Richard Tuohy

Thanks for that jean-Louis! Much appreciated. The 4/5 A size is 17mm x 43mm. Do you suggest I solder 5 pairs of 2 batteries? cheers, richard

Hello all, i want to make a battery for my bolex hand grip. I have the grip, but no battery to re-cell, so I am starting from scratch with that. At Digi-Key for instance there are lots of nicad and nimh batteries to choose from. For 12 volts, I need 10 batteries. But i can't work out which phisical size battery cell I need. Surely i am looking for a cell that has a wide diameter, but is only short such that 10 fit stacked together in the handle. But there doesn't seem to be such a size. So what is used for recelling? many thanks for your help, richard

looks good ... and I see that roll of stock came from down here! rt

Hey Art, you have some surprisingly good results there from your expired reversal films. I have seen good results from 7240, but not from 50 and 51 these days. rt

Hi Chris, look, this is quite an old stock now. And as a fast reversal film, I honestly think the result will be very poor. If you get an image, you can expect there to be a large amount of fogging associated. This will make the film look over exposed. If you are intending to project the film, then you MIGHT consider under exposing slightly. If you are going to use it, only shoot 100' to see if you can use the fogged images you will get. I have quite a lot of 7250 and i consider this stock so old as to be only useable as black spacing. sorry to dissapoint, richard

I think using a colour interneg for colour reversal is the only available workflow now since the end of 7309 reversal print film ... except getting a di made and then a print - but that would be even more expensive. richard

Hi Karl, You are right. Proces ECP-2E differs from 2D in that 2E has no first fixer bath after the developer (well after the post developer wash) and no sound track developer application. 2E is thus a non silver soundtrack process. That much is true, though I personally have only limited experience with ECP processing. I process 16mm ECP in LOMO tanks using the 2E sequence - so far, only for my own film work. I don't have the capacity to apply a separate soundtrack developer. As such, I rely on the lower-fi dye image for optical sound. Using the type of projectors an abstract/experimental/independent film maker has easy access to, I don't notice much difference between my colour dye sound tracks and the tracks on my black and white (and hence silver) sound tracked films printed by me. cheers, richard

g'day Karl, the backing removal is done prior to development. Ecn sequence is: prebath, backing removal, developer. There is no rem-jet on modern ECP films. cheers, richard

g'day johnny, I don't think you should simply rely on the data in the back of the manual simply because as susan says we don't know whether this is the actual shutter speed (which is not what you want) or a 'corrected' shutter speed that includes the light loss due to the reflex viewfinder system. You really must shoot a test to calibrate the meter to the camera. Even though you are shooting on neg, you should shoot the camera test on colour reversal film as reversal film will much more clearly indicate 'correct' and 'incorrect' exposures. Here is a link to my web page on shooting a super 8 camera test: http://nanolab.com.au/bracketed.htm cheers, richard

The Kodak pre-bath is quite available, and even though it is enough for a huge volume (from the perspective of small tank processing) it is actually quite cheap. The 20 litre box cost me something like Aus$50. It works much much better than using borax alone. I have been experimenting with using the prebath with LOMO tanks for processing ecnII films. Lots of rinsing helps a great deal. But rinsing alone after the prebath isn't quite adequate to get all the remjet off - it gets of 98%, but no amout of rinsing with adgitation will get it absolutely all off. If you are working in a dark room you can spray the spiral with a jet of warm water to blast off most of the last bits. Also, when the film is hung on your drying rack, you can wipe the back of the film with a damp cloth to get remaining bits. I do this sequence of things for my own films, but I doubt whether LOMO processing of ecnII films will ever be quite up to professional level (unlike with e6 films where professional results are quite achievable given enough experience - its just down to the remjet for ecnII). richard

