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Will Montgomery

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Everything posted by Will Montgomery

  1. Similar issue on Arri 2c...easy to forget to close that.
  2. I have a closet full of 8mm, Super 8 and 16mm (and a little 35mm). I'm so glad I shot 16mm of the kids when they were little...huge difference from the Super 8...which I still love...but that 16mm just looks amazing 15 years later scanned in 4k.
  3. Rule of thumb seems to be in the U.S. Arri parts are more available, including with the odd part still available from Arri NY (I had an Arri SR1 motherboard repaired about 5 years ago there). Aaton/Eclair parts seem to be more available in Europe. Every city in the U.S. had Arri camera rental houses at one point. Still quite a few rental houses around the U.S. will dust off an SR3 for you if you ask nicely.
  4. Cameras like the K3, ACL or Scoopic are great. They let you run & gun and capture things that would be really hard with an SR...they really are wonderful home movie cameras and can supplement a big camera shoot well in some circumstances. Especially in music video performance shoots. I recently hauled an SR 2 all around town for a music video and was really happy with the footage but I was thinking it would have been so much easier with a Scoopic. The issues you run into are steadiness, sync and general reliability. Can you make a feature with one? I guess you could try but not sure if you'd want to try... but for what they do they really are wonderful and can be amazingly sharp with the right lens, lighting and exposure. The question of whether or not to move to an ACL or SR is kind of confusing; they are totally different cameras for different situations. If you do move to one of those cameras I'd definitely keep the K3 and you may find you'll use that more often for the type of shooting you do.
  5. What about the Blackmagic Micro Studio 4k camera with one of their monitor recorders? Seems like it would be a great combination...right around $2k.
  6. Some cameras just aren't made for fixing...to find a part for a K3 someone would have to take apart another K3 so why not save a couple hundred dollars and buy THAT K3 for $200? Then maybe you'll get lucky and find one that doesn't break. I got lucky on my first one and it was great. Repairing a K3 could be a minimum of $250 from a decent repair person and only if they could find parts. I have about 12 Canon AF310XL Super 8 cameras that I've purchased over the years for $10-$50 each and I hand them out at events I'm covering to attendees to get really cool "home movie" footage. They have old plastic gears and at least one fails at every event. I have a pile of 4 or 5 dead ones but it's just not practical to repair them when I can buy another for less than $50. Also keep in mind that once you step up to a pro level camera you'll need a good camera tech to send it to for maintenance once a year depending on how much you use it. Think of them more like a fine Swiss clock that you're constantly shaking and rattling rather than a solid state camera that will live forever if you don't drop it. So add about $300/year to your cost calculations for a clean & lube.
  7. If there is a real interest in this, I'd bet Tommy at Video & Film Solutions could do it. Definitely can make 16 & 35mm prints, I bet he could make some Super 8 negative to 16mm if not to Super 8; but only if enough people were interested. http://www.videofilmsolutions.com/digital-intermediates--printing
  8. If you're K3 dies, just by another one. Cheaper than trying to fix it for sure. You may have missed the best buying opportunities for pro level Super 16 cameras, but keep an eye out for an ACL or Arri SR 2/3 if you want to shoot with sound. Blimping a K3 seems like kind of a futile gesture...once you get it setup you'll have to take it apart to change your 100' reel out...not very practical for most shooting and that camera was never meant for that; it was meant as a step up from Super 8 for home movies and is great in that way.
  9. If you're making money at this price point then there is hope for the future. :)
  10. Kodak's new processing and scanning service will define what Super 8 costs will be while it lasts. I can't imagine they could sell the film, process it and scan it to 4k for less than $80 per roll+shipping...probably more like $99. For three and a half minutes? It will die quickly and be lampooned on the internet forever. We all know that's pretty much the cost of Super 8 with a decent scan, but the world doesn't know it yet. Is it worth it? Sometimes...guess it depends on what you're shooting. They SHOULD offer a budget service for just film and processing of Ektachrome for $50 or less. That might let it have a chance.
  11. I have the exact same lens/camera combo but with the Wooden Camera frame/pl mount. That Arri S16 glass is a great front end for the BMPCC.
  12. Yep. Big ugly bright colored tape means "think twice before opening." Old 2C mags might benefit from a little light leak protection honestly.
  13. If you don't have $350 for a CLA you're in the wrong hobby. Just one 100' roll of 16mm (~3.5 minutes) will cost you close to $100 to purchase, process and transfer.
