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Katie Edgington

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Hi,

 

I'm a photography student and I recently bought a Canon 1014E. I mainly shoot 35mm photos (I can work a film camera easy for stills) but I wanted to get into film making so I decided to start out with Super 8 because I assumed it would be pretty easy because of the role it used to play in home video making. I guess I was wrong! I've read the manual online a ton of times but all its done is confuse the hell out of me. I'm up to speed with the majority of the camera's functions but some of them still baffle me so I would appreciate some help! Being a student I have hardly any money so there's not a lot of room for error.

 

Canon_1014_a.jpg

 

This photo came from a previous post (so please ignore the arrows)!! I have 2 main queries regarding operating the camera and I expect that they'll sound incredibly stupid to someone with experience but I am COMPLETELY new at super 8 so I have no idea - Please forgive me!

 

here is a link to the manual for reference - http://www.manualslib.com/products/Canon-Autozoom-Electronic-1014-3015685.html

 

1. The film i have is Vision 3 50d but the camera's automatic system does not recognise this. This problem has been answered here: http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=61842 however I am not sure about what it means to over exposing by a 3rd of a stop. In more basic terms, how can I shoot on my 50D so that is not over exposed?

 

2. When I look in the viewfinder and the camera is in full automatic mode there is a meter with an aperture scale at the top., and red at both ends. Is this the light meter (ie when the needle is over to the right it is over exposed, left under exposed etc?)? Or does this simply show me what the auto aperture is for a correct exposure, meaning that even when it is far to the right but not in the red it is still a mid range, correct exposure? I usually shoot with a Canon AE-1 within my photography and its meter is very different, hence why i'm confused.

 

3. I feel so silly even asking this question (it pains me so hard as a photographer) but in auto mode in cloudy daylight the needle on the meter inside the viewfinder is ALWAYS in the red as far as possible on the right side of the spectrum. How can I change the exposure without making everything too technical? I understand that the switch with the dot, 2 and 4 next to the FPS have something to do with exposure however the manual conveyed this section in a way that was very confusing to me. How do I correct the exposure?

 

If anybody could help i'd be so grateful! I've been waiting to get my hands on this for ages so i'm eager to get shooting ASAP. Thank you so much!

Edited by Katie Edgington
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As the other thread says 50D will be exposed at 40 which isn't a problem- slight overexposure on colour neg is no bad thing as it suppresses grain a bit.

The needle shows the aperture as selected by the meter.

The 1014, unusually for Super-8, has a variable shutter angle and this is what the 2 and 4 are about- you adjust the angle with the knob, to 2 or 4, then compensate the exposure by moving the switch to 2 or 4 to match.

A setting of 2 halves the shutter angle, 4 reduces it to one quarter. Each reduces the exposure by one stop, so you move the switch and the aperture opens up correspondingly.

If you are getting overexposure in daylight, you can use this adjustment to get a wider aperture and get out of the red. That would surprise me though because normal exposure for bright sunlight at 24fps with 40ISO should only be about f16-22. I would check the meter.

 

Not silly questions at all. Those Japanese manuals tended towards the abstract at best. At their worst you would be better off sticking your head out of the window and asking a passing sparrow.

Edited by Mark Dunn
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Well, you actually WANT to over expose by 1/3 as it will richen up your image. It's a good thing! Don't worry about the 50D. If you wanted to not overexpose, you could manually adjust 1/3 stop but that's more trouble than its worth.

 

The viewfinder meter is just like the f/stop settings on your Canon AE lens. Red generally = bad. The needle points at what aperture the camera is set, even in automatic mode. If it goes to the red, it means there is not enough or there is too much light and you will under or over expose your image by a bit.

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Well, you actually WANT to over expose by 1/3 as it will richen up your image. It's a good thing! Don't worry about the 50D. If you wanted to not overexpose, you could manually adjust 1/3 stop but that's more trouble than its worth.

