to To start out there’s that question that every aspiring (or in my case pretending) filmmaker asks, What camera do I buy? I need four hundred foot rolls, I would like to spend up to and less then three thousand give or take, I want to shoot black and white negative film, but I have only found a couple of Kodak films and a German one that I have never heard off, (I do not recall the name.) is there other black and white negative films out there? Crystal sync is important but not as much I believe I will mostly shoot silent and dub dialogue later, ala mariachi and in the neo realist manner. I have read some of your posts and I find that you fellas are very knowledgeable and I would appreciate any advice. By the way I’m in Austin texas if any of you guys are shooting down here, let me know so I can maybe get a refresher on the craft.
Cameras and Film Question
- Thread starter GerPala
- Start date
The 3k-ish figure is just for the camera allowance, right? Cost of film, processing & cine comes from elsewhere?
If you don't plan on using the camera a lot, you might consider getting one from a local rental-house. You'll spend way less than 3k and still get the job done. More money for other things.
Just a thought.
If you don't plan on using the camera a lot, you might consider getting one from a local rental-house. You'll spend way less than 3k and still get the job done. More money for other things.
Just a thought.
3k is just for the camera and am not including other cost. “renting” that's good advice but I guess i want the flexibility of being able to shoot to my hearts delight, but like you said it's probably more cost effective to rent. If i rent should i also maybe buy one of those cheaper 100 ft roll cameras like the K3 so that i can use that at a whim and become more proficient on handling film? Is it to much of a hassle to rent, you know just an extra burden on what’s already a hard task, trying to pull a dissent looking film from no budget is difficult enough, is having to deal with the rental place, picking up, dropping off, worrying about damage, etc… is all that cumbersome specially for a one or two man band production. Just wondering how those issues play out in real life.
Hint: If you purchase a camera with a 400ft. magazine, it will take loads of 400ft. or less. Which means you can also use 100ft. loads and short ends of varying lengths. 100ft. loads are wonderful for testing and trying different stocks without committing to a full 400ft. roll.
Kept in mind that with a rental house you are generally required to have insurance of at LEAST $1 million. These policies are short term and can get expensive, generally around $700.
Kept in mind that with a rental house you are generally required to have insurance of at LEAST $1 million. These policies are short term and can get expensive, generally around $700.
No, it's a company standard required before you can rent any gear from them. Company policy. Like I said, smaller rental houses may have different policies. However, that is the industry standard. No one will rent out gear, expecially a film camera, without insurance.
A filming permit is unrelated and required by the local or state government and only applies to public or government owned property. You do not need a permit to shoot on private property unless you're using pyrotechnics or doing stunt work.
www.cagexxi.com
A filming permit is unrelated and required by the local or state government and only applies to public or government owned property. You do not need a permit to shoot on private property unless you're using pyrotechnics or doing stunt work.
www.cagexxi.com
If I were looking for a nice 16mm camera, and would be shooting silent,
for post-sync sound, I'd look on eBay first.
http://snurl.com/g46j
One of the later Bolexes has the control features for serious photography.
http://snurl.com/g471
An Arri (S, SR, or M)
http://snurl.com/g475
or Eclair (NPR or ACL)
http://snurl.com/g473
has the shooting qualities I'd
like to shoot fast and quiet.
A Beaulieu is beautifully-engineered and delightful to shoot.
http://snurl.com/g479
A Russian Krasnogorsk will work, but I'd shoot a scratch test, and polish the
mechanism with some fine emery cloth, to make sure it doesn't scratch film.
http://snurl.com/g47f
16mm would be fine for tv or even 35mm blowup, if I composed for a 1.66 or
1.85 frame (cropping top and bottom 1/7 or so), but if I were likely to transfer
later to HD, or do a 35mm blowup or filmout, I'd shoot Super 16mm.
Super 16mm has the gate hogged out to make a picture out to the
edge of a single-perf frame. That is a bigger original negative area than
regular 16mm, and is a 1.66 aspect ratio. It blows up to 35mm with less grain.
If I had me a cheap-enough 16mm camera, and a file...or a mill...
With some care, I could hog the frame out to Super 16mm myself.
This will horrify most, but I've hot-rodded cameras for years,
so it doesn't scare me. If you take your time, it'll work.
Another place to find good-quality 16mm gear is In-Sync, which puts out
a catalog here in Hollywood. They are also on the web.
http://www.insyncpubs.com/
My list has hundreds of movie equipment buyers and sellers.
