k3shooter

Any advice on how to coordinate with the videographers shooting at the same time. Wondering if the noise of an MOS camera would ruin the video footage. I'm slated to shoot a wedding in a few months and any advice would be much appreciated. I would like to get up close and personal shots as opposed to hanging in the shadows and using the zoom all the time. Thanks. Greg

Charles, Thank you for your reply. You brought up some good suggestions/pointers that I had not considered. The lens does test fine per your instruction so I'm beginning to think it is seeing correctly to the light meter reading and perhaps passing slightly more light than the meteor. I'm going to shoot another roll and see how it goes. Thanks again. Greg

Hello, Just got the results back on EI 100 ASA Plus X reversal.. shot with the standard K3 Zoom and a M42 Vivitar 28mm lens. Bright sunny day shooting at F22 on both lenses. K3 Meteor lens sequences looked great, proper exposure maybe a tad over, approx. 1/2 -1 stop (which matched my sekonic reading). But while viewing Vivitar sequences, shots were more noticibly overexposed 1-2 stops. Same shots, same light. Any ideas why the greater overexposure on the Vivitar compared to the Meteor at the same F stop? There is a auto and manual toggle switch on the Vivitar lens which was in Man all the time. Thanks in advance. Greg

Hello G. Unfortunately, there isn't much of anything in the way of motion picture labs or equipment rental facilities or anything cine production related in entire San Diego County (a possible business venture?). Something to do with it's location being in the shadow of the megaopolis of Moviedom to the North. I recently moved away from San Diego so I guess there is an off chance that something may have sprouted up since, but I doubt it. Fortunately, as you know, L.A. is a short drive to the North with more choices in labs and In and Out burger locations than you can shake an orange stick at. And you'll need that Double-Double and vanilla shake when your stuck in traffic for three hours. I think you'll find L.A. to be a much more magical and accomodating place for everything film and entertainment (San Diego Zoo and Sea World excepted, of course). G (Greg) :)

...And don't pass up the must see animated version of the Shining here.... http://www.angryalien.com/0504/shiningbunnies.html

ahhhhhh.....David, Thank You. Now I can sleep tonight! Thanks for being so clear, concise and quick (response time). Makes sense. Greg

Can someone please tell me if additional light meter/ stop adjustments are required for a zoomed in shot of my subject. Is there a rule of thumb that suggests how much to compensate for light regarding camera distance from subject and a zoomed in focal length. Or, put another way when I take a light reading and obtain a f stop from the meter, does this reading/fstop suffice for the entire range of the zoom regardless of camera position relative to the subject. Sorry, if this is a bone head question or too technical or confusing, just trying to wrap my brain around this. Thanks. Regards, Greg

Marty, The link posted for a do it yourself battery pack is for the Scoopic M/MS series cameras. It won't work with the original straight 16 scoopics as their battery compartments are smaller. Just wanted to let you know since I just made this mistake with my scoopic. Greg

The Sekonic L398-Studio Deluxe Light Meter is a great choice for under $200.00. B&H Sells it for $179.00. Available here... http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...ku=46889&is=REG Greg

Duane's Photo in Parsons, Kansas. They're the only lab in the Western Hemisphere to process Kodachrome stock. I'm assuming your shooting K40 since Switzerland was mentioned and they're the only other known processor of K40. Takes about a week from sending to receiving. You can find them at k14movies.com. They do a great job! Fast and friendly and reasonable rates too.

Don, Sorry to hear that this is more involved than just a cleaning. If K3camera can't help, try giving Kiev Camera a call in Atlanta. They're on the web at kievcamera.com. Good luck. Greg

Hi Don, Did you clean the ground glass? It's a small piece of plastic, just behind and above the shutter. Remove the lens, it's easy to get to. Take a q-tip or lens cloth and clean with lens cleaner or rubbing alcohol. If you use a q-tip it may take a while to get all the little fibers off, but with a little patience it will come clean. Hope this does the trick. You can also clean the mirror shutter while you're in there, just be delicate with both mirrors and don't apply too much pressure while cleaning. Some shutters were not polished very well from the factory, not much you can do about that. I just performed all the above maintenance to my own K3 and all is clean and bright in the viewfinder. Good Luck. Let me know how it goes. Greg

Thanks for all the great advice Mike. I burned a roll of Plus X to practice loading and inspected the film with a mag glass and found no apparent scratches. I'm going to shoot some neg in a few weeks and check the results. I rolled both loops back 1-2 perfs (read it somewhere) and ran the cam at all speeds. Both loops looked good and were clearing the loop guides nicely, from what I could see. The moment of truth will be in a couple of weeks. I'm sorry to hear about your K3 and I'm wondering if Kiev Camera here in the states may be able to help you out more than K3 camera. They're in the Atlanta area and supposedly pretty knowledgeable in the K3. In the interim, I will heed your advice and not disassemble anything. Thanks again. Cheers, Greg

Thanks Mike. That's what I'm doing. I guess I was expecting the dial to be more precise and have a tighter feel in turning. It seems fairly loose. I'll line up the two big red dots at 24, test some film, and hope for the best. Perhaps I'll tape the dial down at 24 so it doesn't move accidentally. By the way, how's your registration look in the final print? I know these cams are a far cry from a pin registered Arri but just wondering. Any other advice would be much appreciated. Thanks again.

In case anyone is interested I just got back from the Cine Gear Expo '05 at Warner Bros and Pro 8mm/16mm was displaying their "new" super R16. It had the standard Angineux 17-68mm which apparently requires no modification. The viewfinder had been modified with S16 markings and was nice and bright. The price? $4,000.00! Ouch. That's an Eclair ACL/NPR. No word on whether or not they will convert private R16's and what it would cost. Their telecine footage for super 8 was jaw dropping and they'll let you sit in on the timing session. More at their website. If this is old news, I apologize. It was new to me. Happy shooting.