Ruben Arce

Thanks David, Yes there is a big difference in the You Tube file and the original edited footage. And it looks weird. It looks like digital grain and RGB dot dancing around. It was processed and scanned by Video & FIlm Solutions at 2k. They use the spirit scanner. It may be my fault. I did edited and color graded in Premiere Pro. Basically I applied rob curves to bring the color intensity and contrast of the image back of the flat image that the scanner delivered. Now I'm thinking that probably it was a little under exposed and in order to bring it to a good level probably I pushed it to much to a point where it started creating this artificial grain. Over exposing the film sounds like a good idea. I think it may help at the postproduction stage too to avoid video grain. The scanned original file looks good and it was actually bigger than the 1080 frame. I downsized the frame to make it fill into the 1080 frame even when the original file was coming out of a regular 16mm camera. Meaning 4:3 aspect ratio. I'm happy with the way it looks, but I'm doing this because I want to learn as much as possible. Not that I'm super picky or want a K3 to look like an expensive camera. So any thoughts are welcome and help with my learning experience. Thanks

Thanks Pav, I'll definitely will over expose at least one stop next time and I'l try to get a roll of Kodak 50D to see the difference. And yes it was my first time shooting 16mm. I got the camera last year and I didn't wanted to ruin the film and waste my money in the scanner, so I waited, got the lenses that I wanted or at least the ones that I could find and read as much as I could. I shoot video all the time and I enjoy taking stills with my film camera too. So, first time but with the proper training.

Thanks Jeff, I'm happy with the way it looks and I'm sure I'll be able to make it look even better by overexposing and being careful in the postproduction stage. I keep shooting with this camera and lenses a few rolls till I feel that I'm ready for something more profesional or a project that requires a much better image. Thanks.

Thanks Jeff, Thanks for sharing your knowledge and your kind words. I like the way it looks specially for a cheap camera and some old M42 still photo lenses. I just want to learn as much as possible from this experience, and you helped me a lot already. I never thought about the lenses, it makes sense yes. I forgot to mention it was regular 16mm. I'm using this camera and lenses to learn and practice; So I'll stick with this setup for now. But definitely I'll get some Kodad 50D to see how it looks. Overexposing makes a lot of sense. Actually exposing for middle gray gave me properly exposed images, but not happy colorful images. I knew about film liking overexpose but I thought that pulling in processing would be a requirement. Now with the experience that I have this time I totally agree that film will hold it information in the high lights. Hey that frame that you took out of your film looks great. I love the feeling of film. That image looks sharp but not as sharp as digital, dynamic range looks great too, grain and exposition. I'll definitely will integrate your recommendations next time. Good luck with your project and thanks for sharing.

Hello, I would like to hear some advice, tips.. About 16mm film Vision 3 and it's grain. I recently shot a roll of 100 feet of Vision 3 250D and it turned out great for a Krasnogorsk K3 that I bought for $70 on ebay. I noticed grain specially in the shadows even when I was exposing for middle gray or 18% gray and I had enough light. Nothing wrong with grain. I understand is part of the texture of film and I like it. What I don't like is that after color grading the video (2k, ProRes 444) The grain was moving a lot and it was more like RGB grain than the organic look of film grain. Here is the story: I got to the place where I shot this when the sun was setting. I prepared for shooting and by that time the sun was behind a mountain and I didn't have any specular light. But being Vision 3 250D I was still getting good numbers in the meter. (Sekonic 558). ASA: 250 Frame Speed: 24 Shutter Angle: 150 Apertures: f11 at the beginning, f8 15minutes later, f5.6, etc. I mean there was enough light to expose the film properly. The meter was not suggesting apertures like f1.4 or f1, but I still can notice this grainy areas. Is this normal? Was it because of the time of the day or light conditions? What would you do in that situation? Over expose and then pull in processing? Is it a post production problem? Also do you sharp the image when downscaling from 2k to 1080? I know it's supposed to be almost the same but the image was much larger than the 1080 frame. I can live with that, but I would like to learn more and hopefully get even better results when shooting film. It was my first time with 16mm by the way. Thanks you guys for sharing info and advice. You Tube: http://youtu.be/SKxsLj_p1Jk Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cs9ipoxxervacqp/K3%20Wide.mp4?dl=0 You Tube softens the image to a point where grain is almost imperceptible so I'm including a file that you can download if you wanna take a look closer.

