Dave Perry

My plan is to go from D-tap from V-mount to Cannon 4 pin. I'm either going to use the original camera mount that runs along side the mad or devise something else.

Hi Samuel. Yes, I've visited Les Bosher's site and e-mailed him. It's hard to tell from the photos on his site if he uses the C-mount or TS mount for his adapters. I've got tons of base plates, dove tails rods, lens supports, etc, from other camera rigs so I'm not worried about that right now, just the adapter.

Hi everyone. I just bought an Eclair ACL II. I've contacted AZ Spectrum, Visual Products, and Les Bosher and am waiting for responses but was also wondering if anyone knows of and adapter to go from the Eclair's TS mount to PL lens. I can't seem to find anything other than C-mount to PL and that just seems too risky as far as stress on the threads. Spoke to Bernie at super16inc and he is going to do the conversion to U16mm and suggested I look on eBay for adapters but I can't find any. Thanks. dp

Just an update. I picked up an Eclair ACL 2. I appreciate all the input from everyone. It's in good working conditions and has 2x400' French mags. I've checked with Bernie at Super16 Inc about CLA and super 16 or ultra 16 mod. I'll probably run a couple of 100's through it as a test before sending it to him but I'm crazy excited about working with it. Planning to get a PL adapter for it as well. I have a set of Schneider Xenon Fps I want to use with it. The battery belt that came with it though is a Bescor lead acid pack that doesn't seem to charge though. I'm using an AC power source from my Ursa Mini right now but couldn't I use a V-mount battery throughout the Cannon plug for battery source?

No worries. I'm well aware of the fact that focal length is not changed by image plane size. I have a set of Schneider Xenon FFs.

Thanks for the input guys. Looks like I'm the new owner of an Eclair ACL! Going to pick it up today. Now, need to get it CLAed and PL adapter.

Hi Greg. Yes, I found one in a used camera shop recently and spent some time messing with it. The person running the shop that day knew nothing about it. The owner of the shop was on vacation but when he got back I asked him about it. He said it's there on consignment and would find out what the owner wants for it. He's having a hard time finding the owner right now but knows who it is. The camera was actually used to make a movie by its original owner at a local university. I'm hoping this week I can get a price on it. He says the owner has accessories but in the shop all it has is one 200' mag attached to it and that's all, no power or batteries. The eye piece seems a little wonky to me. I had a hard time adjusting the level of the image. As I'm sure you know, and I discovered, there is a ring that rotates and turns the image based on how you have the eyepiece oriented. That mechanism seemed to work inconsistently but i was able to level the image regardless of how I positioned the eyepiece. So far the responses you guys have given me are a great help and much appreciated. I'm really hoping I can get it. The shop owner wants to get it out of there, just a matter of confirming a price from the camera owner. Any online resources you guys know of would be great. I've found a couple already. Thanks.

Thanks Heikki. I was wondering about the ability to adapt PL lenses to the ACL. I have PL Schneider so that is a what I'm looking for. dp

I’m looking at a couple of 16mm options, an Eclair ACL or a Canon Sccopic. I know the Scoopic is geared towards news gathering but what are your thoughts on the two for narrative work? Any pitfalls in each I should look out for, pros and cons? Thanks. dp

Thanks for the props Samuel and I certainly appreciate you sharing it with anyone you think would appreciate it. dp

Hi Samuel. The image was stabilized, for the most part, in the scan. I used Pro8mm.com I also stabilized some of the shots in post. I cut in FCPX.

Hey gang. I recently finished up a music video shot on Super 8. It was shot in one 12 hr day and use 7 carts of film. The video can be seen here: http://daveperry.net/portfolio/god-of-hell/ I wrote a blog post about it here: http://daveperry.net/5288-2/ There are some obvious lessons learned from the shoot but I'm looking forward to another one ASAP. Your thoughts wold be appreciated. Thanks. dp

Hey folks. Looking for a suitable WA adapter for my Canon AZ 814. I've read in some places that I will need a lens that has a macro setting to be able to use some of the adapters. The lens on the AZ 814 does not but will the Canon C-8 adapter work well with it? Thanks.

Nick, just got a response from Robert at Cinelab and he sent me pricing for telecine (which I would never do) but not LOG scanning. I contacted Gamma Ray also. Too bad they don't process the film also. I like the convenience of fewer shipments. Thanks for the info.

Hi Chris. So far, from what I can tell, Cinelab is more expensive. I've reached out to them for clarification on pricing. I'm a colorist as well, and it's anywhere from 1-2 stops under. Too much for my purposes. Boosting luma brings out too much grain.

