Richard Tuohy

Yes, I find my R-10 on the heavy side. I do a lot of hand held single frame shooting with various cameras, and the weight of the R-10 makes this less comfortable. Another factor is that it doesn't have a filter in/out switch, but requires the use of a filter key. You can use any flat object really, but its a bit of a bumber (the r-10 is not alone in this). Easy to focus acurately, good macro - though gives a wider angle in macro that I sometimes like, as good double-exposure, lap desolve, reverse features as you will find on Super8 - though the lables (button names) used on the buttons and leavers for these features make their operation a little abstract. You get used to that. It takes a large size filter - 67mm. More expensive than on smaller Super8 cams. Variable shutter is easy to use and very effective - though it does not have an 'xl' shutter, and thus I often resort to other cameras (I seem to ofen be strugling for light). Has exposure compensation +2 to -1, in addition to the continuously variable shutter which has indications for 1 and 2 stops under exposure. Can read a large spectrum of asa notches. Nice and solid.

Wurker super8 splicer. Very good condition. In box. $35US. Richard

I wish to sell my DS8 back for the elmo c300. It is in really excellent condition and comes with the following: - eyepiece extender - eye cup for above - top carry handle for camera when using ds8 back - side grip for camera when using ds8 back - elmo 85 filter - elmo 100' take up spool - elmo 25' take up spool with test film - instructions for camera - instructions for ds8 back - 4 rolls of out of date 100' K40 if you want them. As I say, these are in show-room condition. I am asking $160US. Postage to USA - $21us without k40 rolls, or $31.50 with them. Postage to Europe and UK - $24US without $35 with K40 rolls. I am also selling a super 8 back for the camera - $30.

Wittner have confirmed that they will be selling Velvia 50D in DS8. Wittner also sell ORWO UN54 as a DS8 b/w (this is the same stock as Kahl 24). John Schwind has ordered and will soon get this. It can be processed either as reversal or neg. Kahl Film now sell a colour neg stock - though I havn't heard of anyone using it, and they don't currently list it on their web site. Is DS8 worth it? It is in terms of price of stock, but not choice. But it is useful if you shoot a lot of film on any one project. The 100' load is, of course, a drawback if you don't want to shoot a lot of footage, or if you want to change to another stock. Nothing beats super8 when it comes to a quick change. I find the ds8 just that bit easier to home process than the thiner super8.

Thanks Charles and Dickson for your responses! Both very helpful!

I wish to send a quantity of stock from Europe to Australia. I have done this before with normal air-mail postage and had no problems with x-rays. To save on postage, I am thinking that it might be possible to have the film carried by a relative on their return travel. Question is, would it be better (less risky from an airport x-ray point of view) to have the item carried as hand luggage, for it to go in the cargo hold with the normal luggage, or would it be better still just to post it?

I have a set of extension tubes (m42 thread) that fit my Kras-3. Only the shortest two used singly can provide a focusable image (quite close I must say) and that is using full zoom of the lens (69mm). Ideally, I would be using a fixed focal lenth lens. What I hope to do is some basic optical printing filming a projector gate (J-K printer style). As such I need to get very large magnification. Am I correct in thinking that I need to purchase a long focal length lens for this in order to be able to use a longer combination of extension tubes? Many thanks.

I have a Kras 3 with a meoptor zoom lens and I was hoping to use some 42mm thread extension tubes for macro work. Can extension tubes be used with a zoom lens, or do I need to get a prime lens of some sort?

No, its not a DS8 print stock. I asked them. They have custom ordered 35mm 4xsuper8 perf. I forget the code for designating the order of perforations but each perf is 8mm spaced from the next. if it were DS8 I would love to get some, but its not.

I don't know this particular camer, but in all likelyhood, yes, your camera will not automatically read the asa of film stocks other than 40 and 160 asa films. It may be that this camera has an exposure compensation dial such that you could offset the automatic light meter by 2/3 of a stop to expose t64 correctly. More to the point, however, your camera is old and light meters don't last forever. Your internal meter may not be any good anyway - even for kodachrome 40. Alternatively, your meter may just be off the right amount for t64 (I have a camera like this!). But really, the best thing is to use an external light meter that you know works, and have calibrated to this camera. Provided your camera works o.k. otherwise, there would be nothing wrong with using it for super8. And if you forget about the internal light meter, there is a whole world of stocks to choose from at Pro8mm and Kahl film (not to mention Kodak, but Kodak cartridges are notched correctly anyway). First off, you need to shoot a test roll. Enjoy!

Hi, yes I have used their B/W stock. I have only used it in DS8 - not in a cart. The stock is actually an ORWO brand stock that Kahl perf for DS8, Super8, standard8, etc.. I have used a lot of this stock. I find it quite adequate. I have used it a lot as negative - the only other Double Super8 B/W stock being the very nice FOMA stock which is nonetheless unable to be processed as a neg. I think the kahl stock is quite comperable to tri-x. I am sorry but I don't know about the quality of their cartridges. If you try some, let us know. I would like to get some more Kahl B/W but I find it difficult to get anything out of Kahlfilm. They only sometimes respond to e-mails... Richard

Me too! I have never heard of a pin registered super8 camera. Is this for real? Richard

Thanks Sean! Yes, they do super8 neg! Problem solved. Richard

Hello all, Richard here in Aus. We currently don't have a facility for transfering super 8 neg stocks to video (there are rank machines and super8 gates, but no will!). There is, however, a facility in Sydney that claims very good results from reversal (or positive) stocks using a device that scans the film at a rate of about 1 frame per second (and they claim results superior to those possible with a rank transfer - which is a frequently heard mantra). While they are capable of making the gamma and positivising adjustments required for negative telecine, at the very slow transfer speed grading is not really viable. There set up works well for positives only aparantly. But how much can be done using a program like final cut pro? This program offers grading and contrast controll etc.. Could good results be obtained by transfering neg using a 'one light' kind of transfer with a fairly low gamma setting on the transfer machine, and then adjusting this to a normal contrast slowly (and on my time!) on my computer? Any input here would be apreciated. Richard

Does that mean then that newer bolex cameras somehow have both a 1:1 and a 1:8 shaft and a camera that was modified to 1:1 (ie an older one), no longer has a the 1:8 shaft? Would this mean that it cannot be used for handcranking (a la keystone cops)?

