Raffinator

Thanks Matt. Raffi

There is an article in American Cinematographer that covers his work on "The Village" Here is the link: http://www.theasc.com/magazine/aug04/village/index.html I also believe there are articles in some recent issues that cover "House of Sand and Fog" (January 2004) as well as "Intolerable Cruelty" (October 2003) however I don't think the latter two are available on-line. You might want to try ICG magazine as well: http://www.cameraguild.com/ Hope that helps, Raffi

I own a Nikon R8 (a recent purchase) and love the results I am getting. Nice optics for the price. I grew up after the whole super 8 era so I am just discovering this wonderful format. Was wondering if the R8 is crystal sync: good enough to match up to dialogue. I know the camera is ridiculously loud, but I figured I would start by asking if it can do sync sound at all. Thanks, Raffi Kondy

If you are shooting a subject who's back is to direct sunlight, and you want the subject to retain detail, then typically, you would simply set your exposure for the front of the subject. Of course, in doing so, the sunlight will probably "blow out" (be extremely bright): if its a cloudless day then am sure the sun would be 6 or 7 stops over the front of the subject. If you want the front of the subject and the backlit sun to be closer in terms of exposure, then you either have to add light to the front of the subject (using bounced light, reflector or white board, or artificial light) or cut the amount of sun light falling on the back of the subject (using a net, silk, or some form of diffusion). This will bring the amount of light behind the subject and the amount of light hitting the front of the subject closer together in terms of footcandles (amount of light). Don't worry about wether its a still photo or a moving image, the principles of lighting will still stay the same. You should, however, be aware of wether or not you are using film or digital/video. If you are using film, you will have much more latitude (the amount of detail from shadow to highlights) then if you use a digital camera. Read up on Ansel Adams "Zone System" of photography and a lot of your questions will be answered. Hope this helps. Raffi Kondy

I am shooting a low low budget 16mm short, through a local community college, and one of the settings for the short will be a moving car. Since the story itself does not have to come across as pure "realism", and since I have always wanted to try it, we will be shooting the car scene using a rear projection setup- probably what most would consider a poor man's rear projection. We will be shooting inside of the college tv studio using a real car (sub compact). The rear projection screen is fairly small: 6' across, and the projector is an LCD projector (no syncing to worry about). The projected source footage will have to be video (film not in the budget). I am wondering if using 24p video would make a big difference? ie an improvement over regular interlaced (I know this is probably a question of taste). I plan to use long lenses and throw the background out of focus. My biggest issue is lighting and coming up with a motivated source. At this point the scene is set at night, and I would love to make "street lamps" and "buildings" my sources, but I don't know how to create the "passing by" look (the street lamps and buildings reflecting over the windshield and faces of the passengers. I have a simple dimmer board at my disposal, and a small amount of lights ( a couple of divas and a couple of baby's). Maybe I will put the diva inside the car and call the dashboard the motivated source. Anyway, to the point: Anyone know any useful links or literature for doing a poor man's rear projection set up? Many thanks, Raffi Kondy

Thanks for the info guys! Very helpful. I just bought a cartridge of Kodachrome 40, so what I will probably do is a simple exposure test: shoot a grey card using the internal spot meter on the R8, then shoot the card at an exposure according to my own meter and watch the difference when I project it. (Theoretically I should be able to tell the difference according to the readings, but we all know that meters are all a bit different, especially one on a twenty plus year old camera.) Maybe I will do a test using the internal 85 versus a glass 85 over the lens, too. The whole "notch" concept bothers me, but I have to remember that these cameras were created for people who were using them on vacations, weddings and family re-unions, and did not want to bother calculating anything (especially after downing a few). Raffi

The filter is not removable. I did some research and it looks like most Super 8 cameras were created with built in filters, except the professional ones, of course. This seems to be because the only films available for super 8 were the kodachrome reversal films (tungsten), and since shooting outdoors is the most common form, it made sense to have the filter in place as the standard setting on these cameras. The unfortunate thing is that if you shoot indoors with the kodachrome stock, and you obviously don't want to use the filter you have to "displace" the filter with this filter key, which looks kind of like a little bottle opener, and probably gets lost just as easily. You stick it in a slot on the top of the camera, and viola, no filter. Anyway, I pride myself on taking my own readings, so I won't be relying on the internal metering system, unless of course I just want to pick up some quick footage in a "run and gun" type of situation. Raffi Kondy

I just purchased my first Super 8 Camera, a Nikon R8! I shoot mostly student stuff on 16mm where everything is manual, so all these Super 8 automated functions have been a bit bewildering to me. There is a built in filter on the R8 that I am assuming is an 85 for converting daylight into tungsten. I need to displace this filter, using a filter key plate, when I shoot with tungsten light. My question is this: does the built in light meter compensate for the exposure difference when using a filter? and if so, does it then "not" compensate when I use the filter key plate to displace this filter (shooting indoors with tungsten light, p.e.) I should probably just meter everything by hand anyway. Also, if I am using a daylight negative stock, will the film cartridge "tell" the camera that I am using daylight balanced film, or would I have to displace the filter? Or maybe would it be better to always "displace" the built in filter and use a good quality glass filter in front of the lens? ( I am assuming that the built in filter is gelatin) As you can see, I am thoroughly confused. Any info would be greatly appreciated! Raffi Kondy