Thanks Chris. I'll check them out. Believe it or not, I do know what the D and T mean. ;)

Hi Nick, Thanks for the response. Wow! I feel like a dufus! The way I tested my camera was to set the the filter switch to "Bulb", press the pin with my finger and watch the switch move to "Sun", then remove my finger and look through the gate as I ran the camera. I could see the 85 filter in place. Little did I realize that removing my finger is what allowed the filter to drop back into place. I mistakenly thought that the filter was in place to correct for tungsten film for outdoor use. UGH!!!! What an expensive FU*@ING lesson! I shot 3 rolls that way! It all makes sense now that I check the camera again and see that removing my finger from the pin allows the filter to drop in which in effect is what I did by notching the cartridge. No wonder it's so over exposed! Anyway, thanks for helping me get it straight. That's why I'm here ;) dp

Hi Chris, Sorry for the missing info. Yes, daylight stock shot outdoors. My understanding is that Vision 3 50D cartridges are loaded with tungsten stock, but when inserted into the camera, the cartridge triggers the mechanism to engage the internal 85. It's not the stock that is different, simply the cartridge case. I notched the cartridges to disable the internal 85A and used my own Tiffen screw on filter. I get my stock from Pro8mm. I payed attention to the aperture when shooting this batch and the previous batch, which turned out nicely. I took light readings with the camera's light meter then set the aperture manually based on the readings (old habit, rarely do I shoot using auto anything). The only difference (I thought) was that this time I was using an external 85 rather than the camera's built in 85. I'm wondering if the metering may have been off, not because of the use of the external 85, but because of the mechanism that engages the internal 85 was bypassed.

Hey everyone. I got my second batch of test footage back from Pro8mm this week. I shot 3 rolls of Vision 3 50D. This time I notched the cartridges to disable the internal 85A and used my own Tiffen screw on filter. The idea was that hopefully the bypass of the 40 year old internal filter would yield cleaner images. I'm sorry to say that this run did not turn out as I expected. Most of my shots are under exposed. I'm thinking that bypassing the internal filter signaled the light meter to take different readings and that the use of the external screw on filter caused the under exposure. I had the film scanned to 2k log and applied a Vision 3 LUT in post, as I've done in the past. However, I've had to boost the highs so much and bring down the lows that it is exaggerating the grain, not what I want. I will post some clips soon but does anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks.

Yeah, I visited their web site and although it looks interesting, I'm looking for something aimed at professionals. The search continues.

Looks like a good program. Thanks for the info.

Thanks Satsuki. There are no rental houses in the area. There are a couple of independent production guys like myself that rent their own stuff out but no film. Closest would be the D.C. area. Your idea of heading to NYC sounds like a reasonable option though, maybe Atlanta as well.

Hi Stuart. It's true that there are "film schools" out there that will train in whatever areas one wants to learn. In my search it seems like they are scams though, mainly supplying crew for indie film or commercial/corporate jobs through a "mentor" working in your area geographically. The one I checked out has continued to follow up with me and they are always asking about the down payment. I asked them who the mentor they were going to pair me with was because I know a vast majority of the productions folks in this region. They said they'd get back to me. I finally told them I didn't think what they offer is what I'm looking for. Virginia Commonwealth University, VCU, in Richmond Virginia is an outstanding art school, always has been and is highly regarded. I've checked out their Cinema Studies program and they seem to have a fine one. They are one of a handful of programs in the world that offer 35mm motion picture training to under grads. Oh to be young again :) I don't have any film SLRs any more but I'm brushing up on exposing film through Super 8 these days. My search continues.

Hi Tyler, thanks. That sounds great! Just the kind of thing I'm looking for. I'm on the East coast though. However, I will be in LA in October for a short film of mine that will be screening there the week of October 20-26, 2017. Maybe we can connect when I'm out there.

Hey everyone, I’m a working adult, full time, self-taught professional looking for training in cinema and film. I’m not sure what I can afford in time or financially at this point but In particular I’m looking for anything that would offer training/work in 35mm or 16mm film production. At this point I’m well versed in digital cinema. I’ve searched the web for seminars, workshops, Summer intensives, continuing edu, etc. I reached out to the folks at the Virginia Production Alliance, of which I’m a member, to see if they had any resources in that area. They had little other than suggesting I contact the heads of the cinema studies programs at UVa and VCU, which I've done and have not heard back from them yet. I feel fortunate to have been making a living doing this full time since 2003, but I started in video, not film, and want to get some film experience. I starting shooting 35mm stills as a teenager in the 70's and 80's (so you can figure out I'm no Spring chicken) and I'm currently shooting Super 8 movies for fun, but also trying to see if I can fit it into some of the corporate work I do as a creative option. Any suggestions, pointers, or info on how to get some "hands on" with motion picture film (short of enrolling in full time film school that still uses film) would be greatly appreciated.