Kamran Pakseresht

It depends on the light available in the scene - get an incident light meter and measure at the time of the shoot. I use the manual Sekonic L-398A meter but there are many options for this that are even more geared towards cinematography. You can also use an app on your phone if you just need something quick that will more or less work without having to spend any money.

Hey Sebastian, I have talked with Foma pretty extensively about this. So the base material is triacetate (which is what you want for motion picture film to allow it to break if it jams) - the thickness is the same as their existing Foma R 100 reversal 16mm stock. The differences are that there would be no anti-halo layer if they were to finish foma 200 as 16mm and the color of the base is gray-blue (same as their stills negative film). They are working with another client to bring foma 100 to 16mm and if that pans out they will send me some test stock for me to test, but I basically gotta make a leap of faith if I’m gonna try and get foma 200 made on 16mm. I am still considering this, and still talking with foma.

The Last of Us - episode 3 - Long, Long Time is up there I think with some of the best TV ever made, which is interesting because it is the episode which strayed furthest from the story of the original game. The whole first season is great though.

I wondered about this - doesn’t the 400ft mag on a Arri 16s have its own torque motor? I guess that is what would account for the higher current draw?

I shoot pretty regularly on my Eclair NPR and the tripod I have for it is Sachtler sticks - which are actually pretty light on their own - but the head on them is this cantilevered Ronford Baker Fluid 7 MKIV head which must be something like 40 pounds or more - it’s just kind of crazy to lug around. It is an amazing tripod - I love to use it but I’m starting to think it might even be a bit of a liability. I imagine fluid heads have gotten much better since these two behemoths came about - can anyone recommend a good fluid head that could hold a camera this large and not be such a bear to transport?

Yes - I will plan to put aside a portion of the order for sales originating from of Europe so we don't have to add all that extra shipping, still figuring out logistics but I think we can make that work.

I wanted to gauge interest in bringing a new film stock to the 16mm format. For context, a few years ago when traveling through Europe I fell in love with Foma 200 35mm and 120 film - this specific film is a bit special. It has t-grain and hexagonal grain structure, giving it great resolving power but also good sharpness and a pleasant grain structure. Many people don't realize that Foma 200 is this sleeper stock that's incredibly flexible. I think it could be a great alternative to Kodak Double-X. So I got to thinking and eventually talking directly with Foma - and it seems they are willing to actually cut Foma 200 into 16mm format for me - given that I purchase a certain amount of it. So I am here to gauge interest. I would be purchasing 250 100ft rolls (on daylight reels) and 75 ~400ft rolls on simple cores. I have started a company and will open an online store to sell 100ft rolls at $50 and 400ft rolls at ~$175 - but only if it seems like I can garner enough interest. My main goal is to basically bring more stocks to the format - if this were to work out well, Foma actually just released a brand new Ortho 400 stock earlier this year that I would love to discuss bringing to 16mm as well. Please let me know if you'd be at all interested in trying out this new stock. I've attached a couple stills examples of Foma 200 - obviously these are larger format than 16mm film so the grain size would be larger on the actual 16mm cut of this film, but keep in mind that the resolving power of Foma 200 is actually higher than that of Kodak Double-X.

What is the price?

Absolutely beautiful- how long did it take to finish? What was your setup for scratching and drawing on the film, did you use rewind cranks over a light table? This really is just so cool.

Just curious what the benefit of this is over the controller that just comes standard with these cameras? Or is this meant more as a repair for non-functioning cameras?

For anyone interested - I did find a video of someone who modified a sewing machine to perforate super 8 film:

That angeniux is beautiful, I’d really love to find one. Thanks for this post, was unaware there were options. I remember getting my NPR out of storage some time back and thinking it had been damaged because I could not get the lens to properly focus. Turned out it was just the viewfinder needing an adjustment, was a huge relief!

This is the only person I know making them from scratch in a fairly compact way: https://youtube.com/@superukraine-re3ir not sure about your multiple rolls requirement but might be worth reaching out.

I sent my ACL for a CLA in to Visual Products - they told me that it takes probably 2 hours and they charge 150 and hour so around 300 in shop costs. Also it cost a bit over 100 for me to ship and prolly about the same to ship back so I’d say overall about 500 if all you’re looking for is CLA. NPR’s are all over the place price wise - I got mine on Craigslist about 5 years ago for 500. Can’t really find them for that cheap now but I’ve seen some nice looking ones in the 2k range on ebay the last couple months.

General ACL Mag question - I recently signed a petition to get Kodak to offer 200’ reels for cameras like the ACL and the A-minima - but am I correct in assuming that they would need different wind types (a-wind for aminima and b-wind for acl) - or could they be used interchangeably?

I just had to comment because of the level of praise you are heaping on the movie Oppenheimer. I was curious, was there anything about the movie you didn’t enjoy? I actually personally thought it was Nolan’s worst film, it continued his more recent tradition of atrocious sound design and also seemed to play into common Hollywood tropes that you wouldn’t normally see in a Nolan film. I realize this is entirely subjective, so I am really curious what parts of the film, if any, you thought were poorly done or uninspired.

I have an Eclair NPR and it’s the main camera I shoot on. I love it. Like anything you just have to use it and it will become like second nature. Loading film is very simple. Mine was a bit loud until Bernie serviced it, now it purrs. It is a beautiful camera. It’s a beast though, just massive and the tripod I have for it, which was specifically made for this camera, is so heavy - you really gotta plan out what you’re shooting. I realize that back in the day it was a run & gun camera but even my Eclair ACL is noticeably easier to handle for shoulder shots. Still though, it’s just a great camera all around- very reliable and you really can do sync sound with it if it’s been serviced.

Yes it works the same, light is light - I have been using my sekonic l398 with my aputure 200d light and it’s just as accurate as when I use it outdoors or really in any other lighting conditions.