the models mentioned above are great. I personally prefer the Nikon R10. If you can buy a camera that seems to be in good shape then you can have it serviced at Willard. You can also check out du-all: http://www.duallcamera.com/store/index.shtml Their cameras are overpriced, but you can always make them an offer.

I talked to willardengineering. I'm all set. :)

A heck of a LOT of suckers had their 8mm films transferred to VHS and then threw the film out! I know people that are now regretting it. 8mm xfers to HD are amazing. As far as shooting film... I am finally seeing my first feature (maybe) coming into fruition and film is not in the cards. As much as I wanted to shoot on 16mm, RED is the only option. It fits the budget, pure and simple. It's the only choice (Alexa is too costly).

Just did, thanks. :)

I should specify that the repair facility needs to be in the USA. Shipping overseas and back is time consuming.

Hi all. So my normal go to guy has not replied to emails (strangely) and so I am going to ask around here. I have a terrific Canon 1014 XL-S that I love (not as much as my long gone Nikon R10, but oh well) and it has performed wonderfully for the nearly two years I have owned her. However, right now I am getting a strange problem when shooting. Sometimes it is as if the in camera fade in/out becomes engaged. I'll be shooting and POOF, it stops. When I check the roll, I see the results are an in camera fade out. Like on this Straight8 entry that didn't go so well... https://vimeo.com/57757062 The scratches are a product of the shitty telecine. They ruined my roll. :( Anyway, you can see the issue at 0:22, 0:35 and 2:46. Every other aspect of the camera is fine. It's really mint. But I have a feature shoot coming up and if all goes well, I'll need this camera working 100% since we have some super8 stuff to shoot for a few scenes. I will also be in the market for a backup camera, preferably a tip top Nikon R10. :)

At this point a print is for preservation. Distribution today is digital and many times it's a bleeping Blu-Ray!

OK awesome. Great news. You are thinking of everything. :)

So resurrecting this thread... Many scanners do not have a wide gate, so the right section of the negative will but cut off in the scanning process for this camera. Pro8mm and Cinelicious, plus a few others, have widened gates for their scanners. But they are the most expensive places to go. Many will want cheaper options. So what needs to happen is the display needs to provide an overlay so that you can see where the 4X3 image is and understand where at the left it will be cut off. That way people can still shoot for 4X3 scanners or telecine bays. Is this making sense? I hope I am being clear. Obviously this would be a firmware thing die the display output.

I think that goes without saying. Are we at the point here where we have to explain in absolutely specific detail what we mean? Obviously most directors do what they are told. But there are plenty of directors who can choose their camera and capture format and many are choosing film (or could if they wanted to, but are opting for Alexa, etc.). Kodak would be bankrupt if film was no longer an option. The only reason Kodak can survive at all is that films are still being shot on film.

I would kill to shoot my first feature (which is in the planning stage) on film, but it ain't happening. We just don't have the budget. So we will shoot on the Alexa or RED. In the end, the budget will dictate. The DP is an ALEX fan, but so far the RED is looking cheaper. Especially in Vietnam, where 75% of our film takes place. Such is life. Should I be lucky enough to make feature #1 and then be given the chance to do feature #2, it will be a combination of film and digital because I wrote it right into the script. Of course, I could be told to 'fake it in post' but hopefully that won't happen. We have to remember that many directors are powerful enough to shoot what they want to shoot. The STAR TREK reboots were shot on film. The next STAR WARS will be shot on film. Many directors prefer it. But then again a number of big name directors have kissed film goodbye and are embracing digital capture.

I agree. I am following this discussion closely, but want two threads since they are no longer integral. It might be a turn off to people. I know it is, actually, because I shared this thread with some film loving friends who are not members and they stopped reading once the lens discussions began. It's technical for them.

My head hurts. :(

These systems are exciting, to say the least. But they need to prove themselves before anyone truly decides they are the Holy Grail.

Here is one of the articles I read about dropped frames. http://nofilmschool.com/2013/04/12-things-think-about-blackmagic-cinema-camera/