There is no neg lab in australia that currently offers super8 neg processing. Just how difficult would it be for a lab set up for 16mm and 35mm to offer super8 neg processing. Same chemicals. And its not an issue of sprockets. I believe it is something to do with ajusting tension ... but I don't know how much of an obstacle that is. Could it at least be attempted on a 16mm machine? I wonder if it is an issue of the film breaking during processing.

Hello all, I am contemplating a bolex with a 1 to 1 drive shaft modification. I comes with a single frame JK annimation motor and the modification I assume was to fit with this motor. So what does it mean exactly? What is the nature of the drive shaft prior to modification? And am I correct in assuming that I can nonetheless use this camera in the normal wind up mode without the motor and running at normal filming speeds? Many thanks for your advice, Richard

I wanted to see what absolutely ample clearing would look like, so I tried 6 minutes and I used 20g of Sodium sulphite rather than the 10g/litre that Kodak suggests. I note that Foma suggest 50g of K2S2O5 - would that be potasium disulphite (that was a guess)! In any case, Martin Baumgarten tells me that for Foma he uses the kodak 10g/litre of sodium sulphite but for 5 minutes, not the kodak 2 minutes. I will try that next. I had only been giving it 2 minutes before. R.

Just letting people know that I have finally solved my Foma problem. It need considerably more clearing time than other B/W films, possibly because of the anti-hallation thing. Any way, I got a result - finally! Richard

What about using the very robust Kras-3 cable release!

David, Richard Tuohy here in Australia again. As I said previously I have a lot of this stock too. I have just shot a test roll at 6ASA and am sending it to PAC LAB for processing. I can let you know how it turns out if you like.

Further, if you intend an optical track on your 7399, tell me, is the stock you have double or singl perf? Mine is double perf (i.e. sprockets both edges). Double perf has sprocket holes where the optical sound track would ordinarily go on a print, and thus cannot be used for a married print. Richard

I assume you are going for a 'cheap as chips' film? Good for you. I would be very interested to know if this film still processes o.k. Mag stripe was discontinued long ago. I too however purchased 4000' of VN print film (7399) because it was cheap! Any way, I'm not sure I follow what you want to do. I certainly think you can put striped film through a non sound recording camera as though it wasn't there. I will say that the mag stripe is ONLY relevant if you either intend to project camera original with a sound mix recorded on the stripe, or you intend to shoot with single system (ie direct onto film) live sound. You say you don't want to do the latter so the only sense in which the stripe is relevant is if you want to project the camera original with mixed sound post recorded onto the stripe. Projecting edited camera original has the same look more or less to projecting a work print -except that you have taken a lot more care not to scratch the film! Given a 'cheap as chips' film, I think that you will have no serious (even no noticable) problem with recording a mixed soundtrack onto spliced camera original. The only issue is covering the track with tape. You can project a work print that is only single sided spliced. A normal tape splicer only splices one side at a time. I don't know what other people do, but I double side spliced my work prints only right at the end when it was all confirmed. If you are using a normal CIR roll tape splicer, splicing one side will leave the other side (with the stripe) free - only, I can't remember whether the stripe was on the emulsion side or the back). In either case, it could quite well be possible to tape only the non-stripe side. Further, I see no inherent difficulty if you want to double side splice in covering the track with the tape, and then cutting a small strip of the tape off with a scalple to reveal the magnetic stripe. That's what I would do! Richard If

Hello all, I am at my wit's end with processing FOMA R100 B/W reversal. I can process severl other B/W stocks quite adequately, but Foma seems to always produce a very odd washed out and 'solarised' effect, a little like there is a step in the characteristic curve of the stock - blacks and dark greys working out, then a jump to light greys ... I have tried everything I can think of or that others have suggested. The frame lines and film edges come out a nice dark black so I think I can say that the film is not foged or otherwise damaged, and that the reexposure and the second development are working fine. I know this stock has a strong anti-hallation layer (the reason it cannot be processed as a neg) and that it is a silver rich stock. As far as I can tell the issue must have something to do with one of these. I have tried long rinse times, long bleach times ... Could my problem be the effect of the film being x-rayed in transit to Australia ... I don't know what xray exposure would look like ... but I assume it would be an all over foging. Any one know the effect on reversal stocks? Could my problem be to do with something in the water I use ... something that affects FOMA but not Kodak or Kahl (ORWO)? I have a quantity of this stock in my fridge, I am desparate to find an answer. Can anyone help? Regards, Richard T.

Thank you all. Yes, real problem is that my fingers are too large, and that I need to thread in total darkness sometimes because I spool down from long lengths. In any case... I shall 1. Curve the end, 2.fold over about an inch, and 3. Use my index finger as a guide (I can insert my finger sideways into the spool) 4. get my small handed assistant to do it! Regards, Richard