Just a correction here: exposing 200 asa film as 160 asa is an over exposure of 1/3rd of a stop - not a whole stop. But I agree, its fine to do this with colour neg. richard

g'day brian, you mean you have gone to Turkey with an untested camera? Since you don't have a lot of choice, I think you will have to assume this camera rates 64t as 40 - this is by far the most common thing. I only know of two canon models that rate it as 160. so assume 40. Now, this camera doesn't have a manual exposure control - just auto and 'ee lock'. There is something you can do. Fortunately the camera has a nice 'sun' and 'bulb' switch on it. this trick will work if you are shooting outside. Switch the 'sun/bulb' switch to 'bulb'. With the camera pointing at your scene, hold the ee lock leaver in place (with some blue tack or tape or whatever you can find as usually these levers are spring loaded meaning you have to hold them in place). Now switch the camera back to 'sun'. You are ready to film the scene. How did that work? The camera gives a reading based on a 40asa film stock when it is in the 'bulb' position (and there is an appropriate cartridge in the camera). You have held that 40asa exposure. In switching the switch back to sun you are putting the colour correction filter back in place. without the ee lock, the meter would now give a reading based on 25 asa (40 asa minus the 2/3rds of a stop lost by the filter). But since you are holding the ee lock down, the 40 asa reading remains unchanged. 40 asa is of course the correct rating for 64t with the colour correction filter in place. But you are taking a risk using reversal film with an untested camera. A big risk. In preference, I'd use the 200t. The camera will rate this as 160 asa which is absolutely fine. Don't use the x4, x2, x1, x1/2 switch. LEave it on x1. I say this because this looks like an exposure compensation switch, NOT a simple ND switch. Very few super 8 cameras have switchable ND filters built in. Most super 8 cameras have some kind of 'back light' and often also 'spot light' functions. This is I suspect what these switch positons are for. You would have to test them to determine just what they are (unless you have the manual). I suspect they are like the switch on the Canon 814: x4 = 2 stops over exposed, x2 = one stop over exposed - these would be two backlight options. The x1/2 would be for 1 stop under exposed - the spotlight option. So use them at your peril until you can confirm with a roll of film just what they do. So, rely on the 200t - even outdoors. It can take a moderate amount of over exposure. good luck, richard

Any chance anyone has such a beast available at the moment? please email or pm me. cheers, richard

g'day craig, a few things. First, some camera, but only some, leave the shutter open at the end of a take. To find such a camera would be quite difficult. Actually I don't think any super 8 camera was designed to do that, but rather I think the odd camera has developed this 'feature'. I see miles of freshly shot super 8 and only see this effect rarely I am afraid. If you pull a cartridge out of the camera (which you can do at any time) you expose 6 frames of film entirely. The adjoining frame at either end of these 6 frames might also get a little flashed, but only might. Quite often all that will happen is that the 6 frames will be perfectly flashed and nothing else effected at all. (note that if you open the film door of the camera the footage counter will be reset). Film roll in/out clasically referes to the effect you see on roll film (eg 16mm, regular 8, double super 8) on daylight loading spools where the film has been loaded or unloaded in the camera not in total darkness. This was how you were ment to use daylight loading spools before super 16 (now kodak 100' rolls of 16mm say 'load in total darkness'). The roll in/out effect is usually a red coloured fading in/out of the image from/to clear film. Ordinerily after you load a roll of film on a daylight laoding spool into a camera you shut the door and film a certain amount to get beyond this flashed film. But super 8 of course, comming in a cartridge, doesn't experience this roll in/out effect at all. So if what you are describing is film roll in/out then its not a super 8 'feature'. A way to generate a flash frame at the start of every take on super 8 would be to take a single exposure using the single frame feature of the camera. Set the apeture controll (using the manual control dial or whatever) a few stops more open (lower numbers) than the reading the camera gives on Auto. Having done that single exposure, now switch back to your filming speeed (18 or 24 fps) and readjust your exposure (back on auto if that is what you are doing) and film away. The first frame of the take will be a blown out or over exposed flash. good luck with it. richard

I'd suggest using a cleaner with a lubricant in it. Edwals film cleaner is available in north america. So are a few products from Urbanski. Urbanski now has a product that can be posted internationally too - Solvon. It is a cleaner/lubricant ideal for applying with wind arms and a piece of velvet. That is what I use for the purpose you have described. richard

