Nathan Milford

Facing the gate, the super 16 area of the gate expands to the left (opposite of the claw). It follows that the mount will also move to the left. I'm not sure if it's 1mm exactly. I'm not at my bench so I don't have access to my notes, but I'd wager you're moving it somewhere between 1.07 - 1.25 mm. It really depends on what the camera manufacturer decided was the 'real' Super16 aperture. They vary by as much as 250 microns between manufacturers.

My employer rents MiniDV and HDV equipment and is in NYC. But there are other great rental houses that do the same. Take a gander at the NewYork411 listing.

I wish. I just took out a ginormus loan to finance my thesis film. I'll be in debt for the rest of my life...

The method is pretty similar between models. Shift the viewfinder, the fiberscreen and the mount. You have to remove the mount. If the spider (the part the mount attaches to) has two sets of holes use the second set. In this case the 'nipples' (the locating pins for the mount) should always be at 11 and 1 o'clock. If there is only one set of holes in the spider then rotate the mount counter clockwise so that the nipples at at like 7-9 o'clock (or something like that, it'll work out). Note that you're taking the mount off so make sure no dirt or dust gets in there and alters the flange focal distance throwing your focus off and also you'll have to re-center and re-track your lens. The viewfinder should have a shim on one side. When it's in R16 the shim should be on the right side (facing the camera) and the left when in S16. Just remove the screws, slide the viewfinder over and replace the shim on the other side. The fiberscreen is set by a single screw in the gate, you just loosen it and move the screen left or right then tighten it. Bewarned that you might be altering screen centering and maybe even screen focus. Good luck. If you have any problems give me a call at the number below on Monday and I can sort out any ambiguities. - nathan

Typically the goggles aren't opaque. They can be more like a heads-up-display in an jet fighter. We have a set at Abel. I've seen a few DP's use them... but usually by the end of the day they're looking at the monitor like everyone else. The novelty wears off. Mostly they seem to get used in special situations and not so much for general use. - nathan

Du-All Camera.

I love the 2709... what a beautiful piece of engineering.

Oh! If it is switchable we charge one hour of labor at $120/hour for that service. To tape it, I think it is three hours of labor, but I'd have to double check.

Depending on the vintage of and / or modifications to the LTR it could very well be switchable between super and regular. If it isn't for some reason you can send the camera in to have the 1.33 area taped off on the ground glass. The poor man's method, jsut to give you an idea what you're framing for might go as follows: Make a framing chart with a rectangle with 1.33:1 proportions. Put your camera on a tripod and tape the chart to the wall, level with the optical axis of the camera. Frame up the rectangle so that it's top and bottom lines match those of the 1.66:1 (Super 16 gate) top and bottom lines. match the chart's frame-left line with the gate's frame-left line and that's where regular 16mm ought to be. The area frame-right, outsde of your framing chart is the super 16mm annex. It is enough to give you a rough idea of what you're framing for if you can't get the ground glass taped. If you have a video tap, even better. You can tape off the monitor. The mount and viewfinder will not be recentered though. You'll always be framing for screen left in the viewfinder and your zooms will track improperly (as in drift to one side as you zoom) as the optical center and zoom axis of the lens are not recentered for the old format. But... it works well enough for some people... give it a try and see if it bugs you. - Nathan

Yoko Kanno is brilliant! The work she did for Cowboy Bebop is fantastic.

In the 5K range you'd be best off getting an Eclair ACL or NPR, buying a nice piece of glass for it and even spending a bit to get it converted to Super 16 down the line. I would, however, avoid eBay auctions for any camera gear... like the plague!

I love that you can actually compliment a projectionist. Few people know the things that the mysterious man in the booth can do to make your experience more pleasurable. I saw it at Sunshine Cinema in Houston St. here in NY. They did a good job as well, I very much enjoyed the film.

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/products...1.4.16.54&lc=en It's under the 'Discontinued Films' page, which would pretty much be a dead giveaway >8) Everything EXR but 50D is gone... It's all VISION and VISION2... and VISION films probably havent got too much longer.

How good is the registration on a typical still camera?

We have them in our rental department and as far as I've been told they're as good as the DigiPrime. But I don;t have any first hand experience with them. Call the number in my signature and ask for Jon. He's our lens guy and knows all abou 'em.

I am looking for a set of Super16 primes in the following focal lenghts: 9.5mm, 12mm, 16mm, 25mm, 50mm, 85mm. Just shoot me a PM or call me at the number in my signature. Thanks, Nathan

I really love the O'Connor 1040B head. It's a true fluid head unlike a Sachtler which uses fluid modules. Most Panther heads use modules too, but the X15 doesn't and I find it is a very fine fluid head, comperable to the 1040B, but I havent used it in production.

You used to be able to get motion picture film repackaged in 36 exposure still rolls from RGB Labs but they went out of business You could get it mounted on slides or transparencies. I'm sure someone will chime in with who might do it now.. or at least process it, you may have to repackage it. I'm sure there is a thread on here somewhere. You can get yourself a half-frame still camera allowing you to shoot the same frame size as motion picture cameras (4 perfs vertical instead of 8 perf horizontal 35mm). The DOP Shop has a PL Mounted half-frame still camera for a grand or so (I think)... It'd be great to use the lenses you're planning on using with the stock.

I'm not really sure who is charging what for 16SR Super16 mods... I'd invest in the camera which is in better condition and the one you're more comfortable with. The cameras are pretty much interchangable as far as function and sound... ultimately choose the package that your most comfortable with.

You might be thinking of t-grain stocks bruising in old style C-typle magazines. I wouldn't worry about it. More information here.

Info on videotaps for LTR's found here.

Wow... I'd like to take a drag off of whatever he is smoking. *boggles*

What is at issue is not the magazine's capacity to take a particular winding. It is the camera's mount being set to expect the film to curl one way. This is why the A-Minima's flange tolerance is in the plus whereas most every other motion picture camera sets it in the negative. If you don't believe 10 microns can affect focus then you should simply relegate yourself to quoting Shakespeare and avoid dispensing camera advice. >8)

This has been covered half a dozen times. I should probably submit a FAQ article on it or something: The short answer is: No. The long answer is: Well... no they won't. The longer answer is: A-Minima loads are spooled on a special Kodak flanged daylight load that also works as part of the magazine's takeup torque system. The loads are unlike normal 2" Kodak cores and will not initially fit into an ACL 200' mags. A-Minima film is wound emulsion out, 'a-winding' which is backwards from the way other cameras take thier film, emulsion in 'b-winding'. So why can't I unspool it, rewind it and put it on a core in a b-winding? Because of the natural curl of the film. Since it is wound differently from normal loads, A-Minima loads curl differently, something the A-Minima takes into account for in it's design. I set the flange focal tolerance to +15 to +25 micron (on most cameras its -7 to -14 or so). The A-Minima expects the film to curl into the gate obviating the need for a pressure plate. That curl, which the A-Minima loves so dearly, is an issue on other cameras as they're expecting it to curl the other way. This is a difference of microns, and maybe with longer lenses you might not notice it because the depth of focus as much greater, but nominally, the image projected out the back element of the lens will project beyond the film plane as the film plane is a few microns infront of where it is supposed to be. - Nathan

You will probably pay roughly $10k for the HVX with two 8GB P2 cards. Not to mention the cost of accessories the applies to both cameras such as a tripod, head ($2-3K), mattebox and follow focus ($3K) etc.... $6k will get you a camera body. You can put MiniDV tapes in it and shoot MiniDV... but you won't shoot HD w/o the P2 cards and you will have to hand hold w/o a tripod and head ($2-3k)