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Kodak stops production of Ektachrome 100D


Jurgen Lossau

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Unfortunately, people seeking the true super 8 experience are just going to be left feeling disappointed. And possibly ripped off.

 

I'm trying some of Spectra's Velvia 50D. I think that's our final hope for anything like the real Super 8 experience. For me, that experience was almost dead already anyhow. Ektachrome 100D was a nice stock, but too nice. I think the real experience died years ago with Kodachrome.

 

 

 

Negative film might be fine for larger formats where you're attempting to maximize image quality and minimize artifacts. But it's the artifacts of small format reversal film that makes super 8 so charming.

It's not JUST the fact that it's "real film".

The wedding folks who hopped on the super 8 band wagon will continue to peddle super 8 using negative stocks.

Brides will still buy the pitch because the industry has adopted the concept so broadly and it's now a big money maker for the industry.

The clients don't know any better and now many never will.

The reality is that negative film simply does not have the beauty factor and charm of super 8 reversal, ESPECIALLY since plus-x was discontinued.

 

 

 

I am one of those "wedding folks" and I love shooting on negative.

 

1.) The latitude

2.) Availability

3.) Options

4.) Cost (I'm going to be transferring to digital anyhow)

 

My clients love the results because they see the occasional dust or scratch spec, they see the grain, they see fog flashes, they see the jitter and they receive a reel of film in an archival can.

 

Even if I used reversal, they'd never get the real Super 8 experience anyhow since almost no one has a working projector anymore. I shoot 100D all the time and am crazy sentimental about Super 8. But, even I just can't drag myself to lug out the projector more than once a month, if even. I want my Super 8 in 1080p on my laptop or Blu-ray, cleanly edited and set to music. It's the perfect blend of nostalgia and modern features.

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I see my Super 8 breathen are largely reversal fan boys. Hey, I loved reversal too but to be honest, it was a pain to expose right. You had to be seriously mental about details to get the perfect look you wanted. Yes it had great color and yes, you had a built in print that you could project. But to be honest, I like the latitude you get from negative stock. It feels good to know that the money running through your camera is most likely going to be good no matter what provided you dont have scratches, massive dust, or gate weave. The colorists these days along with the massive latitude makes for a successful shoot that most digi-fanboys would love if they took the time to listen to anyone but those who echo their own mentality.

 

I remember showing a fellow from an audio shoot I was on some Super 8 footage and he asked "how long it took" to get my color looking like that. I told him that it came back from the lab like that and he couldnt believe it. He had t2i footage that he spent 2 days tweaking and still wasnt pleased with it.

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I did a some weddings in the past and I only used 100D once. It did not run smoothly through my Canon 1014 XL-S

so I never used it for a wedding shot again. 200T, 500T and now 50D are perfect for Super8.

 

Wittner in Hamburg, Germany is preparing to release a "new" color reversal film in 2013 in addition to the stocks mentioned

above.

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The Canon 1014 XL-S and 100D just don't like each other. No idea why, but it just jams all of the time. No such issues with the Nikon R10. However, the Canon loves the Vision3 neg stocks. I've never had a cartridge jam.

 

The first two rolls of 100D I ever shot were awful, but I had no clue what i was doing and the camera used was complete sh** that actually seized up at the end of the second roll. Everything I have shot since has come out either near perfect or purely perfect. I love that stock. Heck, I was able to get a gorgeous image with 100D in a New York City subway car and that should be impossible. 0:24 - 0:29 of this short...

 

https://vimeo.com/27267624

 

Meter read 1.0 and yet you can see what came out. The exteriors were all 100D and the interiors were all 500T Vision3. I have used 500T a lot.

 

Here is a little short I did for a couple who wanted something fun to play at their wedding reception in Vietnam. Other than the opening (which I stole from the prior short I linked to above) it was shot in sequence with Pro8's 250D up to the last three shots, which were 500T.

 

 

I'm still unsure of the 250D. Pro8's transfer was a bit noisy (and jittery).

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The pictures are soo! beautiful. I love the colors of the 100D!!

If you shoot Super16 250D is the best stock for DI. It is perfect for nearly every condition.

I never used it in Super8 because of the 200T being cheaper and easier to get here in Germany.

 

Just finished a short movie with 250D (interiors) and 200T (exteriors, night) on Super16 and it looks awesome.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just got the confirmation from Spectra Film and Video regarding their Velvia 50D and E6 processing:

 

 

"yes, we will continue to stock this item and the processing for the foreseeable future."

 

 

Just ordered two rolls to test it out.

 

The forseeable future being a couple months after March 31, 2013. That's when Fuji will stop making motion picture stocks, according to their website:

 

http://www.fujifilm.com/news/n120913.html

 

I haven't shot any of Spectra's Velvia, but I guess I better get on it...

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The Canon 1014 XL-S and 100D just don't like each other. No idea why, but it just jams all of the time. No such issues with the Nikon R10. However, the Canon loves the Vision3 neg stocks. I've never had a cartridge jam.

 

The first two rolls of 100D I ever shot were awful, but I had no clue what i was doing and the camera used was complete sh** that actually seized up at the end of the second roll. Everything I have shot since has come out either near perfect or purely perfect. I love that stock. Heck, I was able to get a gorgeous image with 100D in a New York City subway car and that should be impossible. 0:24 - 0:29 of this short...

