complete film noob!

C

Cheesesailor77

Veteran
Hey, I'd like to shoot some film and have a few quick questions to start with.

I'd like to shot and maybe edit some super 8. I've heard several accounts that super 8 stock these days is really impressive. How much will a camera probably cost and how much is stock and processing? Obviously this would just be for fun so I can't spend a lot.

along with super 8 I've heard that super 16 is better (and cheaper) than ever with everyone shooting on video. What's involved with shooting super 16? Can I buy a camera or would I probably want to rent one? I was told that Kodak is aggressivly oferring film and processing packages to students. Anyone know about this?

Sry for being so broad, but this is my first toe into the great pool of film. Any help would be appreciated.

THANKS
 
Well, if you've never shot film before I suggest starting with super 8. Super 16 can still run you some money(so can super 8 but...) and cameras are expensive(unless you get a K3 that has been converted), renting would be the way to go. Super 8 cameras are usually cheap and there are a ton of them on ebay. Make sure you get one that has manual exposure and can shoot 24fps(some only shoot 18fps). I've had good results from using Beaulieu cameras but most of them can run you from $100-800.

Kev
 
thanks, i didn't know about the 18fps thing.

Any suggestions for stock? how much to buy and process?

is there any "new" super 8 footage online I could see? Im sure there is but I can't find it.
 
if you are going to shoot super 8 definately go with a camera off ebay.

ask a lot of questions about the lense. i have had a ton of luck with a canon 814 i bought off of there but my friend bought a similiar camera...they all have fixed lenses...and the lense has a few miniscule scratches on it that show up on every frame of his film.

i would recommend buying all of your film directly from kodak. contact your local representative. as for film i would just buy 4 or 5 rolls of film to start...they run 14 dollars a piece and shoot 2 and a half minutes of footage. the film i recommend is vision2 200T color negative 7217.

i have to say that i love super 8. i shoot regular 16mm...not super 16...and the super 8 looks just as good if not better the majority of the time.

good luck with it...i just ogt into super 8 like 6 months ago and i cant stop.

i dont use dv near as much as i used to.
 
I'll look up vision2 200T color negative 7217.

Is there a website that can really walk me through this stuff? Differences in super 8 cameras, stocks, tools, processes?
 
Ok, heres the deal. Basically the bare neccessities for Super 8 cameras are: 24fps, and manual exposure (unless you have an argus camera which can auto detect asa 25- 400 film). But still, I would go for manual exposure.

As far as where you get film, this largely depends on what you want to do with the film. I edit everything on NLE so I do package deals from Spectra. With them and Pro8 (who I dont recommend, btw), you can pay one price and get film, prepaid mailers for processing, prep/clean, and rank transfer to minidv (with tape included) and sent back in a week or less. Hard to beat honestly. The cost is a a bit high but you cant match the quality that it will be. And its quicker and less hassle than ordering film, sending film back out for processing, getting it back and shipping it out again for telecine.

As far as stocks, if you are new to Super 8, get color negative stock because its more forgiving of exposure errors. You can over/under expose by 2-3 stops and still be ok. Reversal film is pretty tight at around +/- 1/2 stop at most before you notice blow outs or murky lows. Vision2 200T is good for well lit conditions and will give you relatively fine grain. Vision2 500T is good if you dont have a lot of light but it will be a bit grainy. Not too bad considering its such a fast film.

I hope this has helped.
 
There are some great stocks from kodak like Vision 200T , 500T, Plus X and Tri X (B/W reversal)

Go to ebay and get a decent super 8 camera. My recomended list is

- leicina special
- canon 1014 XL-S
- canon 814 XL-S
- Nikon R-10
- Beaulieu 4008, 5008 and 6008
- Nizo 6080 or 4080.

Good luck
 
so to tell you the truth, I'm not too hot on the idea of super8 anymore. I've seen 2 or three clips of recent things done on super8 and they are not looking too good. I figured I would give it a try if it wa a step up from DV, but so far I can't find an example of anything better than your average thing posted in the screengrabs section.

Anyone know of links to some really impressive super8?
 
I am a noob at super 8 as well but really want to get into it. I am want to purchase a camera off ebay sometime soon but had some questions. This may be a very bad and obious question, but how do you edit super 8?

LakMirO, you said you can send it in to a company and they will send you a miniDV tape? That sounds expensive about how much does that cost??
 
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