Hi Tom, please do communicate to us the information you get from Kodak pertaining to their R10 bleach. cheers, richard

g'day sebastian, if your camera says it is a 160/100 and 40/25 camera then it can indeed use Plus-x 100 asa as well as Ektachrome 100d which has the same notch. If those are the only speeds your camera reads, then if you put tri-x in then it will still be exposing for 100asa which is an over exposure (depending on how much light there is of course). You could do the following: cut a filter notch in a cartridge of tri-x. The camera will then read this as a cartridge of 160t. It will also employ the internal filter and thus give exposure readings based on 100 asa again. If you switch off the internal filter of the camera (be it with a switch, filter key or filter screw) the camera will now think you have a roll of 160t with no filter and thus give exposure readings based on 160 asa. This is fine for tri-x. As for light levels, you won't be able to get away with just domestic practical bulbs. You will need some proper light there. If you are thinking about exposing manually, do read this: http://nanolab.com.au/bracketed.htm cheers, richard

I agree with Jim. Use the internal light meter of the camera if you aren't in a position time wise to shoot a callibration test to callibrate a hand held meter to the camera. You are quite correct that most 16 and 35mm cameras with reflex viewfinders have a mirrored shutter and thus there isn't light lost by the reflex system. Instead the viewfinder will 'blink' with each exposure as the mirrored shutter rotates. Bolex 16mm reflex cameras aren't like that however, and neither are super 8 cameras (except the beaulieu models). So there are as Jim said, two issues, one is the shutter opening, the other is the light loss of the reflex viewfinder system. As for the 85 filter question, if you use the internal light meter then you don't have to take that in to account. if you used an external meter, you would certainly have to take the filter in to account as well. An 85 filter absorbs 2/3rds of a stop of light. If you want to use the hand held meter and you don't have the will to do a test, then (and this applies to shooting negative film ONLY - if it was reversal film you MUST shoot a test as there is no latitude to the exposure) I would factor the following: 1/3rd of a stop for the shutter, 2/3rds for the reflex viewfinder, 2/3rds for the filter and another 1/3rd to either fatten the neg up, or to compensate for the inacuracy of the previous approximate compensations. That makes for 2 stops. I would then set the ASA on the light meter to 2 stops UNDER that of the rated speed of the film. Thus, for 200t I would set it to 50 asa. Since you have taken the shutter in to account, you can then use the meter as a CINE meter - and use its FPS settings (18, 24 etc).. But I don't think you should do that. You should just use the NIZO meter as read and have a 1 stop over exposure (if that is indeed what a nizo will do... you would have to rely on other people for that one, but Jim seems to agree with you there). This would be catastrophic for reversal film, but quite o.k. for neg.. In your last post you showed some confusion about the way the asa series works. Remember it is a log series, not a linear series. Thus the difference between 100 asa and 200 asa is 1 stop, the difference between 200 and 400 is also 1 stop, and the difference between 100 and 400 is 2 stops (not 4 stops). 100 to 500 is 2 and 1/3rd stops. The familar numbers in the asa series are 1/3rd stops apart. Thus from 12 it is 12, 16, 20, 25, 32, 40, 50, 64, 80, 100, 125, 160, 200, 250, 320, 400, 500, 640, 800, 1000 etc.. hope that helps. richard

For a thorough understanding of motion picture processing, you should get a copy of Dominic Case's book 'motion picture film processing'. Here is a search for it: http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&am...dia%2520manuals it won't tell you how to build a lab and process film yourself, but it will explain virtually everything about the principals of mp film processing. DIY is a different story. richard

The majority of super 8 cameras have TTL (through the lens) light meters. With TTL meters, anything you put on the lens is effectively already taken in to account when the meter sets an exposure. You don't need to adjust for it separately. There are a few super 8 cameras that have external light meter sensors (non-TTL). If its one of these, you would have to factor the filter in to the exposure. But it probably isn't one of these. Yes, having the camera set to 'tungsten' (or 'bulb') means you have switched the internal filter out of position. cheers, richard

