Carter Dickson

Adrian Thank you for the info. I will do some more homework using your advice as a reference.

About four years ago I set out to make an idea of mine into a short 10 minute film using 'real' film instead of using my Canon GL-2. Back then I didn't know much about film shooting so I set out to learn. Fast forward, after a lot of experimentation with reversal film, I feel reasonably confident about lighting and shooting Tri-X Super 8 to get the results I am looking for. The projected results have looked good and even my simple DIY telecines were not half bad either. But now that HD is all the rage, I'm thinking I might want to go this route rather than my original plan, which was to get a simple SD telecine to Mini-DV (paid pro service not DIY). From there I'd simply import into an NLE just like I always have with Mini-DV footage from my GL-2. Now I believe I can get HD transfers to Mini-DV but it seems that hard drives and certain file formats are the preferred method. Why is this? I am clueless about this and when I read about it I find it very confusing. Any advice on what I need to know if I opt for to go HD? Or where I can turn to for a laymen's explanation on all this? If it is relevant, I plan on using either Final Cut Express or Sony Vegas to edit with. Any help and info on this would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I'm pretty new to shooting film (Super 8) but I picked up a Sekonic L398M Studio Deluxe II. I found it easy to learn. And using the flat disc (versus the semi-sphere), I can easily measure footcandles in order to control the lighting ratios between my key and fill lights. I still plan on shooting lots more tests for learning but the meter has been a great tool. Now I don't have to rely exclusively on the camera's internal meter.