Niall Conroy

Hello all! So, i finally bought a Mir 24n - It had been on my wishlist for awhile. It came with both an m42 and nikon mount - however the m42 mount wouldn't work with my current m42 adapter. So i decided to buy a nikon to canon mount just for the Mir. So far, i'm a little underwhelmed - doing upclose stuff seems pretty OK, but once I go wide it seems to under perform. And i'm starting to wonder if its just a weak connection to the camera and the nikon to canon mount is just really poor quality? thus not allowing me to get the full benifits of this lens? When the Mir is connected to the adapter and put on the canon (60D) it feels slightly loose and not FULLY connected. I also have a Helios 44m4 with another cheap m42 adapter - but this works amazingly (feels secure and firmly connected to the camera), and is easily the best lens I have in my collection. So i'm a little confused about the whole situation... anyone have any experience or ideas about this situation? Many thanks also - for those not familiar with the lens, heres an example of what its capable of:

On second thought - I think i will move this conversation over to the Lens section. Excuse this waste of space for now :) can't seem to find a delete button - so if a mod wants he can delete it? thanks

Hello all! Hope this is the best place to post this( was considering the Lens section too, but ill try here first?) So, i finally bought a Mir 24n - It had been on my wishlist for awhile. It came with both an m42 and nikon mount - however the m42 mount wouldn't work with my current m42 adapter. So i decided to buy a nikon to canon mount just for the Mir. So far, i'm a little underwhelmed - doing upclose stuff seems pretty OK, but once I go wide it seems to under perform. And i'm starting to wonder if its just a weak connection to the camera and the nikon to canon mount is just really poor quality? thus not allowing me to get the full benifits of this lens? When the Mir is connected to the adapter and put on the canon (60D) it feels slightly loose and not FULLY connected. I also have a Helios 44m4 with another cheap m42 adapter - but it works amazingly (feels secure and firmly connected to the camera), and is easily the best lens I have in my collection. So i'm a little confused about the whole situation... anyone have any experience or ideas about this situation? Many thanks also - for those not familiar with the lens, heres an example of what its capable of: http://vimeo.com/13866779

many thanks for all that info, Martin. Could you see any possible problems if you were to refreeze a film cartridge multiple times? If lets say I froze a cartridge, 6months later I prepare it for use (i.e. fridge to room temp.) but end up NOT using it - would there be any problems with refreezeing it again? Also - is there such thing as a freezer being TOO cold for the cartridge?

Ok cool, so how long do they need to be left to de-frost once freeze'ed/refrigerated? also, will it actaully make much of a difference the freeze'ed film vs. the film thats been left in a drawer?

Hey guys, I've amassed quite a collection of super8 stock now - ranging from brand new kodak stock (100D, Trix, Vision 200T) to old out of date stock (Afga, Kodachrome 40) I've been storing it so far in my bedroom drawer - out of the light and heat. Although, i'm starting to get slightly worried about the inevitable gaps that will occur while shooting this stock and getting it developed. So i'm starting to realise this is probably not the best long term home for it. Now, from what I gather storing it in the fridge/freezer is the way to go usually. But i've never fully read up on it. What do you all normally do? Is the stock safe enough where it is in my drawer (I live in Ireland so it doesn't really get that hot here) Will it degrade ALOT if not stored properly, or will the differences be not huge. (i quite like the degraded look of out of date stock) Thoughts? Ideas? Opinions?

ah thanks you! - you see, the reason it confused me is the fact that it seems counter-intuitive to set the 100D to the bulb symbol when image wise one would think the 'sun' symbol is telling the camera that you have daylight balanced film within therefore NOT to put the 85 filter in also, I didn't realise the Elmo is built for Tungsten geared film therefore the switch revolves around Tungsten based stocks - because even the Elmo 1012 manual tells me 'when filming under natural daylight, keep the knob at the lower 'sun' symbol side' - but then again this is relating to the fact that it thinks one is shooting with Tungsten balanced film this clears everything up! many thanks Matthew and Jamie - I hope to join you with some 1012 test footage online soon!

haha! it really is a small world, Matthew and Jamie - I have watched these videos of yours many times in the past while i was trying to decide whether to get the 1012 Elmo or not, so I hope you'll both take the complement that it was thanks to both your footage that i DID get the camera after all! thanks for that, Jamie. However, I already understand the differences between film stocks etc. but what I'm not too sure about is which setting i'm on when I have the switch switched to (for example) the sun symbol - when the sun symbol is showing (i.e. the switch is covering the 'bulb' tungsten symbol) does that mean the camera IS putting the 85 filter into the gate or does that mean that it thinks its daylight balanced film stock in the camera therefore it DOESNT put the 85 filter into the gate for correction. You see I understand the science and effect to it all - just not the function of which side of the switch does which. So if i have the 100D film in the camera I should have the 'sun' symbol displayed (while the tungsten symbol is being hidden by the switch) and when I have Tungsten film in (200T) I should have the 'bulb' symbol on display (while the 'sun' symbol is being hidden by the switch) and then if I need to shoot exterior shots outside in the daylight with the Tungsten film I then switch the switch to the 'sun' symbol? hope i'm not confusing everyone...because i'm starting to confuse myself also - thanks again for everyones replies

many thanks for that, Matthew - i do definitely agree another test roll or two will be needed in preparation for the short i'm working on. Right now however I'll just stick with the 1 roll of 100D to make sure the camera is functioning. Also, seeing as you are somewhat of an Elmo expert I have one more question for you - Have you ever had any problem with focus on the Elmo? Do you find the split prism focusing system reliable? Or have you ever encountered any focusing problems? (lastly - do you have any clips of the footage you shot with the Elmo? I always love seeing new footage shot on this camera - it gives me hope!) thanks again,