 

The viewfinder meter is just like the f/stop settings on your Canon AE lens. Red generally = bad. The needle points at what aperture the camera is set, even in automatic mode. If it goes to the red, it means there is not enough or there is too much light and you will under or over expose your image by a bit.

 

 

As the other thread says 50D will be exposed at 40 which isn't a problem- slight overexposure on colour neg is no bad thing as it suppresses grain a bit.

The needle shows the aperture as selected by the meter.

The 1014, unusually for Super-8, has a variable shutter angle and this is what the 2 and 4 are about- you adjust the angle with the knob, to 2 or 4, then compensate the exposure by moving the switch to 2 or 4 to match.

A setting of 2 halves the shutter angle, 4 reduces it to one quarter. Each reduces the exposure by one stop, so you move the switch and the aperture opens up correspondingly.

If you are getting overexposure in daylight, you can use this adjustment to get a wider aperture and get out of the red. That would surprise me though because normal exposure for bright sunlight at 24fps with 40ISO should only be about f16-22. I would check the meter.

 

Not silly questions at all. Those Japanese manuals tended towards the abstract at best. At their worst you would be better off sticking your head out of the window and asking a passing sparrow.

 

Thank you guys so much! This has been way more useful than the manual.

 

So when the needle is on the left side of the meter in the red or around 1.4 the image is underexposed and when it's on the right it's over exposed and I should try and keep it as much in the centre as possible the same as with my AE-1?

 

Also i was testing the meter at 18 FPS when daylight was giving me over exposure readings. I would like to shoot at 24FPS but to be honest i'd rather get more footage out of the roll than anything else considering it cost me 2 days of work, ha.

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It's only sort of "as simple as that".

 

YES is the answer to your question, but it gets more complicated.

 

If you use a light meter (and you should) and that light meter tells you your daylight scene needs to be shot at f/5.6 , then the needle will tell you how many stops under or over 5.6 you are! Then you can compensate if needed, or just let it go.

 

I wouldn't worry about it too much, but you should really test out some things and write down what you shot and what the camera reports. That way, you can go back and understand what you are seeing versus what you did.

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Hi Katie

Regarding how to understand the light meter indicator in the viewfinder,well when the camera is on auto the indicator will show you which aperture the camera has chosen in order to get what it thinks is the correct exposure. It's not like the type of slr light meter indicator that needs you to turn the aperture until the needle is in the middle or anything like that. So, in auto mode, the way it was intended for you to use it was that as long as the needle isn't in either red zone then you are ok and don't have to do anything.

Sometimes people who come to use super 8 cameras from having used slr cameras also get confused as to how the camera is intended to be used when in the manual mode. Know this: in manual the light meter is off and you are on your own. You have to know what aperture to set the indicator to and you have to do it yourself. Typically that would mean getting a reading with the camera on auto and then switching to manual and dialing up manually the aperture that was indicated when you were on auto. Or else using a hand held meter and following the same procedure.

I think shooting at 18 is the best idea. Basically you are shooting super 8 so that it looks like super 8. Shooting at 24 doesn't make a big difference in my opinion and it does I xrede the cost a bit. Frankly if you want to increase the cost for the sake of image quality then shoot on film that is bigger than the microscopic super 8 frame.

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Also regarding your testing the camera without film in it, well the camera's light meter determines the asa of the film by the size of a notch on the film cartridge. When there is no cartridge in the camera then by default the meter is set to the highest asa possible. So this explains why you might get high aperture readings in daylight when there is no film in the camera

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Also re-read the bit about shutter angle. It can help you if you're still getting overexposure.

The standard Super-8 stock for many years was Kodachrome 40, which was rated at 25 ISO in daylight with a correction filter, so every camera can deal with that. 50D is only a stop faster so you shouldn't have a problem. As Richard says, with no cartridge inserted the meter is probably reading at 250 or 400- very overexposed.

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