Film Cameras

Patrick Quinn · Pop Shuvit Joined: 13 Sep 2003 Posts: 117

Anyone on here ever shot skating on a 8mm or 16mm camera. My buddy just go this hands on an old school 8mm camera but its only 18 frames a second, which is too slow to shoot action (to put that in perspective I heard the film sequences in Relentless were shot in 120 frames per second). We're thinking of using it to shoot the intro to our movie this summer.

Unfortunately its pretty expensive to use film. $30 (Canadian) to buy 1 3 minute roll, but that includes developing. Then its $37 or something to digitize, 10 minutes worth. Anyone every tried this? If so, got any tips for shooting or editing. We also might have access to a 16mm camera through school, but thats even more pricy.

Just a side note, he got the 8mm camera for 12 beers off a friend. And that guy got it a a garage sale for $2. Pretty sweet deal.

scott a · "a" is for angel Joined: 17 Feb 2004 Posts: 4126

Patrick Quinn, 24 frames per second is generally the standard film speed, not 120. in Relentless stephens shot at 120 frames per second (do you know this framerate for sure??) so that he could slow the film down and have a super smooth slow motion shot of whatever he just shot. if your camera is 18 frames, your film will still be a tiny bit slow, but it will still work.

the use/cost of film cameras has been discussed over in the wakeboarder.com media and technology forum, and i encourage you to check that thread. im too lazy to link ya cuz im, well, im lazy.

Patrick Quinn · Pop Shuvit Joined: 13 Sep 2003 Posts: 117

I'll have a look at that wakeboarder thread, I can't wait to test this camera out. We're waiting for a dead calm sunny day so the lighting is ideal. That or get up super early so their is still some fog on the lake.

As for Relentless, thats just a rumour I heard. I know in Hollywood they used films speeds that high, but thats of course because the have enormous budgets. 120 frames a second would just eat up film so fast the cost is inconceivable. But judging by the trailer it looks like he was able to slow it down real nice, like on Froggy's whirlybird for example.

Anyways, the prospect of just using film is pretty exciting, we've got a projector now so after its developed we can watch it and determine whether its worth digitizing or not. All in all I can't wait to see the colour quality and resolution of the film, if anyone has every used film or has any tips for shooting, etc. let me know.

brandn · Ollie Joined: 18 Dec 2003 Posts: 90 City: orlando

// yeah the film route.... super 8 can be a pricey one, but in my humble opinion i love the look of super 8 film especially with wakeskating.. i have shot over 300 ft so far this year..

check out http://www.k14movies.com..

you can buy fresh super 8 rolls for $13, and get it processed for $9.. they have been great so far.. You can order new stock at the same time you get reels developed so that makes it easy to always have some fresh film in stock..

its worth it, combining film and digital is the best for me..
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satori* · Posted: Dec 02, 2004 10:42 pm Post subject:

im looking to get into filming wakeskating. i have a lot of still film experience(if that helps at all), and have some experience using hi8, but not editing (and my hi8.. mechanically broke to say the least.). and i know i want to use film, at least perdominantly, since i personally don't really like digital. but i want to be able to edit on a pc. and im looking for something maybe more quality than hi8 but still cheaper than decent digital cameras.
how much is all this? what camera and filmtype would you suggest?
and what is the developement process like? if it's like still chemistry, i could do it at school, but i don't think thats likely.
also what does it take to put it on pc to edit? anyone who uses film how do you edit? probably not old school cut and paste.. i know of those machines that you run the film through and hook it to the computer, but i don't know much about them and can't find anything on the internet.

any of these answers from anyone would be a big help. and tell me if im jumping in too quick, when i should be getting my feet wet first and starting simple.
thanks

epicdv8 · Ollie Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 55 City: mango

satori*, i dont know what to tell you about the cameras, i have an old 16mm bolex and a newer cp16 thats hard to string up, but 16mm cameras are relativly expensive (sometimes) unless its old or you order it from Russia, which might not be a bad idea.
As for film type, daylight 3200 is fine or tusgen (t500) or something.
There are a few ways to edit 1. the traditional flatbed which are still around but hard to come by and take hours to make 5 cuts. 2. there is a special type of projector you can run your delevoped film through and then capture it digitally on a video camera. (mini dv) or beta or whatever 3. the easy way, have the lab tansfer it for you...

satori* · Posted: Dec 03, 2004 7:50 pm Post subject:

epicdv8, thanks a lot. it's going to be a tough decision with such little experience. im thinking i should just start off simple, maybe get another hi8 (do the usb streaming hi8's have digital quality or film quality picture?) and get more experience and decide if this is the thing for me.

i've seen those russian 16 mm on ebay for 200.

anyway, thanks.

epicdv8 · Ollie Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 55 City: mango

yeah some of those russia ones are cheap as hell, now if the film actually runs smooth through them, i dont know, but its worth a try.

ok about the hi 8, your talking digital video right? it sucks! its video; horrible video too. mini dv is the step up from it (i dont know, maybe im reading your post wrong) regular 8mm film is fine if you want that kind of effect, but really you can do it in post. plus if you shoot with a 3 chip digital video cam, it'll def. look better and cost you less in the long run.

if i were you i find a nice cheap 16mm to play around with, watch out for the used ones ask alots of questions, like what year was it made in?, how much service did it have, ect... i dont know if this will help but i was looking into this before i started using the schools film cams.

http://www.k3camera.com/index.php?ncspro

i think u can get it new too, it comes with a real sweet lense aswell.

kento911 · Kickflip Joined: 29 Mar 2004 Posts: 3657 City: Phoenix

The canon XL1s I think it is, has a feature so that it actually takes sequential digi pics at a pre-programmed frame rate so that it looks and slowmos more like film, but they are 3 to 5k as I recall Im not sure though MiniDV will mow down a hi 8; hi 8 is poop, period.

satori* · Posted: Dec 04, 2004 9:15 am Post subject:

thanks for the info on hi8.
but i only have 400 or less to spend on the camera. and i havent found a digital for less than 400 that wont have a pretty crappy digiitalized pixilated picture.
and the k3 is what i saw on ebay.

revolutionconcepts · Posted: Dec 05, 2004 10:56 am Post subject:

film is great...if you have the money....but your not going to get a quaility camera for under 400 dollars...your going to need a 3ccd camera, and right now there is the panisonic one that shoots like film at 24p...but my neighbor just bought the sony dcr dvx2100...it looks great. i think but im not sure, most of the attention def videos where shot just using a camera simular to this. Anyway the picture looks F'ing marvelous.