600ft - a s16mm camera test

Its actually really affordable, I basically got 17 minutes RT of footage shot, processed + prep'd, with a 1080p HD transfer to proresHQ for about $500.
 
awesome to see folks still shooting celluloid!

great footage man.

I'd take an aminima over a RED anyday (based purely on looks) unfortunately film is costly and (I'm afraid) its only going to get more expensive

but yeah man, awesome awesome looking footy..... lets see mo!
 
hey hunter. these some of my ideas about home telecine... i've run into a few problems... maybe you'll be interested :)

basically it's this

pitch black room > 5blade 16mm projector > nice small white screen > hv30 @ 24p - HDMI > black magic intensity - PC > 1080p24 4:2:2 (700 lines of resolution coz of HV30)

the problems...

there are no s16mm projectors... at least no cheap readily available ones that i've found. maybe you could file out the gate? maybe.

this guy mods 16mm projectors to have a 5blade shutter (stops flicker)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ELMO-16mm-TELEC...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50


and he has a demo of one without and with diffusion glass here - http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=iBqA__qh-dw



the other thing is adjusting exposure on the camera for each shot/scene. coz this could be a pain. i'm not sure how much adjusting you'd need to do... but it could be quite crap pausing the film adjusting rewinding pausing adjusting rewinding...

one idea around the adjusting is to set the camera so the whites are just touching the roof of the exposure on pass one. then doing a second pass but under exposed a few stops. then doing a sync and HDR type thing with the two video files. then adjusting brightness in post.

this could work for most things. the sync of the two video files could go off after a few minutes though...

also i have no idea how the pull down works for 60i and 24p with the hv30/intensity card. i'm in PAL land myself.

another issue could be the resolution of the 16mm projectors lens. who knows if it retains more than 700 lines let alone 1080.

these are all just ideas at the moment. what do ya think? too much hassle? too much money? or a crazy adventure that would waste some time and be kinda cool? :)
 
Hi Patrick- Why try to figure things out with a home telecine with sub-par results, when you can get uncompressed HD transfers at cinelicious for $275/hr or even transfer to 2K on a spirit for about $500/hr? Thats just my logic- but hey- if you want to try making a home telecine, it may be a fun project for you to work on.
 
Very nice footage. Love to see Film still being shot. Even If I'm not able to afford it myself :)
 
hunter richards said:
Its actually really affordable, I basically got 17 minutes RT of footage shot, processed + prep'd, with a 1080p HD transfer to proresHQ for about $500.
Click to expand...

Hey Hunter, really nice stuff. I'm pleasantly surprised at the affordability. That included the actual purchase of the film?
 
Nice footage. I think my favorite shots are the skateboard shot, and the camera mounted to the stroller at a dutch angle. And the time-lapse and hand-held stuff is nice too. I also love the wide shot of the house with the over-cast sky and snow falling. Great work.
 
Mark Harris said:
Hey Hunter, really nice stuff. I'm pleasantly surprised at the affordability. That included the actual purchase of the film?
Click to expand...

Thanks Mark- Yes. I actually used 2 recans for this shoot and only 1 fresh roll of stock. The recans I bought were only $10 a pop. But for reference, each 200ft a-minima load (it takes special kodak daylight loads) are about $65 or so.

So to break it down in 10 minute intervals;

2x 200ft fresh kodak loads = $135
processing and prep for 400ft total= $54
HD telecine to drive at cinelicous: $134
Misc shipping costs $30

Ends up being $350 per 10 minute RT. You can shoot many projects from shorts to commercials on s16mm for about the same as HD- more often times less if you rent high-end HD camera package.- Super16mm cameras are also very cheap to rent. You may not have a the sharpest image, but you will have a beautiful one!
 
man.. I love film...

I want to shoot more of it before we all go digital once and for all.

There is just something visceral about shooting on film... hard to explain..
 
Yeah i mean it says a lot of S16mm can still kick reds arse - haha

*ahem* anyway that looked gorgeous! Puts a slap to our video boasting lol
 
Wow, does that ever re-kindle an old flame.

All of this fighting about digital vs. film has made me vow to do my next project on film again. I hope I can stick to that.

I got all teary-eyed thinking about you looking back on this wonderful film with your family when your daughter is older. I've logged so many hours of the first few years of my kids lives on HD and no matter what you do with it you just can't get that ethereal feeling like this.

Great work and thanks for sharing.

J.
 
ya no HD 35mm adapter combo can compare to that right there. That is really fanstastic, also makes me want to do a project on s16. I think you would end up taking more car setting up each shot, making it worth while. Hmmm..
 
Thanks guys. Funny thing- If I would have shot the same thing in HD, it would have looked like a cheap home video- reminds me of the saying "Shoot a love scene with a video camera and its called a porno, shoot a love scene on film and its called art".

I'm shooting some ad's in few weeks on s16mm for theater projection, so it will be interesting how it looks on a big screen. As long as the budget will allow it, I will choose film every time over digital- It just looks good out of the box.
 
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