Loading 16mm and 35mm Cameras

ki8

ki8

Active member
Does anyone i know where i can find out how to load and unload film cameras for 16 and 35mm, and also learn to pull focus and set fstops..also how to use a lightmeter. I am very poor and cant afford film shcool, would appreciate any help. thank you

shawn

p.s. also how to work with on set sound mixers. thanks again
 
That's a question and a half!

What film cameras were you particularly interested in? they're all different.
Some of the newer ones are virtually automatic.

Pulling focus - as simple as rotating the focus ring, or follow focus wheel if you have one fitted.
A focus puller is a second camera operator who concentrates on focusing.

Setting f/stops - adjusting the aperture ring on the lens to the desired mark.

Using a lightmeter:
largely depends on what sort of lightmeter you are using. there are 3 broad categories: incident, reflected and spot.

An incident meter is held in the scene and pointed back at the camera, a reading is taken, and transferred to the camera's controls.

Reflected: The meter is pointed at the scene from the camera's point of view, a reading is made and again transferred to the camera.

Spot - much the same as reflected , but you look through a viewfinder on the meter, and take a reading from a much smaller area than a reflected meter.
This allows a small object to be metered - eg a face against a backlight, where a normal reflected meter would be biased by the backlight.

On any lightmeter, you need to set the film speed and shutter angle. The meter will then return the correct f/stop to use.

Correct exposure is a triangle - film speed, aperture, and shutter speed adjusting any one will affect the exposure.

May I enquire as to why you want to start with film?
It's a very expensive way to learn film making.

I would advise you to stick with video for now and learn all the basics there, Then move onto film later if necessary.

Hope this helps
 
im actually pretty familiar with mini-dv (xl2, dvx100b), i have a few friends that have showed me alot of things that i have used to make films. but im looking to help on bigger sets, and ive notices that film is more apparent than dv, but it will soon change i hope...i wnat to be more than pa, im hoping to be an AC, make some friends and eventually become a cinematogapher...but well see what happpens.. does that book! tell you how to load, as well as pull focus, pretty mcuh everything about film i hope...but also for the lightmeter, do they use an incident meter always, and what would you use the other ones for. and what do you mean by "a reading is taken, and TRANSFERRED to the camera's controls." really appreciate all the help, cannot thakn you enough


shawn
 
ki8 said:
...do they use an incident meter always, and what would you use the other ones for. and what do you mean by "a reading is taken, and TRANSFERRED to the camera's controls."...
Click to expand...

As to what meter you use, it depends on what you're doing. Incident is good generally, but a spotmeter is better for determining exposure in tricky situations.
For example, if you wanted to shoot an actor backlit against a window, a reflected meter would give a biased reading. Incident less so, but it's still possible it's going to get it wrong. so you would stand your actor in the frame, and meter off them. the angle of acceptance of a spotmeter is very small, so it's less likely to be biased out by a backlight.

I've attached an image to demonstrate metering patterns.
The red oval is what a reflected light meter might see. It would be biased by the sky. The blue circle shows the area seen by a spotmeter - it's much smaller, and can pinpoint exposure better on small areas.

meterdemo.jpg



By transferred to the camera controls, I simply mean that you look at the lightmeter, read off (for example) 1/100th at f/8.
You go to the camera, set the shutter speed to 1/100th, grab the aperture ring, tweak it round to f/8 and wait for the director to call action. Easy.
 
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