If you are looking for something in particular, write me and I'll put you in touch.
for post-sync sound, I'd look on eBay first.
http://snurl.com/g46j
One of the later Bolexes has the control features for serious photography.
http://snurl.com/g471
An Arri (S, SR, or M)
http://snurl.com/g475
or Eclair (NPR or ACL)
http://snurl.com/g473
has the shooting qualities I'd
like to shoot fast and quiet.
A Beaulieu is beautifully-engineered and delightful to shoot.
http://snurl.com/g479
A Russian Krasnogorsk will work, but I'd shoot a scratch test, and polish the
mechanism with some fine emery cloth, to make sure it doesn't scratch film.
http://snurl.com/g47f
16mm would be fine for tv or even 35mm blowup, if I composed for a 1.66 or
1.85 frame (cropping top and bottom 1/7 or so), but if I were likely to transfer
later to HD, or do a 35mm blowup or filmout, I'd shoot Super 16mm.
Super 16mm has the gate hogged out to make a picture out to the
edge of a single-perf frame. That is a bigger original negative area than
regular 16mm, and is a 1.66 aspect ratio. It blows up to 35mm with less grain.
If I had me a cheap-enough 16mm camera, and a file...or a mill...
With some care, I could hog the frame out to Super 16mm myself.
This will horrify most, but I've hot-rodded cameras for years,
so it doesn't scare me. If you take your time, it'll work.
Another place to find good-quality 16mm gear is In-Sync, which puts out
a catalog here in Hollywood. They are also on the web.
http://www.insyncpubs.com/
My list has hundreds of movie equipment buyers and sellers.
If you are looking for something in particular, write me and I'll put you in touch.
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okay i have bought the camera i have started to play with it now heres a question i have a Sekonic L-398M Studio Deluxe II light meter, it is a manual meter the "industry standard" just bought it recently so i'm still getting familiar with it. heres my question the camera has a 150 degree shutter angle, now do i composate for that on the light meter some where or is it not segnificant enough to worry about it and just expose to normal exposure. i know the camera has a built in light meter but i heard that it is not the most reliable thing in the world. Any advice?
What camera did you buy? We'd like to hear about it.
The way to figure out exposure for any speed and shutter angle is thus:
exposure time = shutter angle / ( fps * 360 )
So, given a 24 fps and a 150 degree shutter angle, you'd have
exposure time = 150 / (24 * 360 ) , or 1/57 sec. In all likelihood, 1/50 will be close enough.
The way to figure out exposure for any speed and shutter angle is thus:
exposure time = shutter angle / ( fps * 360 )
So, given a 24 fps and a 150 degree shutter angle, you'd have
exposure time = 150 / (24 * 360 ) , or 1/57 sec. In all likelihood, 1/50 will be close enough.
i got KRASNOGORSK-3, i've been looking for my old rolls of exposed 16mm film but i cant seem to find them so i still have not even wound any film through it, it feels great so far. The lens has a very limited focusing range. The nearest object you can focus on is at 2meters, you can put a dioptic(?) filter which magnifies and halves that distance to 1m but it still leaves you having to zoom in from far away for a close up and crushing down your depth of field, which is great if that's what you want but i needed the option of a deeper focus on close ups, so to correct for that i bought a 38mm (i think that was the size) wide angle lens for 35mm screw mount cameras. I can focus on things much closer then before, but since it is a 35mm lens it is not right on the glass like the 16mm lens so it actually becomes more of a telephoto lens and instead of seeing a 38mm view you get a 76mm view out of the view finder, i read up on how that works but i can't remember the exact reasoning behind it. So needles to say i'm excited about it, the camera feels great it feels rugged, it is noisy since it's a wind up motor and it's not crystal sync, but if you're creative i think it should be a great tool for anyone to play with. Here's my idea for shooting dialogue i'm going to try it out on some shorts and see how it works. First do a mariachi style sound recording where you shoot a scene with out sound and record solo dialogue lines after shooting directly into mic as if it was another take, also do a post sound recording where dialogue can be adjusted to mouth movement on screen, i would probably not shoot dialogue on those instances but ask actors to utter numbers as they portray a particular emotion. Kind of like the neo realist did in the fifties. These are just ideas if any one has any thoughts or tricks let me know so i can try them out. Thanks guys.