Bryan Darling

Thanks so much for that. It's a tremendous help and makes a lot of sense. I printed out the Wiki entry and will read it tomorrow. To clarify something, I take it the 25fps/25hz assumes a 1:1 shaft. Now the bolex I have has an 8:1 shaft so I would assume you'd divide 24 by 8 to get the frequency needed. This is based on my thought that 1:1 vs. 8:1 is applicable to frames. For example, the 1:1 means that one revolution equals one frame and the 8:1 means one revolution equals 8 frames. Do you agree?

Thanks, I had been looking into the brushless DC motors and those piqued my interest. The thing I'm still trying to get around in my head is speed control of the camera, in achieving the proper frame rate and it maintaining. I was looking into feedback circuits. However still doesn't answer how I'll know that it's turning the camera at the proper frame rate.

I'm doing some research on crystal sync motors and was hoping someone might have information and schematics. Anything would be helpful. I'm studying how they work from a component/electrical perspective. I'm fairly new to electronics so any techinical and schematic information would be really helpful. Thanks so much.

I have a Nizo and have helped a friend buy a Nizo, I'd say this seller was deceptive. It's one thing to not know if the camera shoots properly, it's another to sell it knowing that the ring doesn't move. I say this as I've sold equipment on ebay. If you have a camera that you're going to sell, it's only natural that you'd play with it, turning and pressing things just for the sake of it while it is sitting there and you are entering the information on ebay. Anyone who has a camera sitting around will just pick it up and play around with it. In my opinion you definately got taken. I'd really press this seller by using his pictures and you're pictures. Even take them into photoshop or the like and draw arrows, etc. to show him. Don't let him off the hook. I'd go so far as to report and do anything to get my money back. It's totally shitty. That's my opinion at least.

Honestly, I would you get an Arri 16 BL. I've had it on two sync-sound films that I've directed and it is wonderful! It is a solidly built performer and we never experienced any quirks. If you are going for sound work you should really invest in a trusted system that can be easily maintained and has a history. That is my opinion at least :D

I don't see why, not as long as you convert the focal length of the side-finder to the format you are using. For instance a 25mm lens in 16mm film would be a 50mm lens in 35mm film. In the matter of say a Canon XL1 or Panasonic DVX-100 or other prosumer video camera with 1/3" chips, the conversion factor for 35mm would be 7.2x. So the DVX-100's 4.5 to 45mm lens in 35mm equivalent would be 32.5 to 325mm. You would then halve that to get the 16mm equivalent. I think that in the end a side-finder could become limiting depending on the format you are using. Hope this helps and isn't too confusing.

In my opinion, any Super 8 camera or 16mm has a small viewfinder when compared to today?s technology. That said, I've found Nizos' to be the best designed cameras. While there markings may require translation and artistic interpretation, I attribute that to a creative aesthetic backup-ed by solid performance and engineering. I have a Nizo 2056 and am getting acquainted with a Nizo 801 Macro. These are not only beautiful cameras but agile and effective machines. I prefer the Nizo 2056?s viewfinder to the 801, however the 801 has some great features compared to the 2056. It has increased slow motion ability, adjustable shutter angle, longer lens (more telephoto range), built-in dissolve ability, and auto-bulb mode for long-term exposures. One note though, I?ve found that you can replace the viewfinder?s rubber cup with differently shape cups that conform to your eye. I think this will allow better vision through the viewfinder. Additionally, you can set the viewfinder to your eyesight if you where eyeglasses.

The visual quality & technical specs are the same for Mini-DV & DVCAM. The difference is that DVCAM moves at a faster rate through the mechanism, has increased track width, and locked audio. But don't worry about the sound, this is just a technical thing running in the background, it won't affect your footage/transfer. I've transferred to both in the same project. The only thing I'd say is that if you don't have easy access to a DVCAM player then go for Mini-DV. However if you do have a DVCAM player then I recommend it because the faster the tape moves through a machine the less chance for drop outs there is, in the world of digital it would be tape hits/artifacts.

There is no easy answer for your question, as there are a lot of possibles and variables. The short answer is yes. However to really understand what you're trying to do and how to do it you really should get that book first. For one, shooting negative film will require you to convert it to video or a 16mm workprint made. However if you shoot a roll of reversal film, you can develop it and then directly project it. This is great for when you are first starting as it provides an easy and cheap way to see your results and learn from your mistakes without spending a lot of money. I wouldn't pick a situation like you're talking about until I had shot some easy basic stuff to get the idea of exposures and how my camera works. I recommend you get a couple rolls of Black & White Tri-X or Plus-X reversal. Go outdoors during the day and shoot some shots of people and things. Then develop the film and watch it. Yes it's far less exciting, however wouldn't you rather make mistakes shooting stuff not nearly as important or interesting as a one-time fashion show? By the way you'll need a lightmeter no matter what in order to properly set your camera's aperture. A good beginner meter is a Sekonic Studio Deluxe model L-398. You can get them cheap, around $60, and they are as accurate as a digital meter. But please, save yourself a lot of guessing and headache and get the book I recommended. It will clear up a lot of things for you and help to focus your questions. B-

It allows for sync sound work. You can plug a cord between the camera and a sound recorder that has a pilot tone recepticle, such as most Nagra III's.

