Peter Tripodi

OK, I get it now. I was wondering why the Yvar 100mm macro I wanted is eBaying away for 7 times what it went for 2 years ago. C'est La Vie for a shallow pocket Bolex fan like me.

I'm shooting under 400ft tomorrow, so I guess I should be OK.

Thank you for your reply.

Hello,

Would a 13.5V DC 2.8A power supply fry my MST motor? Should I put a resistor inline to drop it to 12v?

Battery/12v PS would require heroic effort to obtain before tomorrow morning. I'm trying to work with what I have; a constrictive budget/schedule.

Thank you,

Fantastic! Thank you for the link.

Time to shoot, shoot, shoot!

Wait, who got the head and does that constitute a possible granted wish, in the same manner as obtaining the large end of the wishbone?

And did the gingerbread man have a pressure plate?

This is a good thread Matthew. :)

Wow, did you shoot all that motor cycle stuff with the 4008? That looks fabulous!

I'm trying to get that look out of my DS8, but I don't have the chops (yet)

Good points, Timothy. I shoot Super 8 instead of 16mm only when I want the classic home movie look. Otherwise, forget it. In my experience, Super 8 is too unreliable, too difficult to use and too expensive compared to 16mm. Not to get too off-topic, but here's why:

 

As of last month, my $750 eBay Beaulieu 4008 ZMII has cost me an additional $871 over the past four years and five trips to various repair people. And the footage counter broke again this weekend. It's going out to the shop tomorrow and the next bill will probably put me over the $1K mark in repair work alone. Other problems? The viewfinder is relatively dark and it is exceptionally difficult to focus. The 8-64 zoom breathes like crazy. It had a weird 1/87th second shutter speed at 24fps. It has a funky double on-off switch and various other quirks. The only reason I haven't dumped this turkey is because the other choices--from Canons to Nikons to the Leicina Special--all have their own issues and spare parts and service are even more difficult to find than those for French cameras. At least there are plenty of spares for the Beaulieu, probably because the manufacturer knew they'd be needed.

 

Granted, I'm not trying to get a 16mm look from it, I only want it for the traditional S8 home-movie look. But, quite frankly, I can't really understand why more people on this forum who are chasing the "ultimate" in S8 (whatever that means) or looking toward a career in cinematography don't look seriously at some of the 16mm cameras like an Arriflex S/B. 16mm is worlds better in every important category: better viewfinders/easier focusing; more frame rates; more lens and film choices; more choices of labs and telecine facilities (and more/better colorists). In my experience, 16mm film and telecine costs can often be less than Super 8. There are tons of 16mm short-ends and recans everywhere. The cameras can actually cost less that Super 8, too. If you need something small and cheap and easy to use get a Bell & Howell Filmo.

 

I realize a lot of people have no interest in 16mm cameras, but after living with the Beaulieu and paying the costs associated with it, I'm surprised that working in the small-gauge world hasn't been the bargain I thought it would be.

Weird, the aberration is horizontal. Every registration problem I?ve had (in my limited experience) has been vertical.

Could the beam splitter be loose, perhaps the little door in front of the gate it sits in was not seated? Odd as they?re made to snap closed.

Weird.

Please let us Bolexers know if you find the source of the problem.

Good luck

Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the fraternity of bolex.

With all due respect, it sounds like a little research may help you. Here?s one of many places to look:

http://homepage.newschool.edu/~schlemoj/fi...rses/bolex.html

Google bolex information or bolex history and quite a few others will pop up.

Good luck!

Wow, that sounds cool!

The first thing that came to my mind was translucent walls, then you could vary the amount of fill from behind your set, not so bright that it looks like they're in a soft box. I guess the wide shots will only be so wide.

I've never done any thing like that. I would love to try. Could there be a second set of walls with slots to accommodate lights? Is the interior going to be bright, or dim like an enclosed box?

Sorry I couldn?t help. I just had to comment that it sounds like a fun challenge.

