J. Winfield Heckert

I have a white spot running through my whole film transfer. I'm puzzled since I thought a hair or dirt would turn up black, I did check the gate several times and could see no obstructions. here is a screen shot of it. https://www.flickr.com/photos/heckert/28627373142/in/dateposted-public/

Cool. I have an ASC manual but it didn't include a listing for a 10mm lens. It does have a listing for a 9.5 which is where I got my educated guess.

The main with focus pulling is that the focus markings are almost hidden by the PL mount adapter. There are better lens options of course but this is what I have to work with. I also have an Angenieux 15-150 Zoom which is very sharp.

I have a 10mm Arriflex Cinegon Schneider Kreuznach lens. I've done some tests with it, It covers S16 pretty well. Some transfers show Darking in the corners others don't. From my tests it does seem like acceptable focus can be achieved with it. I've had the most success in focusing before shooting and leaving it set to Infinity, and shooting above a F4. I'm shooting interiors. I plan to use this lens on moving shots and action sequences shooting subjects 3-10 feet away. This lens has focus markings of "8 "10 1 2 3 4 6 INF. I was thinking of setting it at 6ft and shooting at F4 or 5.6 and not adjusting the focus during shots. Would this give me an acceptable focus of subjects 3-10ft in front of the lens?

The beaulieu's strong points over a Bolex is that it's electric, can run in reverse and the reflex viewfinder. I don't think the 200ft mag is worth much these days since you can't buy 200ft loads anymore. An Arri S would be great, keep in mind there is no point to converting anything to S16 anymore as plenty of cameras on the market have already been converted selling for less than the cost of S16 conversion.

Best bet is a small pin hole "spy" video camera taped over the view finder. That would give you framing. Or try mounting/glueing an iPhone to the eyepiece, that would give you a monitor of sorts, anything more complicated adds weight and expense. I would be nice to have for moving shots where the operator can't look through the lens. A video tap isn't really needed on small shoots it will slow you down. Other than being able to frame shots on a dolly or crane it will be a hassle.

Ok, I thought I read that some mags where A-wind and that would have explained how the test footage worked and not the Single perf we got for the shoot. The Camera could have been faulty but I remember that it would only take up the rolls Emulsion side out. like the sprockets were on the wrong side.

I'm confused by your answer does it take A winds or B-winds like an Arriflex, bolex etc? I only ask because I shot a short back in school with one. We did a camera test with double perf reversal ( it was what the camera store had in stock at the time!!) the test came out fine. We ordered film and Kodak didn't have double perf color negative on daylight loads, so we ordered single perf on cores. When it came time to shoot the camera wouldn't load correctly it would only load in a backwards fashion, made terrible noise and stretched the film. The project was never completed Horrible experience.

I shot a short with dialogue with a Crystal sync Beaulieu R16. the camera was way too loud even with blankets and jackets on it. Most of the noise on MOS cameras comes out the Lens, and the Beaulieu R16 with the guillotine shutter is really loud! So I recorded the dialogue before and after takes. It will teach you a lot about sound design shooting MOS that's for sure having to recreate and place every sound by necessity!! The lips matched sorta in not so convincing way, the causal audience didn't notice film geeks knew what was up. If your shooting outdoors from 10ft away with wireless lavs it might be ok and the camera clicking could even be masked.

That's the camera I shot all of the footage on that demo with. I had it converted to Ultra16 by Bernie at super16 inc. The BL was cost probitavite to convert to Super16. It was the least expensive sync sound camera at the time I bought it and was a good value. They are heavy and the 12-120 is not so sharp but other than that I had a lot of fun with it and got some great footage out of it. I upgraded to an arriflex high speed sr II last year.

Idk how to embed it from my phone but if you look up on vimeo. Search for "Ultra 16mm Regular 16mm comparison" from j Winfield heckert

https://vimeo.com/6506891. If you look at the last 5 seconds of this demo you can see the numbers are out side the frame lines.

No numbers show up inside the 1:85 frame of ultra 16mm. They are on the outskirts of the frame line. The demo you are watching is showing a much larger part of the frame than what will be seen on a transfer.

To answer your question. I shoot both film & video. I shoot film for the more creative projects. Personal endeavors or when a producer wants film. At a certain proffesional level in most situations film and video cost are the same. Overall I think the argument is negligable for scripted programing. I do seek out films shot and projected on film. I drove 3 hours to see Hateful 8 at the AFI Silver. It was worth the trip, stunning presentation gorgeous imagery. I regularly drive 45mins to see repertory films projected on film. I avoid the digital theater, it's too much like the home experience these days. Not impressive or better than film. I don't think film is dead either as long as people continue to shoot it. It's less expensive now to shoot film negative then ever.

