Film Guys: Need some help with 16mm Film

K

Kholi

Section Moderator
Anyone who can offer some advice, I'd be grateful. I'm confused on 16mm formats and 8mm formats, but right now trying to figure out how to acquire and shoot 16mm.

The first thing is that I have no idea what type of film stock I should be looking for and, most importantly, WHERE. If I were using a 16mm camera (Not super 16) am I looking for 8mm Stock or 16mm stock?

Second, I'm still confused on what kind of glass to look for. Is it far fetched to expect anyone to be able to modify a mount to fit Canon glass? Is it ridiculous to even consider this?

Lastly, or at least for now, I'm confused on power supply. I know there some have batteries but they seem like old old old battery systems. What are the chances of modifying them to fit newer V or AB mount batteries?

Sorry for m'ignorance on the topic. But any advice would be appreciated.
 
16mm cameras take 16mm film. As do Super 16 cameras, which use regular 16mm stock with a special gate to enlarge the image area.

If you have specific need of some kind of modified specialty lens, it may be technically possible to modify an SLR or video lens, or find an appropriate adapter (for example C-mount adapters are still pretty common, although that's an adapter for cine lenses that are threaded rather than mounted with bayonet lugs). Although the selection of purpose-made lenses for most popular 16mm cameras is pretty wide.

As long as the voltage/amperage of the batteries matches the camera's requirements, you can adapt batteries. Although that may be more likely to take the form of wires and duct tape, than anything slick or streamlined. Heck, you can put together AC->DC transformers and run off wall current, which I've had to do with Auricons, CP-16s, Arri BLs and Bolexes...
 
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Kodak 7218 is a high speed negative stock, 7217 is a medium speed and 7212 is a low speed stock.

If you are planning on scanning instead of making prints then you can use 7299 instead of the 7218. 7299 is an HD color scan film and is designed to be digitally scanned instead of printed.
 
Way sick. Thanks you guys.

Max: I did see that the few cameras I looked at were C-Mount and one was Fixed (I'll get to that in a second). The issue I had with C-Mount lenses is that it would probably be a bit of a crutch having to use a zoom all the time. It would be nice to be able to use my existing collection of glass if I were going an ownership route.

Have you ever heard of anyone doing this? Maybe it's not worth the hassle.


Craig: Thanks! So those stocks apply to 16mm (sorry, just making sure) specifically. I do plan on using a specific place here in Los Angeles for Scans direct-to-drive and telecine, etc. They've got some really really good rates to start with and they sound really reasonable.

Looks like I'll have to hunt down the stock you mentioned for digital scanning, as that's exactly where its going.

Battuta: Checking the link, appreciated.


I've been looking at a CP16R and some super cheap fixed lens Canon Scoopics. The issue with the latter being that it's supposedly really really loud. Cany anyone recommend a 16mm camera for ownership that's quiet but falls into the price range of either of those? It's beginning to look llike if you want anything outside of an MOS camera then you should be renting...
 
All Kodak stocks prefixed with "72" are 16mm.

I'm not sure about price range but if you can find an Arriflex 16BL in good condition, those are darned fine cameras, and very quiet. CP-16s are okay too, but generally a bit noisier.

I wouldn't spend money on a scoopic, but that's just me.
 
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