Good luck.

When I hold the film to the light, I can see little tiny pictures.

I can?t see anything when I hold the tape to the light.

I?ve conducted this test several times with the same results.

Don't use the onboard mic, unless you want the 'home movie' vibe in your mix.

You don't need both channels on the camera because it's not stereo, if you only use one mic. When you capture it will only be two mono tracks. There should be a setting on your cam so you can hear the single track in both sides of the headphones.

try and at least get a ME66 or an AT835B. a little info:

http://www.lafcpug.org/reviews/review_shotgun_mic.html

better poles are strong as well as light, but you can get away with a cheaper pole (make you own) and spend more on a blimp or a softy (and a GOOD shock mount, cheap ones squeek). If you shoot out side you 'll be glad you did.

Good luck

Also, if you have two mics, two booms or a boom and a lav, then using both channels are a plus.

But no matter what you use, don't over drive the preamps in the camera. if it sounds bad in the head phones, it probably sounds bad, and you'll never fix it in post no matter how many plugins' you have.

If it's made for a car it's probably 12 volts and low enough amp draw to run off a battery.

I've been using a L-398 for my S8 & 16mm stuff. Works well and is very consistent when I put it up against other meters. I'm saving up for a spot meter though. I think it's time. Better tools and all.

except for this weird vertical shift that keeps happening.

Is the problem intermittent? Could that cartridge not have been seated properly? I would think (I could be wrong) that the sync mod affects the pull down claw action to achieve sync. Did the camera work OK before the sync mod? Have you contacted The Film Group to see if others have experienced any problems?

Questions, questions, question.

Hope you figure it out before the shoot. Good luck!.

I can answer that!

Sell it for parts and move on, save your coin for a higher resolution in a smaller package.

There, I feel much better now. :)

sounds like you need a service. what kind of camera?scoopic?

Nope, user error loading my Bolex(s). It seems the first thing I forget if I haven't shot in a long while is closing the loop formers when I load.

I'm very consistant with this :(

Interesting you should say Scoopic.

And once (only once... so far) I didn't seat the pressure after cleaning the gate and got the same effect as Russ.

Intreresting effect yes.

It will all be in my new tell all book, "Peter Tripodi, the bad DP" :)

Weird. I know when I?ve lost my loop in my 16mm camera I?ve gotten a similar effect, but not the difference between foreground / background.

In fact recently with a DS8, I didn?t get distinct ghosting, more like the lighter parts of the image are smeared vertically.

The film stops for a moment while the shutters open to expose the film. The ghost is from the film moving while the shutters still open.

But in a regular super 8 camera you shouldn?t have to worry about the loop. Defective cartridge? Shutter problem?

Weird.

Fiber optics strands may work for certain applications. Then you wouldn?t need any support circuitry for small lights, just run a bundle of fiber from a strong light source out of frame. Maybe defuse the end of the bundle so it doesn't look like a bunch of point sources grouped together.

Barbie Noir. Your project sounds cool!

Mine are still working if you need me to take that stuff off your hands :)

They're great, in the world of c-mount lenses. 50mm came in preset (I have a 50mm preset macro) and I think the 75mm did also.

The Vario-Switars also came in BL, but I don't know how they stack against Zeiss. I believe Zeiss trumps Switar.

Actually what I can't understand is why the image through the viewfinder is sharper than the image that gets recorded on film.

The space between the cornea and retina is more consistent than the distance between the camera iris and the plastic cartridge pressure plate? That's what I think. I could be wrong.

Hello all,

I have a Sony EVW300 and I?ve always thought that the S-VHS out into a monitor was better looking than the Hi8 tapes. I just liked the way it looked.

I believe that the camera needs to be ?re-caped? based on symptoms I?ve read about. Image looks good at first then starts to dim and go out, other times it will just blink out.

