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High speed 16mm cameras


Patrick Cooper

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Now and then, Ive been tempted to get one of those high speed 16mm cameras that are sold for next to nothing (insanely cheaply) on eBay. Although Ive shot some 16mm before in the past (with a K3) I admit I don't know a great deal about the operation of high speed cameras. Obviously, they are very specialised devices. Are there any particular models that are recommended? I notice the Wollensak cameras seem to be fairly common on eBay. If I manage to obtain a Wollensak or another high speed camera, is there a decent chance that I could find an instruction manual somewhere? Knowing the film loading procedure and basic operation would of course be mandatory, as well as any idiosyncrasies that the cameras may have.

I'm guessing that a lot of these kind of cameras don't have reflex (through the lens) viewing? I'm okay with that because a lot of the stuff I would be shooting would be studio set ups. Though I would like to be able to frame and focus accurately. I'm also assuming that many of these cameras would be regular 16mm rather than super 16?

I was once talking to a cinematographer who mentioned that high speed cameras require regular servicing. This is no surprise considering the stress that's imposed on them (high frame rates.)

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There's an interesting thing I notice by looking at the photos of some of these cameras on eBay. It looks like a number of these cameras can be loaded with 100ft daylight spools. And unless I'm mistaken, with some, I don't see the option of adding a 400ft mag. This is really surprising because one of these cameras can film at 4000 - 5000fps. Surely, at those kinds of running speeds, 100 feet of film would just last a few seconds?

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most of those were gun cameras or scientific cameras that would be triggered precisely to capture what was being studied. While some were usable for film production (IIRC some were used on Hurt Locker) most are not exactly ideal for narrative or doc production use

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I have a few Photec high speed cameras (up to 10,000fps) and they can take 100, 200, or 400ft daylight spools.  As was mentioned, you generally are only interested in a fraction of a second of "action" anyway, so the only problem with the short length of film is timing the start of it properly, against the action in question.  But 100ft of film is plenty when filming at lower speeds anyway.

When shooting 10,000fps with 400 ft of film, a large majority of that film is spent just getting fully up to speed...

It's a little frightening to hear it running, even more so when using acetate film that's shrunk too much from the .3000" perf-specing specs and the film explodes when it reaches speed.

I really need to re-scan the films I shot with it many years ago, now that I can do it in HD.  Will try to remember to post back here once I've done that.

Duncan

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As to the focusing of one of these cameras - it's definitely something done as part of the locked-down setup of the camera before the shot.  The Photec has a little focusing prism you clip in place in the film path (colored bright red so you don't forget to remove it again!) and then a little window you open on the door and peer through to line up and focus the shot.  It's really not very user friendly!

Then you load the film and hope you didn't accidentally move the camera or bump the focus or any of a million other things.

There's no viewing system or focusing at all on the Traid 200V, but of course with that fisheye lens there doesn't really need to be - you just have to imagine the shot in your mind and aim the camera accordingly.

 

Duncan

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A couple of more:

 

 

 

 

 

Funny thing about using film.  No backsies.  The first piece of glass we dropped onto the cinderblock BOUNCED a few inches into the air and then clattered to the ground, never breaking.  If you've ever had tempered glass interact with concrete you know this is impossible - tempered glass vaporizes in your hands if it so much as gets a whiff of concrete.  But there it was.  450 ft of expensive Estar film through the camera, now utterly unusable, and nothing to do but thread in another roll, and slam the glass down harder the second time.

 

Duncan

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Some more I finally got around to doing all the scanning and editing on.  This should give you more of an idea of how a slo-mo photo shoot goes.  Well, the shade-tree mechanic version anyway!

Duncan

 

 

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