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Kodak's new Ektachrome 100 Super 8 film so amazing!


Shane C Collins

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I felt compelled to relate my recent experience with Kodak's new Ektachrome 100D color reversal Super 8 film. I shot a roll on Mother's Day and just got the film back. I projected it on my Bolex 18-5L Super with prime lens. The results were stunning! No I don't have a digital copy to share as I only project. I do have a recommendation for anyone shooting this new stock. This is my fourth roll of Ektachrome to date. Something I discovered early on was this stock needs some extra light. It is not as sensitive as the old stock it replaces. So here's what I did. I opened the aperture on my Super 8 camera by one f-stop. I did this for every scene I shot both outside and inside near a living room window. When I projected the movie today the results were perfect! That extra bit of light did the trick. I used the same procedure last year when I shot a roll near the beach, and had the same perfect results. This new stock is really stunning when projected! The grain is low, with nice contrast, colors, and sharpness. I think it's the best film to date, but as stated it needs that extra bit of light to really shine through. 

Edited by Shane C Collins
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Great you like the film. I shouldn’t go as far as adding one stop because I know that you can take pictures to the right level by more projection light. I think you haven’t seen yet Ektachrome in the light of a powerful arc lamp, notably as 16 mm. The Paillard-Bolex 18-5 L doesn’t have that oomph.

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Hi Simon, thanks for chiming in! Last year I read a post, similar to mine, where someone mentioned the new stock seemed darker after processing. That same person used the the auto setting with no compensation. I really think the new Ektachrome is better exposed around 80 ASA. I don't know it just needs extra light for some reason. As I mentioned above it seems less sensitive to light. It certainly has a larger latitude than the previous version. And yes I realize the Bolex isn't as bright as say a projector with 150 watts but it's still pretty bright even at 75 watts. I use the Osram HLX bulb and seem to get about 10% more light. Also the prime lens seem to help. The first Ektachrome cartridge I shot when this came out in 2018 was darker. I used a projector with 150 watts to view it and the film was very dark in the shadows. Once I made the correction of opening the aperture 1 stop the film really shined through. 

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Agreed completely Shane. It doesn't have to do with lamp power, it's the film. I've shot 7285 (2010-2013 E100D) in the same camera as 7294 (new E100D) and the 7285 was perfect, punchy, and bright whereas the 7294 seemed dim in comparison. Recently on a trip to Africa for a gig, I shot one 7294 in my Canon 814XL-S at +2/3 (so 64ASA) and 1 roll in my Nizo 801 Macro at box speed (100ASA) and while both were beautiful, the 814XL-S footage definitely had more punch and projected better. It DID have some clipped highlights but nothing insane. I'd say 64-80ASA is the true speed of 7294, which is frustrating for most S8 cameras since few have exposure compensation. Sure many have manual but that's an annoyance for Super 8 considering it's auto-exposure appeal. Especially since I mainly shoot E100D for vacation footage where I don't want to have to think too much and just want a good projection, not just a good scan. But even at 100, it's still great and I'm grateful for it. The still I attached is from the color corrected (i.e. levels only, not colors) Nizo footage in Africa.

 

Also Jon, you footage would still be projectable. If you kept your composition in the left 2/3 of your viewfinder (if it's a S16 viewfinder) then the projection will just cut off the right edge. Not a huge deal if you're ok with 4:3. You could always still scan it for the full frame.

Lamu 3 s.jpg

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Thanks Nick for your input! I was beginning to think I was the only one who noticed the need for extra light with this stock LOL. 64-80ASA is a pretty good guess! Have you also noticed how nice this film looks on a cloudy day? The old stock just never looked good on a cloudy day, but not the case with 7294. However, one must apply that extra bit of light even on cloudy days. 

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On 7/24/2020 at 2:32 PM, Nick Collingwood said:

...Also Jon, you footage would still be projectable. If you kept your composition in the left 2/3 of your viewfinder (if it's a S16 viewfinder) then the projection will just cut off the right edge. Not a huge deal if you're ok with 4:3. You could always still scan it for the full frame.

Thanks Nick! I really think I will go ahead and get a 16mm projector soon if I can find a good one for a good price. Probably an Eiki. I can just put some tape over one side of the gg.

 

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