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 This
could be you! Filming with your Fujica Single 8mm movie camera.
Ahhh, the 2000's. Yes, that's right, even in the year 2005 you can still
shoot super 8, regular 8, and the ultra rare single 8mm format! It just
keeps on getting better doesn't it!Here's my basic credo: "KEEP SUPER 8mm CHEAP!" Cameras cannot be fixed except by you or your friends who won't charge anything for tinkering. The film stocks are still available. How many more years they will remain so is hard to tell. Transferring the footage to other media is solely up to your own thinking. Money starts speaking here. If you plan on having it professionally done it will cost approximately $250 per hour (this would cover about 30-45 minutes of actual footage). So let's look for ways to keep the hobby inexpensive and fun! THE GEAR IS OUT THERE... For all intents and purposes, no projectors/cameras/editors are being manufactured (unless you want to try a new Beaulieu 7008; There is also a Russian made camera out there but from what I have seen on the net, the quality of it is speculative at best. It seems that there were problems with the light meters (only the most important thing on the camera since if you don't work in T-stops, the camera would be almost useless to set manually - you would have to know the loss of light within the lens to enable you to use a hand held meter or trial and error with processed film)). Only film, cement, and splicing tape are in current production. Everything else is up to you! To me, this is where the fun begins (or is it the hunt?). |
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By the way, check out the links section and look up England's Widescreen
Centre - they just mailed me a few brochures and a catalogue of their
latest offerings. Included in it was a small tank developing kit for
processing B&W Super 8mm film. While over $100 British Pounds, it is
definitely worth considering since the entire filmmaking procedure would
only rely upon the availability of B&W film in the Super 8mm format.
With it, you would have a system to last for your lifetime. So the
price
is fairly reasonable. Email I shot my first Super 8mm (home) movie in the spring of 1992. One day
while roaming through the flea market, I came upon a basically mint
condition Sankyo LXL 255 Macro Super 8 movie camera. I bought it for
$35 (Cdn) after calling the local camera store to see if Super 8 film
was still available. Since the camera came with instructions, lens tissues,
macro titler, auxiliary slides, and the case, all I needed to add was
batteries, film, and direction! My initial filming centered on sailing. Kodachrome 40 held up beautifully
for the task. Brilliant blues and crisp whites filled the screen. Upon
bringing the tripod along for one trip (it did not cross my mind to
use a camera clamp!), the resulting film had the look of a scene out
of Gilligan's Island. With the camera held steady on the boat, it looked
as if someone was simply moving the background up, down, and all around!
Of course, I almost fell off the boat standing behind a tripod on the
foredeck with the boat heavily pitching and rolling! I have since filmed the sport of outrigger canoe paddling and flower
gardens at all times of the year. I have many, many more ideas than
time! Inspiration comes from anything and everything. Whether from
the introduction scenes of Melrose Place, Miami Vice, Kojak, Mannix,
drives through the country (or
city), or (best of all) TV commercials. MORE FILMING IDEAS AND HINTS Wet Conditions Advice: Invent your own underwater Plexiglas or Ziplock
bag housing. I priced an underwater bag at a couple of hundred dollars.
At that price, I would rather risk a cheap Kodak Super 8 camera and
use my talents to design a homebrew housing. More fun and more reliable.
If you are lucky enough to get a hold of the Eumig Nautica, it can
be used under ANY conditions. Skiing, surfing, sailing, wake boarding,
any water sport! The Nautica is rated for 40 metres (~120 feet)
and has performed flawlessly for me while skin diving the reefs of Fiji.
I dared to take it down 30 feet and had no worries. It even captured
two white-tipped reef sharks I happened upon! Just be sure to use lots
of silicone grease on the gasket. Oh, and watch for any open wounds,
you don't need to be attracting those sharks, now! Generally, I try to use a monopod or tripod at all times for filming
in Super 8. As the film is so small, every speck of grain (read: sharpness
- about 1200 lines of resolution) matters. I use a very small (4 tube)
Bogen monopod for regular shooting and a 6 foot tripod/pistol grip head
for serious still shooting. The monopod, when not touching the ground,
serves as a large pistol grip and allows me to pin it against my body
for extra support. I have added the Bogen shoulder rest adapter so that
I can lock the camera firmly to my body. Titles have included shooting laser printed transparencies mounted
to a 35mm slide and using scenic backgrounds in view. Still slides of
myself sailing overlaid with another clear slide with the words "Starring",
"All rights reserved", and the like helped the movies along for my captive
audience. Animated sequences of books coming out of the shelf to present
the title of the film (a.k.a. Masterpiece Theater introduction?), shooting
covers of sailing magazines to provide automatic dating and titling
in one scene are a couple of ideas. In retrospect, titles made upon
clear glass (coloured, too?) worked the best as the transparency often
showed much grain/clouding. You can get yourself into the movies either using a remote switch with
a hidden cord or using a camera like the Minolta XL601 that has a ten
second delay before the remote filming starts - it then runs for 10-20
seconds. Of course, having a friend film you would be the easiest. As for making still shots of your Super 8mm film frames, try using
a standard 35mm slide copier. My Nikon PB-6 bellows matched with a wide
angle (35mm, 28mm, or 24mm) reverse-mounted lens will allow plenty of
magnification to work towards filling the frame of a 35mm negative.