Thanks for all that, Jamie. When you say 'be sure to lock the exposure' is that what the "EE Lock" button is for on the camera? If I'm using the Automatic exposure mode do i press the 'EE Lock' button to lock the current exposure? Also, I find the switch method of 'lamp' or 'sun' slightly confusing... I presume if the 'sun' symbol is showing (i.e. the switch is covering the 'lamp' symbol) then this means its exposing for daylight balanced film - and if the 'lamp' symbol is showing (i.e. the switch is covering the 'sun' symbol) then this means its exposing for tungsten balanced film?

Hey everyone, I'm ready to shoot my first roll of film on my Elmo 1012sxl. I bought a few rolls of film (4x 100D, 3x Vision 200T, 3x Trix). I'm thinking of putting only one roll of 100D through the camera and sending it off to be processed and scanned at 1080p just to make sure the camera is working properly. I have a short film planned to shoot with the 3 rolls of Vision - so I don't really want to waste a roll of it on a test (at least not yet...I don't want to risk shooting more than one roll and find that they come back with nothing on them) So, now i'm just wondering - what would be the best things to shoot in order to get a good feel for what the camera can achieve? Focus test charts? varied shots- Wides, close ups, some macro stuff? Colour charts? using the manual and automatic exposure? shooting scene in 24 fps to test syncing sound? any suggestions would be very much appreciated. I want to fit in as much tests as possible into this one roll! many thanks!

Excellent. Many thanks for your help(and to everyone else) along the way. I'll be sure to post results once I get some film developed and edited in the coming months.

hold the phone! Just tried the pliers technique - it worked a charm. Got the 'diopter' working like new, it seems to work in a system of clicks and levels. However, the bad'ish news is - from my testing of various diopter settings it still didn't seem to change the original problem - infinity focus isn't in focus unless I ever so slightly rack it away, then the image is in full focus. Has anybody had this problem before with other cameras? Or is it really all that big an issue? Surely if i just focus it to what looks correct with the split imaging focus then the film should be in focus?

yikes! close call. I was just about to spray it a bit due to a suggestion from a friend, but i gotta say, I had a bad feeling about it. I'll try using a pliers like you said and see if I can get it moving without going too hardcore on it also, what did you mean by: in your previous post?

many thanks for everyones helpful suggestions. I'm considering spraying a small bit of WD40 on it and see if that might loosen it up. However, maybe i'm just making a huge deal over nothing - the split image circle probably isn't HUGELY out of alignment, as i've said, i can achieve sharp alignment focus when i zoom into an object. So I guess my final question is: If i can achieve, what I think to see as, crisp aligned focus with the split imaging focus circle will that mean my footage will(/should) also be in focus? Or is it a case that no matter how 'in focus' I think it is, the rushes will come back out of focus due to the split imaging circle being ever so slightly out of line? i'll report back with updates later.

oh really? very interesting. Because I did happen to get the manual with the camera and as you've said, it doesn't go into huge detail about how to adjust. I'm starting to think I may be missing the adjuster part? here are some poor images taken off my phone of the viewfinder (I screwed the eye cup off) - if the links don't work please say and i'll reupload them: https://catch.com/m/BkiPV/4lg0jKwS_X https://catch.com/m/BkiPU/_6SvxkpE_5S so does that look like yours? or is it missing something? ...or have i just missed something!

many thanks, I agree that is probably the solution - but this supposed diopter just won't move one bit. anyone out there with experience with this elmo?

Greetings all! hope you could all shed some light here... After much research and bidding, I've happily been able to purchase a beautiful Elmo 1012s-xl. In seemingly perfect condition...or so i originally believed. While testing it out (i have yet to run a roll of film through her) I found that the focusing was ever so slightly 'out' while I was either at the lenses widest (7.5mm) or most telephoto (75mm). In terms of the infinity focus issue - If i was to point the camera at a far off branch on a tree (well over 100m) zoom in to 75mm, rack the lens to infinity - the branch would be slightly soft and the split imaging focus would be slightly out of line - however, If i ever so slightly rack the lens away from infinity focus - the branch comes into full focus and is aligned perfectly with the split imaging focus. I have a feeling this issue could just be due to the viewfinders diopter not being set up correctly to my eye, however - the cameras supposed diopter adjuster doesn't seem to want to move for me, and is extremely stiff (doesn't move an inch). So much so that I'm afraid to try force it. In terms of the focus issue when the lens is at its widest - again a similar issue alike when at 75mm, close objects that I try to focus on (from 1.5m and beyond) don't seem to fully align with the split image - however, if i zoom in a small bit I can achieve perfect focus with the split images aligning perfectly. Maybe i'm being too anal and percise here... and i've recently only discovered how finicky focusing with super-8 cameras can be (due to their being no ground glass i believe?) anyway, if you can - some wise words or suggestions would be lovely. peace