Will Montgomery

How was shipping to Sweden? I remember that being complicated with custom forms and more expensive than I expected.

LUT looks good. It was very nice of John Brawley to let you use his work like that.

When Ektachrome returns, a great option is to shoot Ektachrome 100D, send it to Dwayne's photo in Kansas for processing and have them transfer it on their Moviestuff system for $10 a roll or just project it at home. Then when you get something worth a high-end transfer, send it off to Gamma Ray or Cinelab or Pro8mm. That's the least expensive route for Super 8. Get a little viewer and learn to cut film, then you only transfer the best parts and that will save significant amounts of money although it involves a lot of work.

Many years ago I sent quite a bit of Super 8 for an SD transfer and they combined all the rolls on to a giant 1600 reel that their old Cintel machines could handle but nothing else (at the time) could handle with Super 8. That was many rolls and many different types of film (negative, reversal, B&W, ect...) that I wouldn't have wanted together necessarily. They did however do a great job of packing that film up for long-term storage so that was nice. I would just make sure that if prep order is important to you that you clearly mark that for the lab. They're used to that and Cinelab will take good care of you. I generally just make sure all my negative is on one reel, B&W on another, reversal on another, ect. so if I want to project the reversal I can without running any negative through a projector.

I did a quick double take on this line: How about a built-in miniature 4 track analog tape deck! I know...it means 4 analog ins, not analog recording. :)

Kodak should make a t-shirt of that.

Perry you're 100% right about the quality difference with the compressed YouTube videos. Robert and Perry: You may already do this, but probably a good idea to make a short uncompressed clip available for people to download so they can see the difference between these YouTube clips and the real thing.

The best part about a true 2k scan (and 4k for that matter) is you're not zooming in to get to 16:9. An HD scan at 1920x1080 will have bars on each side and force you to "zoom" in to get to 16:9 whereas 2k scans are 2048 pixels across so yes you are cropping top and bottom off but there is no loss of resolution. That's what makes the biggest difference. If you had 1920 x 1556 or so for an "HD" scan that wouldn't a problem...so the jump from HD to 2K is actually YUGE if you finish in 16:9. In Super 16 however, the difference between HD and 2k should be less noticeable since it's already a widescreen format (except if you are stabilizing...the extra few pixels may help if finishing in HD). I have an Ultra 16 camera and to be honest, I really don't use that extra space between the sprockets very often. I enjoy being able to re-frame vertically a little in post.

The Walking Dead producers have tested S16 scanned to 4k and have said they prefer the 2k scans res-ed up to 4k vs. the direct 4k scans from an artistic perspective. 4k bringing the grain up too much. "Future Proof" might be a little strong. Soon they'll be a direct to brain scan anyway... I am, however, going back and re-scanning film from 15 years ago and finding a pretty big difference between SD and 4k. :)

The more you shoot, the more you'll get comfortable with it. I find myself walking outside and thinking, "hmmm...this is a 50D day..." Which probably says I need to slow down on shooting film.

In Super 8 (or regular 8) a full 2k scan (2048x1556) is probably the best quality/vs. cost point now. Perry offers a great price and the Lasergraphics machine is pretty much the best scan you can get these days. Another advantage to full 2k scans is that if you are finishing to HD (1920x1080) you have flexibility of re-framing up & down and some room to work with if you are going to stabilize which Super 8 can often benefit from. 4k will be coming down in price and I'd recommend 4k for 16mm & 35mm, but Super 8 is probably overkill...you can take a 2k from Perry and up-res it if you want to 4k & it will be fine. Lenses and the nature of the stock really don't resolve past 2k. There might be some sort of perceived sharpness increase if you res down to HD from 4k vs. from 2k, but it would be hard to tell the difference in Super 8.

As Bill said, shooting by firelight your aperture would be wide open at 200 asa or 500 asa so you'll be fine. The dial just lets the meter know what speed film you're using so if the light is too low for ANY speed film, it will be wide open anyway.

And you will have that for a very long time. Nice.

The mechanics of the camera are the same so I'm sure he could clean and lube it just fine.

With the wide-spread adoption of the Lasergraphics scanners, I can finally use my Ultra 16 modified Scoopic to it's fullest potential. Previous scans with Spirits couldn't see between the sprockets. My reaction to the newly found room on the negative? Meh. I actually find it much more useful to have a little latitude reframing up and down from the 4:3 portion to 16:9 than to confine myself to the space between sprocket holes. Super 16 makes sense, I actually can tell a difference in grain between a cropped regular 16 and Super 16. Ultra 16? that's somewhere in between.

Bernie will get it working. It's still worth it to send if off to Sweden at some point for an overhaul. Bjorn lives for those cameras.

Do those Pro8mm rebuilt ones have the light meter removed? I think they basically strip the camera down to the bare essentials. Everything goes manual, right? In my experience the best route on a 4008 is to send it to Bjorn in Sweden for an overhaul. He did mine about 5 years ago and they are still flawless. He has all original parts and the skill to keep it purring like new. It's just convenient to have that light meter. I usually allow it to set the aperture then lock it into manual mode so it doesn't breathe until I have another lighting condition. What I like about Super 8 is the complete simplicity and auto settings of the format. Good to be able to go full manual when you want, but full automatic has it's advantages too.

Main issue for me with CP-12 is simply repair. When it breaks, and it will, you'll have to have a few of these on hand for spare parts. Starting to feel that way about Aaton cameras too...There just seem to be more Arri repair people and parts available.

It's just physics. The magnetic strip is so tiny it will sound like an old telephone no matter what. Fine for many things and I'd even say retro cool it its own way, but pretty bad sounding.

I have the black "Jubilee" edition ZM II with the rare Angénieux f1.2 6-80. Amazing lens. Always good to send it to Bjorn in Sweden for a cleaning and tune-up. He can make it better than original.

Moviestuff is a great solution for mom & pop video companies transferring hours of home movies for people and possibly some Universities that have tons of footage to transfer and no funds to do it. Very affordable and a decent image. Probably the best entry-level scanner around. It's not meant to compete with a Lasergraphics machine...completely different market.

The last sound film I shot was some way expired Kodachrome sound film right about when Dwayne's stopped processing it. It was fun, but boy is that some horrible sound. If fresh sound film was available, YES I would use it...but I'm also just fine using my Zoom when I need sound.

Just shot two extremely low music videos on Super 16 with fresh stock and some old 35mm stock. One of them was fairly undisciplined and we shot a ton of extra footage but even then a rough estimate would be it added about $2500 for film, processing and 4k transfer. I own the cameras, but renting the cameras would have been 1/3rd the cost of an Alexa. Super 16 definitely looks different than everything you're seeing these days and that's a "strategic advantage" for music videos especially, I'd argue for dramas was well.

Super cute kiddos! I've had an Ultra16 Scoopic for many years but only recently have I been using that space between the sprockets due to modern scanners. Spirit never could see there. Have to say that I'm not so sure that between the sprockets is really practical. I find that simply cropping the standard 16 area gives me more flexibility for re-framing up and down as needed; like with full frame 35. A little grainier but not really an enormous difference, especially with 50D outside.

You can put another piece of tape facing the other way to make sure no sticky glue can get inside and just have a larger piece of tape cover it. Bamn. Problem solved. Or tape on a small piece of metal over the hole.