  14. Great telecine as usual Rob! However, the Kodak "How To Shoot Film" book clearly states not to zoom while filming! It can make the viewer ill. :)
  15. Pro8mm can be just fine. From what I've seen over the years they seem to have an "A" team and a "B" team (maybe interns or the overnight crew?) so either your stuff comes out great or has big issues. Once you've been burned its hard to forgive, but honestly it would probably be fine to try Pro8mm. At least they can do the processing and transfer in one place. If you're in LA I'd check out Spectra as well...they can process and transfer Super 8 negative and reversal in one place too. Lightpress folks are great colorists. Their machine might not have the best specs but the result will be amazing. Gamma Ray Digital will give you an amazing scan (probably the best machine available) at a reasonable price. They love what they do and it shows. Great company. My flat scans from the have been great and while not cheap, good price for the high quality you get. I would suggest sending one roll to a place like Lightpress or Cinelicious to see what really good colorists can do for your film. Makes all the difference in the world but of course you pay for it.
  16. Unfortunately it's just not as cheap and accessible as it used to be. If Kodak comes up with an inexpensive HD transfer then that may go a long way to keeping film alive...although it will drive other companies out of business and I'm sure they are sensitive to that.
  17. I'm more interested in their processing & transfer system. If they can keep that reasonable I will shoot more Super 8. Right now I'd rather shoot 16mm since the transfer costs me about the same anyway. As far as the $2500 price point, it is high compared to all the used cameras we have but with good DSLRs costing $3000+ and the best Super 8 cameras back in the day costing a similar amount its really not out of the ballpark. They may not sell a ton of them but its not unreasonable for what's involved with making them. But if they wanted a hipster film revolution boost they need to get that down to $500 or so.
  18. With K3s you can just buy a new one when its time for service...less money than sending it in for service. :) Bernie at Super 16 Inc can work on those...his Laserbrighten process is particularly good on those to brighten the viewfinder. Don't know anyone in LA that works on hobby cameras but I'm sure there's someone.
  19. If it says Beaulieu, send it to Björn. The man is simply incapable of doing shoddy work. I think Beaulieu is his middle name. :)
  20. I have a crystal Scoopic. Great camera for casual shooting...lens is actually very good although fixed. Easiest loading 100' 16mm camera ever made. All that said, if you're shooting a feature or if it's your only camera, the ACL would have many advantages. The 200 and 400 magazines for the ACL are super helpful on a feature. Yes, you can get 400' adapters for the Scoopic MS but it's a little unwieldy and hard to use compared to the ACL. ACL's are more likely to be available in Super 16. Interchangeable lenses on the ACL give you many more options (although that Scoopic lens is really good in the middle apertures).
  21. I don't have the time or stones to properly clean my BMPCC sensor. Any recommendations for a tech that regularly does this?
  22. Yep. I've mixed shots from Canon AF310xl (possibly the worst looking Super 8 camera available) with my Beaulieu 4008 and it looks like Regular 8 vs. 16mm. night and day difference in sharpness. I've actually had noticeably better results with Regular 8mm shot with a decent lens than some cheap Super 8 cameras. Here's a sample of bad Super 8 cameras (and bad operator) and good Super 8 cameras in one piece. However, I actually like the out-of-focus shots in some situations...especially in home movies.
  23. Make sure you focus really good. Here's some regular 16mm footage when I was testing an Arri SR1 with a Zeiss 10-100 2.8 lens. A decent lens, sunny day and decent focusing can get you very sharp results.
  24. Grey cards are a neutral source to judge exposure in the film transfer process so yes, they are very useful (but not completely critical). And just FYI, they've been around for film longer than digital :) Make sure you put the grey card where your subject is so the lighting is the same...like right in front of a face. If you do that consistently it will help the colorist keep different film segments looking similar. You only need a few frames but make sure the lighting doesn't change in between shots. I believe Kodak still sells their grey card but you can get water proof ones from B&H easily. Not sure when or if they switched from 12% to 18% but these days it is 18%.
  25. I actually do love the stock, but it can be grainy without a ton of light and that can be an issue for online streaming. I have a music project coming up next month where I'm shooting in the studio as an album is tracked with Double-X. It's notoriously dark in those studios so I may wind up going 500T and killing the color if I can't bring in enough lights. Here's some 35mm Eyemo footage I shot with expired stock a few years ago for a test. What a great look! Definitely feels 1964 in both stock and art direction.
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