These are the sprocket holes that the camera "grabs" to move through the mechanism. Single perf means sprocket holes on one side, double perf means sprocket holes on both sides. Some older cameras could only take double perf since they were designed for a time when there was only double per film. The other "loads" are designed for cameras the can take larger amounts of film. You don't have to worry about anything other than daylight loads, more commonly called daylight spools. You can use any 16mm film made by any company, there are more than Fuji & Kodak. They are just the most common, other companies come from areas in Europe and the world. You are confusing frame rates with film speed. An easier way to look at the two, since on the surface they can be confusing, is fps (frames per second) means what rate of speed the film is physically moving through the camera. This helps to create effects such as sped up action or slow motion. Film speed is another way of saying how sensitive a particular 16mm film stock is to light. 50ASA needs lots of light, it's used almost always outdoors during the day. Whereas 500ASA needs far less light to get an exposure. You'll also notice that there is usually a "T" or "D" next to the film speed number. This denotes the film type, whether it's designed to work in either "D"aylight or "T"ungsten light. Tungsten is also generically referred to as Indoor film. It's designed for movie lights and light bulbs you typically find in the lights people have in their homes. If you use Daylight film with Tungsten light (Indoors) or Tungsten film with Daylight your colors will be off. This is very basic, there are a lot more little intricacies here and there in regards to film speeds, frame rates, and film type. However, this is a good basic starter description. I'm sure you'll get other people filling in. It gets very overwhelming very quickly with new people. I teach workshops in Super 8 & 16mm, the best thing to do is take in little bits of info at a time and experiment. You really should jump on amazon.com or somewhere else and buy the book Cinematography : Third Edition by Kris Malkiewicz, M. David Mullen. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/074326438...glance&n=283155 This book is an amazing resource and great tool for learning this crazy new world called Cinematography. Good Luck & Have Fun! B-

I've done a lot of E-6 to C-41 cross processing and I've also done VNF in C-41. The great thing about film is its versatility in so many different artistic processes and applications. B&W alone can be processed and manipulated in a lot of different chemistry combinations. There are tons of developers alone, not to mention toners and chemicals for image adjustment. Still photography benefits the most by the versatility. Unfortunately motion-picture film has suffered from a shrinkage in versatility and opportunities when it comes to the chemical/physical manipulations of the film. In my workshop I teach, I make it a point for the students to take risks and do things the "wrong" way. It really helps to open up their perspectives on film and filmmaking.

I think this thread really goes to show you how great it is to have a forum where everyone can put forth their opinions of film and life. :rolleyes:

You want to talk to the Kodak Rep for your area. They have two main offices: Hollywood 323.464.6131 New York City 212.631.3400 I'd say to pick the closest to you. I've dealt with the Rep in Hollywood and she's great. Just call and ask to speak to the Rep in charge of the motion-picture imaging. Tell him/her what you're trying to do. Just be real, sincere, and yourself. You won't have to gravel. You'll find that they'll give you some sort of discount over anything else. They aren't set up or interested in business deals and such, after all they are a big corporation designed for Hollywood and large entertainment movie production. The reason they would be interested in helping is in hopes that if you or those around you continue to make films you will do it on film and buy from them. I would approach it from the perspective of someone new to film wanting to learn film and shoot film. In a sense by providing you a discount they are investing in the future of their product. Hope that helps.

