Richard Tuohy

Hi andrew, because super 8 cameras (with very few exceptions) use an aereal image viewfinder system rather than a ground glass, you have to take a lot of care with focus. It is IMHO very unlikely that the lens has been adjusted such that it needs fixing. Much more likely is that the eye piece diopter is not correctly set, and/or you didn't rely on the focus aid strongly enough. Yes, focus is much more critical the longer the lens is (ie less 'wide'). The longer the telephoto lens, the more care you have to take. And you can't simply rely on apparent image sharpness in the viewfinder - you have to use the split image focus aid. Remember, your eye can readily 'pull in' or adjust for a soft image in the viewfinder since it isn't looking at a ground glass at a fixed location, but rather just the aerial image which is merely 'floating'. So, make sure you have focused the eyepiece dopter. Do this: zoom all the way in focus on infinity choose a vertical subject as far away as possible (well over 15 meters away) such as the side of a building. with your fingers on the diopter focus control, adjust the diopter until the two halves of the split image focus aid are in exact allignment. now you are ready. And use the focusing aid in the same way on subjects when filming - especially if they are in the middle distance and you are using a longish lens. And you can always use a tape and the distance markings on the lens. These will be correct, unless the front element of the lens has been removed at some point. good luck. Richard

G'day, it has to be remembered that colour saturation with reversal film is exposure related. the greater the exposure the less the saturation. If you want to increase colour saturation, then decrease exposure. with reversal film, the rule of thumb is: over exposure = less colour, less contrast, less grain under exposure = more colour saturation, more contrast, more grain I see results for 64t every day varying from highly saturated to under saturated. Its all possible. Certainly 'correctly' exposed 64t has higher colour saturation than kodachrome in my opinion (of course some people will disagree with that based on their experience). but any one particular super 8 camera may well over or under rate either of these stocks, giving different results for these stocks ... if you understand what I mean. cheers, Richard

If the orange numbers are always showing, then yes, its in macro alright. The zoom ring needs to be slid towards the body of the camera. There is no lock or anything, so it must be jammed. Use some gentle force (hands only). Keep at it till it loosens. It will come eventually. keep trying. cheers, Richard

Yes, Freya is right that with many cameras, when using daylight film the filter is automatically put out of the light path. Such cameras have a 'filter notch reader' - a pin that is pushed in by cartridges that don't have a filter notch. Sadly, most if not all Bauer cameras (except perhaps some of the early ones) don't have a filter notch reader and relied on there not being any daylight film. These cameras also were made relying on 40 and 160 asa film only, as you might well know already. In any case, get one or some rolls processed before you shoot any more. It might be that you prefer to shoot all of this project the same way. cheers, Richard

Hi there, its not by any chance just stuck in the macro mode? Do you know how to switch between macro and normal with the lens? the zoom ring can be slid forwards and backwards to shift between these modes. Are you sure its not just stuck in macro? cheers, Richard

Yes, the Wien cell 1.35v zinc air is the only battery to use. The bulb you mention sounds like the most common 12v 100W bulb and is readily available. If nothing else, Wittner in Germany sell them inexpensively. Yes, don't give up. Shoot a thorough test roll with your new batteries and a roll of 64t. Do some bracketing of exposures + and - in 1/3rd of a stop increments from the reading given on auto (writing all the info on a card that is in shot!). Also, carefully set the eyepiece diopter then do some focus tests with the camera to see how well you set it. You could even 'bracket' with the eyepiece diopter to confirm correct setting. enjoy your nizo! Richard

I am afraid the above is not correct if you were as you say shooting with manual exposure setting and the exposure reading (taken from an 'auto' setting) was taken before the filter was changed. If, however, the filter was switched to daylight BEFORE you took your reading (which the way I read your post, it wasn't) then it will have compensated. The internal filter cuts 2/3rds of a stop of light. If your procedure involved taking one meter reading BEFORE you left for the bathroom and based all your exposures on that one reading then your footage will be underexposed (by 2/3rds of a stop) and orange. Bugger. Certainly the auto light meter in the camera will compensate for the presence or absence of the filter, but only when you are shooting on auto. If you base a reading on the auto setting, then switch to manual and alter the filter position (as I read you did) then the exposure will be wrong. All this assumes of course that the internal meter was correct in the first place. It could well be off one way or another and only a test will tell. You might be able to glean some indication on how it is performing from the test you have done anyway. If its working correctly, and you metered correctly for your subject, then by what you did, the result should be 2/3rds of a stop under exposed and orange. good luck with it anyway, cheers, Richard

