super8 cam with no exposure control?

P

PDX_DVX

Veteran
Hey, I recently bought a GAF XL-125 super8 camera at the local goodwill. It seems to be in great shape, and it runs like a champ. I have yet to expose any film with it though. I am nervous because there doesn't seem to be any exposure control with the camera, there is no iris control or anything of that nature. There is also this weird button on top that is flush with the body that when depressed moves this little clear filter inside the camera. I am just really confused, and I am wondering if my 5 dollar purchase can be used?
 
It's probably automatic exposure only. The button on top would be the #85 filter, used when you're shooting kodachrome (tungsten-balanced) film outdoors. In one position it should be clear, in the other position it should be orange. When shooting outdoors you'd use it in the orange position, when shooting indoors you'd use the clear position.
 
It has a weird threaded hole that it goes into, is there some sort of screw I would use to depress it when I needed to shoot indoors?
 
John Michaels said:
Yes, that would remove the 85 filter when you screw a tungsten light to the camera.
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There should be an adaptor that fits in the threaded hole, usually in the handle. Also look for a battery holder for the automatic exposure control. The usually take flat batteries available at camera stores. The camera reads the ASA information that is notched into the side of S-8 carts and makes the iris adjustments automatically. Can be a pain in the ass, but definitely helps the "home movie" look. The only control you have over the iris is to pull that battery, which set the iris to WFO. I've done that a few times when shooting in low ambient light conditions and have been pleased with the results.
 
Yea mine has that tooo!!!!! ı was wonderıng how it accomplished exposure..... and whether it has a 85 filter! but low and behold a recessed button with threads!!!!!! wow.... ,

cool.
 
Yea. I figure I will buy a roll of tungsten and a roll of daylight film and just test it out to see how they come out with different lighting and stuff, get it transferred to digi and see how things look.
 
PDX_DVX said:
Yea. I figure I will buy a roll of tungsten and a roll of daylight film and just test it out to see how they come out with different lighting and stuff, get it transferred to digi and see how things look.
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keep us posted as to how it comes out. See if you can post some of the footage.
 
I bought 2 rolls of film today, an ektachrome roll for indoors tungsten, and a tri-x black and white roll for outdoors. We'll see how they come out
 
PDX_DVX said:
I bought 2 rolls of film today, an ektachrome roll for indoors tungsten, and a tri-x black and white roll for outdoors. We'll see how they come out
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I'm confused. Why the Ektachrome for indoors and the Tri-X for outdoors. The Tri-X is, realtive to Super 8 reversal films, pretty fast and if I remeber right, is faster than the Ektachrome stocks. Since the Tri-X has an effective ASA of 200 in daylight, you will need to be very careful about over exposure. Like video, reversal film does not handle over exposure very well (relative to negative stocks).

Just a suggestion, one of the very cool things about Super 8 is that you can switch cartridges while shooting and only lose about 7 frames of film. Why don't you shoot both films indoors and outdoors? Just a suggestion.
 
I never thought of that. And BTW, I'll have to check on which film I got for what. I went to the NW film center with the intention to get 2 rolls of color film, but apparently they only had color film balanced for tungsten, which also happened to be a more sensitive film, so I decided to pick up a roll and use it indoors. The B&W according to the guy there would be better suited for outdoors than the color, so thats what I went with. I am deffinetly going to take your advice and shoot partial rolls of indoor and outdoor on each cartridge. What sort of content do you think I should focus on to get a good sense of the film stock and camera?
 
The content should be up to your personal aesthetic. I would look to push the film by shooting different lighing conditions. For the outdoor stuff I would plan to shoot on some cloudless, bright sunny days and on overcast, dark days and a couple of days in between. Indoors, your on your own. Experiment with what ever lighting resources you have.

Dude, this is film... PLAY!!!! Push the limits!!!
 
Yea, I am afraid that "bright sunny days" here in the Pacific NW are rapidly coming to an end, hopfully I'll have some free time on a sunny day to catch some footage. I want to shoot some stuff that I can use for various projects, sort of in a way get some "super 8 stock footage" so I'll just have to see what happens. So for the black and white its not going to make a difference whether or not I have the little filter in place, but for the outdoors indoor stuff with the color I'll want to have it off, since my stock is tungsten balanced, correct?
 
Yes, you will want to have the filter in place when you shoot the indoor stock outdoors. It is kind of backwards with the filter on these cameras. to take the filter out, you put the screw in the socket. To use the filter, you take the screw out.

For the B&W stock you do not need the filter, which uses up light. I would take it out for shooting (put in the screw).
 
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