Sincere thanks for your compliment, although I feel far from professional. It's more trying to come to some understanding with all the various mediums and how you, or I in this case, feel they fit in with my goals and aesthetics. Some people seem very obsessed with the most "professional" looking results. Problem is professional results is a highly subjective qualifier. I think a better way to look at it is from the perspective of "effective" results. Was what I did effective for what I was trying to achieve, more often referred to as the final "look" of the film or video. In my opinion Super 8, 16mm, 35mm, and all the many various formats of video, analog or digital, are not "better" or "worse" than one another but rather different mediums and aesthetical choices that one has in the world of image-making. It's interesting to me how people are spending so much time, money, and resources to make video look like film. I think it's entirely the wrong approach. Both mediums have their own aesthetics. It'd be better to let each live side by side rather than in competition. However where ego is involved it's only natural that the technology used would be just as competitive against one another as the people are with their peers. After all, all this technology, equipment, and gear is really just an extension of ourselves. All of it used to express ourselves so it seems only logical for the equipment, and views of it, to reflect/mirror ourselves. I think the key to staying sane in this world of over-choice and inundation of equipment and medium is to observe, ask questions, listen, and THINK. Combined it allows you to create a filter in a sense. Filtering out all the many choices of gear down to what you really NEED to do what you want to achieve. I see so many people buy tons of equipment because it's cool or they "need" it however they never use it and it collects dust on the shelf or they never use it to it's actual potential. It's tragic since it really does more a disservice to the equipment and those people that would really utilize it for what it was designed to do, that of working and performing its function. But many people attach themselves to and romanticize about using the gear and what it would do or look like having used the gear. Sadly nothing happens because the work it requires to achieve that result is more than a pleasant and fun thought in one's head. A lot of people talk of getting a camera that will let them output to film later, however will they really do this? More often it's the idea of doing this and the "coolness" of imaging seeing one's work in a multiplex. The reality is if you're shooting on video you probably wouldn't have the money to even make a proper film print. A person would shoot back that well when a distributor picks it up they will do this. Honestly though I think many people are delusional about getting their film distributed. It's more likely that the project will end up on a DVD on some website they make and email to all the people they know. Why let such a remote possibility control so much of one's creative choices and money? Anyhow I have rambled on so much so I should stop. I'm afraid I may offend some people with my statements but I would hope they would be comfortable enough with themselves and their work to see the perspective of my comments even if they disagree.

Thank you very much for your compliments. The shot wear it appears to be raining is the light reflecting on water bubbles moving through a built-in water feature as part of a wall. The small light I had was illuminating those bubbles. The light is some sort of old cheap portable 12V 50W lamp with a reflector behind the bulb and just a piece of transparent glass protecting the bulb. It had a cigarette light adapter that I cut off and replaced with a XLR connector. I bought a 12V lead acid battery used for motorcycles or boats, I can't remember exactly. I then soldered a cord with an XLR connector onto it and viola. I think as for hotspots, I would say that it is one gigantic hot spot and perhaps that's why you might think there aren't any hot spots. A lot is how you shoot with it, for instance you can always through some diffusion over it. Also I didn't directly hold the light over the camera. Quite often I held it off to the side. I found that the amount of light it puts off is pretty low for a 160 speed film. The light works very well with video cameras amd I'm sure it would with faster films. If I remember right I was shoot somewhere around 1.4 to maybe 2.8. I decided to push the film based on how the camera's meter was reading and also by how it felt to me. I knew there was enough light to get a decent exposure. In the end I discovered I really like Super 8 Tri-X pushed a stop. I'm going to do a test for a 2-stop push in the coming weeks. I love a lot contrast and in black and white I love grain.

I use a Nizo 2056, my understanding is that you use the daylight(sun)/tungsten(lightbulb) switch for whatever environment you're in and that the camera will engage the filter when needed as it reads the film cartridge to determing if it's daylight or tungsten film and if the filter should be engaged. As for example when I've shot Kodachrome in daylight and put the switch on the sun, the meter showed a need to open up more, going from 40ASA to 25ASA. However when using tungsten light and the switch was on the lightbulb the meter changed again. So that's how you can tell how the camera is acting to the switch positions. When doing black and white I also use the switch as the ASA lowers going from daylight to tungsten. I've shot many a roll of film and everything has come out just fine. Hopefully that helps.

In my opinion it's far easier to just figure out what to rate the stock at for all the compensations and adjustments you need. That way you can use the reading your meter gives you without having to run math in your head while your on the spot. It really simplifies things and you can just focus on shooting cool shots. Make it easy on yourself :D

:blink: Oops! I made an error as to the title of the book. It is The Elements of Color by Johannes Itten.