Drive-ins have declined since the 50's for a varity of reasons. Competition from television, the VCR and raising land prices being a few of them. There were 5000 of them at the hight of their popularity. They mostly played 2nd and 3rd run films. When the VCR came out video stores replaced the need for 3rd run films. In 1987 many drive-ins were playing films that had already come out on video, some closed many turned to x rated films to survive until that industry stopped making film prints. Up until the 70s theaters rented prints and kept the box office take or at least a larger portion. This changed to where theaters had to make thier profits off concessions, drive-ins allowed outside food and drinks making it tougher to make bank on the concession sales. Urban sprawl, took over many locations. Drive ins were no longer on the dark outskirts of towns, suburbia engulfed many. The once cheap land the drive-in sat on was now a valuable Wal mart location. This plus the "passion pit" label led to the demise of thousand of theaters. In the early 90's there was a resurgence and new generation discovered them. drive-ins started showing 1st run films and adding second third screens. Banning outside food and adding great concessions allowed them to make a decent profit but most drive-ins rely on volunteer workers and and for many owners it's a part time gig for the summer. The leading reason today they are closing is the cost of switching to digital and the valuable land the theaters sit on. I have a great 35mm drive-in nearby who has a whole summer of retro films planned, I'm looking forward to it.

film ferrania is attempting to make a 100 ASA color reversal in super8 and 16mm. Based on a 1990s Italian reversal stock scotchchrome. If it goes well they plan to release other stocks. So there is hope but it's a complex process to reserect an old film stock.

Do you have any lenses that do focus on the 35mm moviecam? From what I've been told a PL mount is 52.00mm no matter if it's 16mm, 35mm or Digital. It should be the same. If you can borrow a made for 35mm prime lens I'd see if you can get it to focus to infinity. If it does that would confirm the theory that there's some difference between 16mm & 35mm PL.

I'm not sure we will see old stocks brought back to life. I myself am waiting for Kodak to bring back a color reversal, 100D hopefully. If you want a 70's color stock check out Agfa 200D. I don't know where you are in the North east but In the Philadelphia area projected celluloid can still be found. Exhumed Films an exhibitor of International and American Horror movies has showings about once a month at the international House in Philly. The Colonial theater in Phoenixville Pa also shows a many older Films on 35mm. If you want the greatest cinematic retro experience check out the Mahoning Drive-in theater in the Poconos. They only show 35mm films April-October. Many cult classics and horror films. It's a blast and worth the trip for sure. I'm sure there are more theaters showing film prints you may just have to dig a little.

Did the eclair npr have A wind mags?

Is it that only the 16mm glass won't focus to infinity? I had an issue where my lenses wouldn't focus to infinity. Visual Products who sold me the camera claimed it was the lenses at fault. I sent the camera to Bernie and he found the ground glass to be out of alignment. After that every pl mount lens I've mounted on it focuses great.

The zoom lens should not be mounted on the Turret camera body only the zoom camera body with auto iris. If your camera has 3 lens ports it should not be used with the zoom lens as it is too heavy. They are great little cameras, I shot my student short with one years ago. I still have it and plan to get it converted to Ultra16 at some point. It has the ability to be run in reverse which can produce some cool double exposures fades and dissolves. Great little effects camera that runs on batteries. with a prime lens and external battery its very light weight and can be triggered remotely.

Bernie at Super16 inc.

I'd budget for a 7:1 ratio. if your conservative you can get it lower but you would have a cushion at 7:1. If it's really straight forward shoot, your not trying anything new and everything works out 5:1 is possible. 4:1 is risky. You would have to plan your cuts and shot progression ahead of time. You can save by not shooting an entire master shot, just where you know you will use it, but you'll lose alot of editing flexibility. You can get processing and scanning to 2k for .40 cents a foot, with a bulk discount so I'd budget for 11,700 for 66 400ft rolls 10,500 for processing and transfer. I'd add a cushion in case prices go up. You can also buy a Super16 camera for less than a weekly rental of a professional 4k Camera rental. so you might save some cash from the digital budget that can go toward the film budget.

The video files I have are 3:06 from a 100ft load. I get about 3mins of useable exposed footage. I load and unload in total darkness, If you load in the light you may get less. quite a bit of work Splicing leader in to get an extra 7 seconds.

Its still a video camera even if Arri makes it or Panasonic. You can give a DVX-100A a ISO rating and use a light meter. Its about 640ASA. A camera may be built for creating dramatic fictional productions but it shoots digital video. It's the same school of thought that 16mm isn't suitable for a theatrical film production since it not a format intended for theatrical showings. My camera takes SLR prime lenses, meters in ISO's and shoots at 24p, Some days its shooting "dramatic", "cinematic" material to be shown in a theater other days its shooting documentary interviews for a corporate video for a website. Either day its still a video camera. Just like a film camera is always a film camera. I think the distinction people want is too have a degree of separation from live television, TV news, reality television, Interlacing, 60i and lower Dynamic range that classically define "Video". NTSC throws a lot of information away before recording the image, where digital cinema cameras record that information and more. The project and the person behind the camera can determine if its a cinematic production or something else.