Looks great Jose Luis. Does this software work with scanned images? Is there a version of the software in english or spanish? There is another software that you recommend that can be used to scan film?

Thanks Andries, Sounds like a lot like what may happened to my camera. Since it was working when I received it and when I moved the needle it got stuck in the grease. I tried, leaving the camera outside receiving sun rays and heating it with a hair dryer. But none of those methods worked. So I think I'll send it to a shop in LA. http://willardengineering.com/home I would like to have it oiled and serviced too. I don't like the idea of the camera not looking as good as it does now, but I'll have to lie with that if I want the camera working again.

8 years or so later. Exactly the same situation happened to me. I bought a Nikon R10 it's beautiful, so clean it looks just like new, when I received the camera I tested the manual exposure lever and it worked and 15 minutes later, It got stuck and it didn't move again. Exactly the same situation. It won't meter in auto and it won't move when I turn the knob. I did my research, I found that there is an electrical contact for the meter and some people got it back on track by sanding the terminals. I did. I cleaned the terminals and contacts but nothing happened. The camera works at any speed, zoom works, it will even fire the flash and everything else works fine. Except the meter. So Question for Tom. Did you get your camera fixed? Did you find a workaround solution? I'll send mine in but I heard that they have to remove the leatherette and it will never look the same. Any comments and suggestions welcomed, specially from Tom Doolittle. Thanks. Ruben

Wow! It's great that you still have that file. I do have the cable and connector. I mean the original one. So I can use that one to power the camera without drilling or soldering the terminals. Now thanks to this information I can calculate the power requirements of the camera. I know it's 12v but I still need to figure out the amps. It's going to be a tremendous help. Thanks a lot Sir Alvin Ekarma.

I know this is an old post. But I recently got a Scoopic 16 and I'm really interested in that DIY solution that Sir Alvin Ekarma Mentioned. The link is not working, but maybe you can tell me more about it.

Hey Tyler, thank you so much for the info man. Great points in fact. And yes I'm doing this for fun but mostly because I want to have the experience of shooting film. And to be ready if a project calls for film, not with the Krasnogorsk anymore but with a more professional camera. I think I would be not afraid at that point of shooting film. And at the same time the point that you mention apply to this. What I need now, and what I may need if I needed professional results. I think I'll stick with 16mm for now. And If I shoot some super 8 in the future it will be merely for fun. Thanks a lot for your help.

Thanks Josh, Great advice. Do you have a favorite lab? Also I really like the idea of shooting reversal. But B&H doesn't offer any reversal film for 16mm. Any idea on where can I get some of that?

Thanks Chris, Unfortunately they didn't have any samples of footage. I bought the camera from ebay. You know typical story. It probably had never been used, blah, blah. But i paid just $67 for the camera, and it looks like new. It came with all the accessories, case and all of them are in like new condition. I know that doesn't mean it's going to work. But for the money I can't complain. As you said, I'll have to shoot some film to see how it works.

Oh I forgot to say that I haven't triad any of those cameras. This is going to be the first time. That's the main reason to be uncertain about shooting 4 spools so I can reach the minimum charge to find later that the camera is not working properly.

I know there are some post on this topic, but they are outdated or they don't present enough information. So here is the story: I have been shooting video cameras for a long time. I've had the desire to shoot film but not the money. Recently I bought a Krasnogorsk K3 which looks in amazing condition to me. It has a 90… serial number, so I suppose it was made in 1990. It has all the accessories, even the box and I'm excited to start shooting with it. I know how cameras work, how to expose, filters, I have a light meter and I know hot to use it and I have shot 35mm stills. So I guess I'm safe in that area. But I need help with some tips about processing the film. I'm going to shoot basic things, I'll try to test my lenses, different apertures, etc. So nothing really important. I have to spools of 100ft and I would like to have them scanned to 2k. I would like to start with those. But looks like many labs have a minimum charge. And it something like $150. I have a super 8 camera. So I could shoot a couple of cartridges just for fun in order to reach the minimum charge. If I shoot negative, can I watch the super 8 film at home with a projector? What do you guys recommend? Please tell me about the process. I'm self-taught, I've done plenty of research on the internet but there is not much info this days. I would like to document my experience of shooting 16mm video, so I can share the info with other people who may have the same questions. So you may help more people than just myself. Thanks in advance.

Jian what can you tell me about the nikon adaptor? Didi it work ok? Did you have problems focusing to infinite?