Hi Art, With Px14 cameras, I generally use two of the wien cells and a little piece of tin foil to take up space. I had an old px14 battery once and peeled off the cardboard cover and indeed found that it was two px625 batteries with a metal spacer. hidyho, richard

Hi all, Plus-X neg (ie xx31) could theoretically be cut down to super 8 as has been suggested. Here is a list of companies that offer non-Kodak cartridges of super 8: Pro8, Spectra, Wittner, Kahl, GK film. Other retailers get their material from them. HOWEVER, the issue is the source material!!!! I don't think GK in germany have a perforating machine themselves, but I believe either use ORWO or Wittner. Kahl are an impenetrable fortress. They perforate Orwo film, but nothing else. Wittner are able to perforate non-sprocketed 35mm film only. They did a small amount of sprocketed 35mm film for me and found it very difficult. Doing so on a machine designed for non-sprocketed film yielded only two s8 films per unit of 35mm film. Spectra load s8 cartridges from pre-perforated super 8 or double super 8 material. They don't have a perforating machine. They could slit and load if you could get the stock perforated. Pro8 can perforate sprocketed 35mm film to 3 super 8 films. This is ALL they can perforate. They cannot perforate un-sprocketed 35mm. So, in sum the only viable rout short of acquiring some non-sprocketed 35mm film from Kodak (which I believe has never been done (John Schwind told me that)) the only option is sprocketed 35mm cut and loaded by Pro8mm. Yes, use 7265 reversal plus-x as neg. Its nice. cheers, Richard

Hi Art, the principal purpose of the adams64 is to convert a 40/160 asa camera to 64asa. If your cameras don't need this but just his light meter battery modification, why not just use zinc-air 1.35 volt batteries? These are cheap and do a fine job in my opinion. cheers, Richard

Hi Stephen, just to re-cap on the above: If the telecine house has a flying spot type scanner of one sort or another (as most professional houses do) then if they said 18 was o.k. they will have added fields or frames to make it so. The problem isn't with the telecine transfer. If it was some other more basic transfer that didn't work a frame at a time then it will probably be 20 fps. But the 20fps type devices do a much poorer quality job. Its unlikely you would have used one for a music video. Yes, its the camera speed. No, no super 8 cameras were manufactured with crystal speed control. Yes, you can have it added to some cameras. No, its not absolutely necessary if you do as Rick said. Of course, being a music video, you don't want to mess with the duration of the audio (as you might have if it was a 'drama' film). So you have to tweak the picture duration. This will need to be done shot by shot I am afraid. And you have to do it by eye. Sliding and stretching each shot until it looks correct. Can be done. good luck with it. richard

Hi Joseph, I agree about the D12. It is of course one of the best. Yes, it sounds like you need to focus the eye piece diopter again. this isn't hard. But the trick the dop gave you doesn't apply to super 8 cameras. Pointing at the light would only be of assistance if you had a ground glass screen in the camera and were focusing on it. This is the way it is for most 16mm and 35 cameras, but very very few super 8 cameras have a ground glass screen. Instead they use an 'areal image'. this is harder to set the dioper on, and it is much more important. There are detailed instructions on setting the diopter of a super 8 camera on my web site: http://nanolab.com.au/focusing.htm cheers, Richard

Have one? Does it work? Want to sell it? please email me: richtuo@iprimus.com.au

Yes you can use those no problem. I use d76 myself. Any black and white film fixer will do, just use the times specified for film by the fixer manufacturer. Remember fixer goes off so don't store it, use it. good luck Richard

Of course. But they aren't available from K or F in Aus. I should have asked above "how available is double perf in the USA?".

does anyone know how hard it is to acquire double perf 16 these days? Maybe Fuji stocks are more available as double perf? any thoughts? cheers, Richard

Actually the bauer can't meter daylight emulsion asa speeds at all. If you put a daylight film in there like 100d and de-selected the internal 85 filter (the bauer won't do this autiomatically) then it will be rated as 160 asa. So really the bauers have asa ratings of 40 and 160 tungsten and daylight. Its just that a tungsten film of 160 or 40 asa shot in daylight with the filter in place will have an effective asa of 100 or 25. So, yes, the bauers are fine for 200t neg, but not 500 if used on auto. If you ever plan to shoot 64t then don't expect to do so using a bauer on automatic. Nice cameras, shame about the auto exposure asa options. Just get a cheap 814, and buy an even chepaer (and very limited) 514xl for shooting 200t in low light.