Well with the workprinter, I started out using a Canon XL1. However, I've switched to a Canon GL2 and the results have been markedly better. The main problem is film transfers is the contrast. For the most part you're dealing with film that is already on the contrasty side, i.e. Kodachrome & B&W reversal. Anything you can do to lower the contrast and flatten the image really helps in capturing more of the dynamic range of the film. Saturation can be a problem in Kodachrome. The problem is that video is contrasty and saturated by nature, so anything you can do to reduce that helps. That's just the first step. Then it's a matter of working with the image once it's in the computer. I bought the Canopus Edius NX card because I was very tired of trying to work with the native Microsoft DV codec. It's really a pain if you want to do anything to the image besides a simple cut. Apple's codec is much better as well. Since I've always been a PC guy, building my systems since I was a kid, I went out looking for good cost-effective solutions for the type of work I do. To me it had the most bang for the buck and didn't require upgrading my system since I just do regular ol' SD work. Canopus has done, what I feel is, a great job in creating a system for DV work. Their NX card works with DV by oversampling it and working with it in an uncompressed manner. Essentially it edits everything un uncompressed YUV 4:2:2. The card does all the video processing using a built in hardware DV codec chip so it frees up the CPU and let you apply a lot of filters without any rendering so you can play it right from the timeline to your NTSC monitor. This is my long-winded way to say that I use this system to adjust the digitized film's curves and color. From setting the shadows and highlights to adjusting the color of the shadows, midtones, and highlights. Sometimes it also becomes necessary to work with the saturation as well. When I tried doing this using Premiere it was just a nightmare, hard to control the adjustments exactly and the quality began to suffer if I rendered it out as DV. So I figured out workarounds using uncompressed but it was all so much rendering time and drive space. Now with the Canopus system there's no rendering and the ability to color correct and work with the image is much better than Premiere. As a side note I've worked with Final Cut Pro as well and it has nice correction features, too. I think Edius has some things up on Final Cut in that department, however I've never found any one system that can do everything I want it to. I feel for most people the area of color and image adjustment is very difficult to grasp. Interpreting curves and being able to see minute color shifts is something that takes time to learn. I've worked in the photographic world for some years prior and that helped. Printing color photographs by hand and machine can really help teach you to see color and how it works. I also recommend studying color. I went out and got some books on color and color theory because I was starting to work with color motion-picture film and felt that I should really know about color before I start using it. Johannes Itten's book, The Art of Color is very good reading. He taught color at the Bauhaus. Ok I've rambled off long enough, hope that answers some of your question.

That's probably true, in that I wouldn't have a reference to work from. However, that's not to say that I nor anyone else wouldn't seek out a way to compare. For instance, taking some film to a reputable lab and having it professionally transferred then use that for a sort of benchmark. A lot of using any equipment is learning how it works and what you can do with it. When you set up or use a piece of equipment and wouldn't you say, "Now is this how I want it to perform? Is this the best result I can get for what I want to achieve? Can this do anything else? It becomes not so much an experience thing but rather a process thing, in that how you approach something. I know many people who think that just by having the latest camera for instance anything they make will be great or better. Yet I'll see people using outdated or cheap equipment and their results surpass the people with all the gear. I would dare say that a lot of people are more product or end-result orientated rather than process orientated. I remember seeing some film clips of a film made here in Sacramento. It was shot on Super 16. It was some sort of wannabe crime thriller. What struck me is how the whole think could of been shot on DV, honestly. I was suprised to learn that they spent $50k+. I wondered where it all went?

Thank you very much. I have to say that the Workprinter XP is a great machine. I use it to digitize my films and as a business for others. The image quality is awesome. I have mostly shot 16mm until about year or two ago when I started playing around with Super 8. My first camera was a hand-me-down Chinon with a lot of bells and whistles. However several months ago I got a Nizo and the difference is quite astounding and noticeable. They are great cameras with great lenses. I've ground very fond of Super 8. It's wonderful to have so many mediums and tools to use. Additionally I was skeptical about using the workprinter because I was so used to doing supervised transfers out of Monaco Labs in San Francisco. But since using it I've been amazed. A lot is in the setup of the machine, what type of camera and how you utilize the settings. It's like anything else in finding and creating a system that works. I still do all my 16mm telecine work at Monaco but it's great having a complete solution/system for Super 8. It's a great teaching tool and provides easy access for new people coming into the medium. Somehow a lot of people end up on my doorstep over the years so it's great to be able to teach and guide others into the medium of film

Since I'm not sure how to edit my last post, or if it's possible, here is another link. This will work much better. New Year 2005 - USE THIS

Had some time on my hands today so I transferred some Super 8 I just had developed of a party from last New Years. Totally nonsensical but fun. It was shot with a Nizo 2056 using Tri-X pushed a stop. The main light is a little portable that I rigged up to a 12V battery pack I put together. Nothing like playing with some film around the house when you're bored, haha. New Years 2005 film You'll need Quicktime 6 or 7. It's an MP4. B-

Guy Maddin is to me one of the most interesting filmmaker's alive today. His use of technique and film language is very stylized but measured and thought out. I think his work is very effective. However, The Saddest Music in the World is not my favorite. I recommend Archangel and Pages from A Virgin's Diary. For me his films are refreshing from the mainstream standard fair of formulaic narrative structured movies. I would call his work more along the line of a film rather than a movie. I also recommend his short, The Heart of The World.