Hi Steve, I'll try to answer some of your questions: 1. If your camera's meter was indicating an exposure abouve the red zone (the 'not enough light' zone) then the problem with those shots was probably that the light meter inside the camera was taking a reading with the sky in shot. When using a camera on auto (which is not a bad thing to do) you have to be mindful of what there is in the frame (what the camera is looking at) that might bias the meter excessively one way or the other. Remember, the camera's internal meter assumes the world is a uniform grey. 2. You need to focus the eyepiece diopter. This is the most important control on a super 8 camera. Read this: http://nanolab.com.au/focusing.htm 3. Yes, not enough light. You need a reasonable amount of light indoors with slow film. Underexposed reversal film is always grainy looking. good luck with it, richard

It would indeed come out black if there was no bleach in the process. Of course. You are right there charles - only the second (colour) developer activates the colour couplers. Yes, again that is right. Since not all the coloured colour couplers are activated in the reversal process (unlike I said in my original post) there are some coloured colour couplers remaining in the final reversal image. That's right. The extent of the orange bias of the coloured colour couplers is the same as the extent of bias of the dyes used. Thus the two balance out to make for a uniform bias regardless of the amount of image formed. Of course, it would be possible to make colour neg film that didn't use coloured colour couplers, but rather the same couplers used in colour reversal film. The reason they don't is that the reversal dyes are not as accurate in colour reproduction. Since reversal is usually only a one step (not printing) system the error doesn't accumulate so it is less of an issue. But now that colour neg is increasingly being used for scanning only, it would probably be less of an issue ... except that the low gamma of colour neg probably puts more pressure on the colours ...

Hello all, I've cross processed ecnII film in E6 chemistry a couple of times. Yes, the result is a lower than normal reversal contrast golden hued low colour saturation positive. You need to both UNDER RATE the film stock by about two stops AND PUSH PROCESS the film by about two stops. So if you are using 200t for instance, try exposing as 50 asa and pushing the processing 2 stops. Its not hard at all and I suggest you try it if you are set up to process e6 at home. Open the tank after the post-first developer wash and take the film out of the tank to remove the rem-jet backing on the film with a cloth. Then continue with the rest of the e6 process. No, the orange bias of the coloured couplers isn't reversed - that orange colour is a colour added to the colour couplers of negative film and is only present when the couplers are in an un-activated state. Colour photographic images on film are made by attaching (?) colour couplers to the silver haylide emulsions. When the silver haylide is converted to metalic silver during development, the attached colour couplers are activated resulting in a dye image forming where the metalic silver formed. With colour reversal film, these colour couplers (I belive) have no inherent colour, whereas with colour negative film these colour couplers are themselves given a colour during manufacture. Hence the colour couplers of colour negative film are coloured colour couplers. A mouthfull. This added coulour isn't actually the orange you see. Rather, the colour couplers attached to both the red and the green silver haylide layers on the film are each given a different colour, the net effect of which is the orange colour. However, since the reversal process involves converting ALL of the colour-coupled silver haylide emulsion on the film (first as a negative, then the positive half in the second developer), and since the colour couplers are ''activated' (right word there?) precisely by the process of the silver haylide being converted into metalic silver during development, it would seem that ALL of the coloured couplers would have been activated 100% by a reversal colour process. So if all the coloured colour couplers have been activated. Why does ecnII film cross processed in e6 still appear golden? Its because the colours added to the two coloured colour coupler layers in negative film (red and green) are added to compensate for the inherent colour bias that the respective colour dye images (the cyan and magenta) will have. So even though with this cross processing all of the coloured colour couplers have been activated and thus the colour given to them in manufacture is no longer present, it is nonetheless the case that the positive dye image produced still shows the dye bias of the cyan and magenta colour dyes. cheers, richard

Hi Art, ask Pac Lab. That said, I have processed lots of vnf in e6. I find the 7240 gives very acceptable results in straight e6, but I find that the faster 7250 never does. Myself, I put this down to the faster stock showing more signs of age. If you haven't purchased 7250 yet, I wouldn't. It is a really really grainy stock anyway. Stick to 7240 and have it processed in E6. Note that a lot will depend on how the film has been stored. cheers, richard

It very much depends on the model Chris. Tell us that. Or if you don't know it, describe its features... or the serial number will do to determine the model. The model is everything with a bolex. cheers, richard