 

https://vimeo.com/27267624

 

Meter read 1.0 and yet you can see what came out. The exteriors were all 100D and the interiors were all 500T Vision3. I have used 500T a lot.

 

Here is a little short I did for a couple who wanted something fun to play at their wedding reception in Vietnam. Other than the opening (which I stole from the prior short I linked to above) it was shot in sequence with Pro8's 250D up to the last three shots, which were 500T.

 

http://vimeo.com/super8shooter/nyny

 

I'm still unsure of the 250D. Pro8's transfer was a bit noisy (and jittery).

 

Which 250D did you shoot: V3 or Eterna?

 

I've shot both from Pro8mm, and I liked the V3-based stuff better. The Eterna 250D (non-Vivid) seemed a bit grainy and there seemed to be this color cast that I couldn't get rid of. Still, I'll give it another shot in case it was a bad cart.

 

Wouldn't it be cool if Kodak gave us all of their stocks in Super-8?

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The forseeable future being a couple months after March 31, 2013. That's when Fuji will stop making motion picture stocks, according to their website:

 

http://www.fujifilm....ws/n120913.html

 

I haven't shot any of Spectra's Velvia, but I guess I better get on it...

 

True, but they have not produced motion picture Velvia for some time. I believe they have been using the still photo version. If not, that version WILL still be available.

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I certainly hope so, but I suspect it probably won't be for much longer. They'd already discontinued Velvia 50 in everything but 35mm, and Velvia 100F in all formats, so I guess it's just a matter of time.

 

But I'm going to start stocking up on as much of it as I can, just in case. Same with the E100D. Kodak should have started with that in the first place as the replacement to K40 instead of making us suffer through E64T...

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On one hand, I am happy to see 50D negative available in Super 8 format....I like how it looks in 16mm.

 

On the other, I now wished Kodak would offer their print stock 2383/3383 and or 2393 in all formats: 70mm, 35mm, 16mm, and Super 8.

 

But after next year with the discontiuation of film distribution to all theaters, I think Kodak print film will be gone as well.

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So, how to easily go from film to digital now that 100D is gone?

 

So far I went the telecine route (from BlueCineTech, UK) for about €40 per cartridge.

 

I know color negative is more complicated.

 

Any ideas?

 

 

 

 

Juan Carlos Montero Tudose

 

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One Happy FilmMaker™

 

T+F -- +39 0381 325 522

M -- +39 339 297 0384

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Skype -- tvitaliaweb

 

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www.tvitaliaweb.tv

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am bumbed about the 100D, but on the other hand V3 50D will be amazing. I had a great HD transfer done at Lightpress last year with 100D and V3 200T. To be honest, the 200T looked way better and still looked like S8, just a lot sharper. The V3 50D will be amazing. With the negs, you can get a variety of looks including really saturated if you know what your doing. The BIG problem is that it cost me $450 to transfer 8 rolls of film. If Kodak or someone could bridge the gap with a film to PC scanner for 8/16mm, film could go on and even get a lot bigger... But with current telecine costs, there's no way. Kodak needs to feed it's business and finally bridge the gap if it's the last thing they ever do. Leave the big fancy studios to the big guns, and embrace the DIY culture that technology has created with everything else. It would be the difference of me shooting 8 rolls a year instead of 80.

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To be honest, the 200T looked way better and still looked like S8, just a lot sharper.

Keep in mind that most pro telecine shops machines are calibrated for negative and have to be "refocused" for reversal due to thickness of the film. Lightpress is a GREAT, if not one of the best transfer houses around but they might not have adjusted their Shadow for the reversal.

 

I absolutely agree that there needs to be a cost effective, high quality Super 8 negative solution. I gave up on Super 8 negative a couple years ago because it was less expensive for me to shoot 16mm, process & transfer because there are so many places that can transfer 16mm for much less money.

 

I just sent off three Super 8 100D cartridges to Dwaynes. I always have them do a transfer because it's so crazy inexpensive (like $20 for the three rolls) then I'll re-transfer with Cinelicious or Lightpress if the film is worth it. Now that low cost option is gone, now it's back to 16 & 35mm.

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Moviestuff's new HD scanner is $2500 for the rest of the month then jumps to $3500. You need a PC to run the software but it looks like it just might be a good solution for inexpensive HD scanning. The file will be a 1920x1080 pillar boxed HD file; so more like 1280x1080 4:3.

 

If you plan on shooting more Super 8 it would probably be a worthy investment. The quality won't technically as good as a Spirit, but I'd bet that in the hands of a good colorist the film can look almost as good. It would pay for itself in 6 of 7 transfers of 3 or 4 rolls.

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Moviestuff's new HD scanner is $2500 for the rest of the month then jumps to $3500. You need a PC to run the software but it looks like it just might be a good solution for inexpensive HD scanning. The file will be a 1920x1080 pillar boxed HD file; so more like 1280x1080 4:3.

 

If you plan on shooting more Super 8 it would probably be a worthy investment. The quality won't technically as good as a Spirit, but I'd bet that in the hands of a good colorist the film can look almost as good. It would pay for itself in 6 of 7 transfers of 3 or 4 rolls.

 

But will it handle negative?

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Roger has said that the Retro8 software that will be available some time after the initial release of the machine will be able to work with negative. He also said people who purchase will be able to get the upgrade at no extra cost.

I suspect the machine offers 'auto exposure' only, given it works so slowly and is designed to be set running then left alone. Have to have that confirmed however, don't take my word for it.

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