I would like to run this cameras S-VHS into a capture card. My questions are: Who still works on these? Does anyone know of a good place? And is it worth fixing? Will it cost me as much as getting a new (or fairly contemporary used) CV camera with big CCDs?

Or should it go into the "ENG Team" prop box?

Thank you.

If it?s any consolation, I paid too much for my first Bolex (Rex1 1962) also. It?s a great camera, but I could have gotten the equivalent or better for a lot less with a little more research.

I was really excited about shooting my own 16mm film and my eye turned to spirals when I first saw it, ?ooh, it?s in a pelican case. It must be a good one?

Don?t worry, your next one will be much better.

Research.

For now, some repackagers are offering 7285 in Super-8. Even less likely that Kodak will sell 7285 in DS8 or Regular-8 formats directly.

So the 100' spool of 7285 100D DS8 that I eagerly await has been repackaged? Someone punched some super 8 holes on 16mm?

I'm OK with that as long as it works.

I want to punch my own holes, were can I get a DS8 perf puncher? That would solve alot of problems. "The DS8 perf puncher club". Yeah.

Who knows? Thousands. A small sound crew that knows its stuff can get great results using lesser equipment than a bunch of guys with the best gear who doesn?t know their polar pattern from a hole in the ground. And the majors know their stuff and have the best gear.

How much are you looking to spend? Are you going to hire someone or go DIY?

A lot of that good sound is in postproduction, ADR and ?L? cuts between the audio and visuals. You don?t have to use the dialog from the scene your watching if you can?t see their lips move. Even the ?Majors? have trouble with sound.

And lots and lots post production tweaking.

You want cheap? Are you using DV? You can make a decent boom from a telescoping light-bulb-changer / window-mop thingy, $20. A real boom; $100 up for a nice one.

Try and get the best mic you can, an ME66 or an AT835b is a good start for cheap DV production ($200 - $600, a big spread, you got to shop around!) Big Boy mics start at around $1000 and go up from there. At least a slip-on fur windscreen ($40 - $60) to fit your mic and A GOOD SHOCK MOUNT!! I mean one that doesn?t squeak too much ($100) Better a Zeppelin with it's own shock mount ($150 up)

The list goes on: Headphones, ones with good outside rejection, Sennheiser 280?s are good ($100) and cables; one from the mic to the camera line in and one from the camera headphone out. You want to be able to stand at least 20 feet from the camera. Gaff them together so you only have to trip over one cord. You want the freedom to stand where you need to place the mic AND stay out of the shot.

Get a mixer ($60 on up). You can get away with out one if your going into the camera but it will make your life so much easier even if you?re only using one mic. With a mixer you can set the input level at the camera once and monitor and make all adjustment from the mixer. This will help you get clear, CONSISTANT sound, which when it comes time to edit, will make you very happy. Very happy. Trying to fix bad sound in post after your final cut can make you very sad. Very sad.

That's single system into the camera. Are you shooting film? Double system? Cheap means recording on a Mindisc (warning, they're dinky. It will be dropped, at least twice) no time code. Need time code? Nice flash recorders (Tascam HD-P2 $1000) will kick your sound quality up a few notches. DATs with out time code for a lot less.

Most important, more so than the wish list of stuff, is someone who can swing a boom properly, knows the pattern of the mic, and the gain stages of the mixer. You can get all the gear even cheaper if you shop (or borrow it for the shoot! Free is better than cheap!) OR you can spend a gazillion and get it all gold plated, but it will all sound like crap if you don?t have some one with experience doing the sound.

Or at the very least, someone who takes film sound seriously enough to learn about the stuff and has the guts to say, ?That last take had a problem? when they hear something fishy.

The details and dance steps of getting good location sound are all on line (search Location Sound) You can get great (well, good) sound on location with a small budget There will always be a car, plane or train in the background when you least want it, but that?s the challenge.

Thom said it all with fewer words. I drink too much coffee. Good luck with your project.

* Hey, I only used 3408 characters. Sweet.