Luke Randall

Great ideas. The viewfinder is a bit foggy I think, I did not know it could be cleaned up.

I do not use zoom lenses unfortunately! I use MKI Superspeed primes. I ran my first couple of mags through camera and was able to pull focus hand held, walking etc with only a few a couple of fails. I favor wide angles so I was mostly on the 9mm which was pretty forgiving. Slowly getting the hang of the viewfinder.

The 5.9 will cover some digital s16 cameras. It does cover the digital bolex in s16 mode at least, I can attest from experience.

Yes, no need to re-invent the wheel. Modifying these mags was common practice at places like cinematechnic. I believe Arri had some input too. Whether anyone is still doing it is another question, but i'd say just picking one up already modded would be more cost effective. I've seen them go for as little as $150 recently....

Ha, maybe. I'm not sure even s16 SR mags have much market value at the moment. I picked up a SRII s16 with ccd tap, 2 mags, 3 batteries for $1500. Hopefully the prices will encourage more people to use film. You can barely get a couple days rental on an alexa for that price. Indeed, I do not. I'll either have to get one modded or rent an extra mag. Cheers

Cool thanks for the info Dom and hi from a fellow Aussie. I lived in Melbourne for 8 years before moving to L.A. Great city, I miss it!

No. I have two s16 mag's, I want to get a third so I can have a backup mag/low light (500t) mag on set. There are a lot of unmodified mags going cheap on ebay. Plenty of people say they shoot s16 on regular mags without issue, but there also must be reasonable motivation for modding the mags in the first place.

Ha thanks Greg, I guess I could have been worded that better. What I meant was, does anyone have an informed opinion on the risk -- if any -- of shooting s16 on unmodified srII mags? Cheers

Anyone run in to trouble doing this? I've heard of people doing it without issues or scratches but not the inverse... as yet.

Nice!

Not a student unfortunately, that is an excellent discount though!

Thanks David. Yes I think it was a scanning issue, apparently a custom profile at the scanning end would likely nix the problem. I'm just glad it's not an issue with the camera.

Thank you for the replies guys, sounds like it was a problem with the scan.

I don't think it's the stock. I used a 400ft roll of 250d and 100ft roll of 500t purchased from different sources. I can definitely upload a clip when I'm back at my machine though.

Hi, I got some scans back of my test footage and there's some verticle banding in high exposure areas like sky at times. It was shot on an SRII with vision 250D and 500T, same issue on two separate mags. Processed normally then scanned to prores 4444. I've attached a pic of the issue at it's worst for illustration purpose. Can anyone can shed some light on what this artifact might be? Thank you

I'm just getting started shooting 16mm film and finding my through the process of getting the best price to performance ratio with indy filmmakers and student filmmakers in mind. I wanted share what I've acquired thus far in hopes it might help others get started quickly and also to hear tips from more knowledgeable folks. List your deals! Film Stock: Best prices I have found are factory sealed rolls from reelgoodfilm in L.A. $96 for rolls of 16mm 200T and 250D. Processing: 16mm is $.22/ft at Fotokem. Since they have an excellent reputation & other vendors (Spectra $.21/ft) had a negligible price difference, I went with Fotokem. Scanning: I went with Perry at Gamma Ray Digital. 5k scanner, prices are good, no bollox fees or "packages" and superb communication. Pro 8mm recently got a 5k scanner too but their prices are higher and they offer fewer output options. .48c a ft for 2k scan to 4444 prores or uncompressed AVI. Cheers!

Is there any way to punch in (magnify) to get critical focus through the standard viewfinder or the extension? The SRIII has a switch on the extension tube I believe. This would be really helpful!

They have their own click in system, so unfortunately you cannot just screw in any extension rods. The extensions for the these if you can find them are only another two long also inches I think. For anyone else who might find themselves in the same dillema as me. I tracked these down http://www.visualproducts.com/storeProductDetail02.asp?productID=728&Cat=3&Cat2=33 Not sure how much they charge though. Cheers!

Thanks for the reply Kalle. I spotted that one online too, but the rails look a little too short I think. Cheers for the tip, i'll keep an eye on ebay :)

Thanks David. I was curious about this too, fantastic explanation.

It would be cool to make a shared google doc of the prices for the various labs so that we might easily compare who does what and at what price.

I'm new to film, so you may ignore me. But don't Spectre and others do in house develop, clean, telecin/scan and digital deliver? I've heard Fotokem will work with little guys on prices too. Again I'm new and haven't tried, but I was planning on using them for developing as they have a great reputation, then shipping to Perry for scan.

I responded to the OP's question. Then yours. What's the problem? PM if you've got an issue, but let's not derail a lighthearted discussion as I'm interested to hear stories from others too :)

I'm not really sure how the lack of a permit affects the quality of the images but if you've got a constructive contribution on the topic I'd be happy to hear it. A lot of Wong Kar Wai's early films contain tons of footage taken on the sly. More recently Black Swan nicked a few shots on the NYC. Under certain conditions and as long as it's safe and unintrusive -- I don't see any harm. But to each their own!

I'm not sure if this is a real question or you're taking the piss but I'll go ahead and answer anyway :) I can grab shots that would otherwise be impossible for me to get. The shots can improve a film by adding connective tissue between main locations and up your production value. If carefully planned and executed safely, why not!