Chris Blotiau

Ok, so as I suspected, those batteries are key. I don't know what slider you are referring to with the letter "M" on the left side of the camera. The only thing I can change is the foucus, zoom, internal filter via trigger pin, and the lock for the shutter. I noticed f-stop numbers on the focusing ring, but I hesitate to believe this has anything to do with aperature, because one of the first things I did with the camera while shooting indoors was film myself turning that focusing ring in the mirror so I could see a change in the final picture if there were any. The final projection is a clean, perfectly exposed shot of me looking in the mirror through the camera turning the focusing ring and nothing at all changes; not the focus or the exposure. Is it possible you are thinking of a different version of my camera ? I know of a Canon 518 XL and a Canon 518 Auto Zoom, I believe there is another version as well. Mine is the earliest, and I believe the simplest of these models. I was actually referring to digital SLR, but my knowledge of exposure comes from working with 35mm cameras in a college class where we were taught basic principles and developed our own film. Why do you think digital exposure is so different ? Does it not operate on the same principles of shutter speed and aperature, ISO, etc ? Regardless, your help has been so valuable to me. Thank you again so much for taking your time to read my posts and answer questions.

Outstanding ! Thank you so much Jason !! Still, the question of the button batteries is curious to me. Are they infact responsible for controlling the auto iris within the camera, or does this "auto aperature" work even when the 1.3v batteries aren't there ? I have a foundational understanding of exposure and how it relates to picture quality, the problem arose with all the new variables this new/old tool brought into play. I'm confident with a modern camera where I can manually set the shutter speed, aperature, and so on, but in the case of the super 8 I had no idea what the camera was doing, and what was responsible for the huge amount of light being allowed through. Thank you for your help, following this reply I will be doing a lot more research on the suggested topics. By the way, I'm located on Long Island wouldn't mind some shooting with a vet if you're nearby. Thanks again.

Hi, I recently purchased a Canon 518 super 8 camera (http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/cine/data/1956-1970/1964_zoom518_sp8.html?lang=us&categ=crn&page=1956-197) from ebay. I bought kodak's 100d color reversal film, popped it in the cartridge holder and off I went shooting. Foolishly, I did little research before hand and only did a brief scan of the original manual that came with the camera. After getting my developed film back from Pac Lab in Manhattan I was eagar to watch it on my newly aquired Bell and Howell projector, regards of Craigslist and the nice gentleman a few towns over. I found that nearly all of my outdoor footage was overexposed to the point where no image could be made out, and only some pieces of the outdoor footage I could just make out the subject matter through the blown out whites. It was a semi bright day, but by no means a full 100% intensity sunny day. To my consolation, some of the film was beautifully developed, but only what I had filmed indoors. This prompted me to do some research and I started with the camera's manual. I discovered that the camera had a small pin attached to the trigger handle and it had been in the tungsten setting for the duration of my shooting since I hadn't even known it exsited until after I watched my first 2 rolls of developed film. (*I know now that this pin shouldn't make a difference because I'm using daylight balanced film which automatically disables the built in filter), but at the time I thought I discovered the problem to my exposure woes. Again I went out with my camera and more 100d film for another two rolls. I would disable and enable the built in filter via the pin attached to the trigger. I thought for sure I would have properly exposed film now that I was paying attention to this filter. Again, however I received my film back from Pac Lab to discover very few clips worth keeping, and the properly exposed pieces were all indoors. I was frustrated and annoyed. **This is a key piece of info that hopefully you all can help me clear up... I had been neglecting the button battery compartment which powers the electronic eye for my first two trials (4 rolls of film) because I noted that 1.3v mercury cell batteries were needed (I thought it just powered the light meter, and not the entire auto exposure system). I knew these were near impossible to attain, and in addition, the modern button batteries of similar size were rated at 1.5 volts. By now I had it with my exposing problems and decided to put the 1.5 625a batteries in there assuming it would be better than nothing. Now the light meter works when I look through the view finder, and it often warns that I'm overexposed, but I'm worried that the difference in voltage is still a problem. Today I was told by someone at Pac Lab that it is possible my camera was shooting with the aperature wide open since all along I had been shooting with no batteries to charge the electronic eye. Do you think so ? It makes sense to me, because most of my outdoor footage is completely blown, and the only good stuff is from inside. I'm going to by wein cell batteries from myoldcamera.com, but do you think that now I will have a problem with my indoor exposure with daylight balanced film ? I've learned so much already, but I'm still very confused. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Chris