Rachel Oliver

I spoke to these guys alot a while back, it seems they have to machine each plate individually hence the hefty price tag, I think it took him like 10 years to perfect it or something! Olly

Watch out though, S8 aint like shooting 16 and 35, lenses and cameras differ greatly in their exposure needs so an external metre can be less acurate than the cameras own metre! Infact I'd always trust a working internal metre over an external in S8 but thats just me, I guess if you test your camera with a metre 1st to see how it calibrates then it can work well as you can take more detailed readings and you get to look much cooler too :D PS the Leicina Special is a very lovely camera, interchangable lenses!

Neg stocks seem to be harder to get through the S8 gate in my experience, the older the camera the tougher it seems to be! The camera needs to be in tip-top condition to do a good job and even then you get a little frame jump.... This Andec Filmtechnik pressure plate apparantly helps alot with that but I'm still waiting to see the results. Olly

If you need a margin of error dont shoot with reversal! neg is much more easy going as it has a much wider lattitude, Kodak has two vision stocks available in S8. I Own a Cannon 1014XLS and its really good. It's dead quiet and very solid, it also deals with the thicker neg stocks much better than my Nizo, also you can get a crystal sync unit from "The Film Group" for sync audio! Olly

Maybe you should do it in post if you can so you still have the choice? Once it's transfered in letterbox your stuck with it and if you are using a standard 16mm frame to compose with you may not always get away with the crop..... Olly

Oops pipped to the post there :D

Oops pipped to the post there :D

I think Sebastian is talking about a removable pressure plate developed by Andec FilmTechik ( A German company) It's a tiny little piece of cromed steel that sits inbetween the Kodak pressure plate and the film and further steadies the film in the gate as well as increasing image sharpness. I shot a load of K40 with one I borrowed in Australia but have yet to see the final results, Apparantly results are very good but it's very very easy to leave it in a can and send it away for processing by mistake, I doubt it would ever be seen again :o Olly

I've seen a Nikon Zoom on a Bolex before so I guess they can work, don't know if they cover S16 though but they may well do! I think the S16 conversion is around £850 including Tax. www.bolex.co.uk is a good resource for info, you can e-mail Andrew Alden from that site, he's a really nice guy. Les Bosher seems to be about the most respected camera engineer on the planet, I'll let you know how it went..... Olly

I'm currently having my REX-5 converted for S16 by Les Bosher, I've been reliably informed that the POE 16 - 100 should cover S16 through out the entire zoom range (there is often confusion between these and the newer lenses which have more trouble with S16) I will post the results once I have them. Olly

You could get a Kern Switar POE zoom lens for the H16, it's got a built in auto metre! I set up a shot that lasted 3 days with this and a Tobin TTL...... Although this is moving Fstops as opposed to exposure times for light compensation. Just a thought

Thanks Mark, I subsequently found since my post that the DigiBeta master looked far far better in terms of the grain than the DV clone, it only seemed to happen when dubbing to a higher compression format? I fixed the DV cutting copy in FCP by reducing the mids and messing with the contrast and saturation a little, as I said the DigiBeta master looked much better when Onlined and from a broadcast monitor, I guess I wont take what I see on DV as final in future. Olly

I shot a film with 7277 which is low contrast and then had the colours pushed in post (Telecine) it achieved a kind of Old Photo Print quality, soft and colourful as opposed to the usual combination of contrasty and saturated. Olly

I shot a film with 7277 which is low contrast and then had the colours pushed in post (Telecine) it achieved a kind of Old Photo Print quality, soft and colourful as opposed to the usual combination of contrasty and saturated. Olly

The place I use here has a minimum 400ft deal so if your under that you still pay the 400ft price, I noticed Pro8 were doing a 300ft package deal a while ago? Neg stock (especially Vision2) transfers really well to video, reversal can be a bit less "predictable" but can look amazingly cool although as I'm sure you know you need to expose it very carefully due to the tiny lattitude..... PS I'm definately a dork

Lets start a DP exchange program!!! :lol:

Lets start a DP exchange program!!! :lol:

If you were in the UK like me I could help but alas you are stuck in LA with a much higher standard of life including almost constant sunshine, palm trees everywhere, mountains and beaches Oh yeah and an actual film industry too! Poor you <_< Anyhow if you hang out for a while someone from your Cosy beach town will unveil a new universe of film labs and post houses for you to pick over..... Good luck!

It's far safer to buy origonal Kodak stock and have a seriously established lab take care of the developing rather than use any "fringe" companys. No offence to Pro8 but I've done it both ways and I know which way i'd go, (even if budget is tight) ;)

5285 in 16mm!!! Out of darkness comes light :D I've been wishing for this for a long time, I hope the labs can handle it? John sometimes you are like Santa Claus....

Hi; Henderson's have a good rep, based in south Norwood - I'm using them on my next project. This link should get you to the BW service Olly

Yes congratulations David, it must be a lovely feeling? PS why are so many DP's so buzzed up about people becoming members of the Alabama Skydiving Centre? ;)

In the UK it's not unusual to find REX-5's for almost double your quote (In top notch condition that is) Personally if I really wanted the camera I would buy it without a thought at the price you quoted if I felt positive about it's condition! Olly PS - tick tock tick tock tick tock........ ;)

Wow! That's fantastic Chainsaw, thankyou. I'm figuring if I have a 2mm hole drilled into the centre of my Bolex SBM body cover it should work.... O

Sorry that's "Northfork" not "Northfolk" which is actually a Town in northern England!