Hi Thomas, the 514 canon cameras are curious beasts. Yes, they are a 40/160 camera. Actually they read the following speeds: tungsten 40, 160, 250 daylight 25, 100, 160 but more complicated is the fact that unlike the vast majority of 40/160 cameras, the 514 cameras read 64t not as 40 but as 160. this is a bummer. You can always block the speed notch of the 64t cartridge so that the camera will definitely read the 64t as 40 instead of 160. This degree of over exposure is better than the larger amount of under exposure. This said, a lot will depend on how your particular camera's meter is behaving after all these years. It could be off by any amount, and only a test roll will tell I am afraid. Ideally you would shoot a roll on a known camera, and just finish it off in your 514 to see how its working without blowing a whole roll in it. good luck richard

G'day Michael, Richard Tuohy in Australia here. I have something you might want, but I can't give it away I am afraid. I bought an ebay scoopic about 6 months ago. It cost me Aus$200. I can't get the motor to run. It just the plain old early model. I could take the front part of the lens off (the part that rotates when you focus) and send it to you for Aus$100. You would then have to put that element on your camera and re-collimit the lens. Maybe that is easily done ... Send me an email if that is of interest, otherwise, good luck with it. Richard richard@nanolab.com.au

Use a piece of velvet. Use a cleaner like edwals available from Urbanski.com

yes, it seems to be down. I hope this doesn't imply a lot of work for the administrator.

Note that this Bauer, like the majority of Bauers, is a 40/160 asa only camera. Its light meter won't read 64t or 100d or plus-x, etc on auto. Just 40 and 160 asa stocks (tungsten or daylight - it doesn't read daylight speeds as it has no filter notch reading pin).

the canon 514 cameras are odd beasts. Not only are thet 40/160 tungsten 25/100 daylight only cameras, they read 64t as 160, not 40 like most 40/160 cameras do. this means that if the camera is working as designed it will underexpose 64t by 1 and 1/3rd stops. It will be dark. But this camera can use Tri-x, Plus-x and 100d ektachrome. As it has no manual setting, it is hard to use 64t with it. The minolta autopack cameras like the d12 and d10 can read all possible stocks. This may well apply to your d6. Look at a super 8 cart. See the large notch? That is the asa or film speed notch. Now look in the camera to where this notch presses in to the camera. What do you see there? Lots of little pins? A slot with a leaver? A triangle shaped prong? A stair case shaped thingy? All of these systems work with all film speeds. If its just a single pin or two little pins, then it doesn't read 64t and is more limited. Hope that helps. RT

Do not put your film through a super 8 viewer. Get some 16mm film rewinds and buy a pair of 16mm to super 8 adapters from Urbanskifilm.com Set up a bench with a white laminex surface and your two wind arms. You might get an old editor viewer or two and take the arms off those so that you have a few extra arms to put spools on. Get a bunch of plastic super 8 spools. Set up a desk lamp. Get some leader Get a splicer. Cement is a good option, and cheap. Just watch the dust scrapings. Otherwise, get a CIR roll tape splicer (not a fuji one which requires perforated tape). Get yourself a magnifier from a camera shop. Get some velvet cloth to make a cleaning cloth from. Get some film cleaner from Urbanski or someone. Practice making splices. Decide on just what you hope to achieve. If its just pulling out no good takes, then all you need is a spool for 'good' and a spool for 'no good'. Leave as much head and tail on your shots as possible so that scratches and dirt etc enters your desired shot as little as possible. Be extremely systematic. Be extremely careful handling and winding your film. Don't 'sinch' your rolls to tighten a loose wind - wind them again instead. Enjoy doing it. Richard

got a jk? not using it enough to justify keeping it? willing to part with it? let me know please! richard