Just experiment with the lighting (flash works best) and use standard
100 or 200 ASA Kodak film. Just the regular priced film - no need to
use anything more expensive when making copies. Now you can promote
your next "no-budget feature" with 8x10 glossy prints! Also, don't be shy to rig some kind of remote electric trigger to some
of the cheaper cameras (especially Kodak models) which may not have
one. (Note, most of the Kodak cameras will not last much longer (see
my REPAIR section) but are fun to tinker with and learn about
how Super 8mm cameras work. I promise, if you tear one of these cheap
ones apart, you will probably know all you need to know about shutters
and film advancing. I am also looking into a way to re-shoot my movies using a combination
of a projector and an editor. I
read about it here. KEEPING IT CHEAP I buy almost all of my Super 8 cameras from any place other than a
camera store. Goodwill stores are excellent places along with Salvation
Army stores. Thrift stores are also excellent. Of course, flea markets,
garage sales, and word of mouth can produce many finds. Avoid antique
stores, as they tend to charge too much. Some of my purchases have included a K-Mart brand camera (made by GAF)
I picked up the aforementioned Eumig Nautica for $10.50 at the goodwill
store. It was still in the foam box. My Minolta's were purchased (rescued)
from two different goodwill stores. Total cost was $4.50 and $12.00!
How about a Sankyo XL40S for five bucks... Yes, no problem when you
shop at thrift stores. A GAF 805M (macro, sound, 60mm lens) for 19.95
and no tax...yes please... Just go to your local Salvation Army Store.
I also came into a Bolex 160 Macrozoom Super 8mm camera through my next
door neighbor. It came with instructions and the original Bolex case
along with a large, clear screen editor and the Bolex movie lamp. Before I forget, try to avoid Super 8mm cameras that use the almost
impossible to find PX-14 2.7V batteries. They are basically unavailable
in the US and Canada. In fact, I try to avoid any camera that takes
separate PX-13 (1.3V) or PX-14 batteries for the light meter. They tend
to be inaccurate or worse, non-functioning! If they do work, you will
always be wondering if that battery is still good the next time you
pull out your camera. Try to stay with cameras the rely solely on AA
batteries. The later Japanese and German cameras are best as these use
the AA batteries to power all of the camera's functions. Projectors are great thrift store finds. They average five to ten dollars,
sometimes up to $25. If you're lucky, the bulb will still work. I have
come into all of my projectors through auctions, thrift stores, flea
markets, and goodwill stores. I bought my first screen at a flea market
for ten dollars way back when but I would strongly suggest you purchase
this item new. They are not too expensive and are what the audience
must look at. And we do want our movies to look their best for our sometimes
not-so-willing audiences. Check out this complete Sankyo 'ES' model package: In my experience, cameras are the easiest things to find in the thrift
stores (Thrift/Goodwill/Sally-Anne's). Many times the original box and
instructions are included. Projectors are the next easiest things to
find in these shops. Viewers/editors are somewhat more difficult to
find. More often, you will see them at flea markets and garage sales.
Splicing equipment is next to impossible to come across except for the
omnipresent Kodak Presstape splicer (I finally found a mint condition,
still in the box, Bolex splicer which allows for the smoothest possible
cuts - see below "Splicing"). Reels are cheap enough to buy new at an
old-fashioned style camera store, and usually they are still in unopened
boxes. There is still new production of Super 8mm movie reels so don't
pay too much for "old" ones. Of course, all accessories I either make myself (remote switches, intervalometers,
etc.) or buy new/used from the camera store (frame counters/filters/lens
hoods/etc.) Here's something I am currently trying: A light-activated switch for
120v AC current to drive my cassette deck when my silent movie
projector flashes a clear frame after several seconds of black or white
leader. Clear film is simply overexposed film, as when changing cartridges
at the mid-way point. The circuit will be based on either a photo-transistor
or photo-resistor. The trick to this idea is to get the correct relay
that has a very fast reaction time and can handle the 120 V load. I
found that the flickering light from the projector's shutter affected
made the sensor trip the relay at 18fps! So, I am currently hooking
up a faster micro-relay and seeing if this makes a difference in performance.
Ultimately, as long as I have exactly the right amount of leader AFTER
the clear frame(s), the tape player can be used to have perfectly
synchronized sound! Keep your fingers crossed. Also, try making an electronic frame counter driven by the PC flash
connector found on many Super 8 cameras. Hint: Look through the latest
Radio Shack (97 or 98) catalog under "Counters" and rig something up...I
did just that... But now I have to perfect it for 36 fps since it can
only handle approximately 9 fps due to the pulse rate being too fast
for the counter's circuit. Perhaps if I hooked up a "divide by 10" circuit
the counter could handle the pulse... |
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MY
EXPERIENCE AND IDEAS
Water and Super 8: With my Eumig Nautica, I strap it to my one-man
outrigger canoe for self-filming. A small tripod head (Bogen 3009)
screwed near
the ama (or float) serves well for the purpose. Future additions will
include a servo-style rig to pan the camera while it is in a position
out of reach. I use the Bogen Super Clamp so that my Eumig can be attached
to the hull of the six-man canoe during the summer racing season.
Operation
of the camera is with a 20-foot air-bulb trigger. I simply step on
it when I want to shoot. Weight is an issue here so placement of
the camera
closer to the center of the canoe will help. Also, with only 3 1/3
minutes of film at a time (at 18 fps), planning of shots is critical
so as to
avoid opening the camera in risky (wet) conditions. Oh, in case anyone
understand Hawaiian, my canoe's name is Ki'i Oni Oni.
Here's
yours truly returning to shore after a 3 mile paddle. Note, the iaku's
(wood outrigger parts) are each drilled to offer various camera positions.
On this particular outing, I only shot about 20 seconds of film when
the water was glistening from the sun and wind.
at the local Salvation Army Store
for five dollars. At first I thought the camera was broken due to the
batteries having since grown into another lifeform in the battery compartment.
After much polishing the camera ran just fine. I found a second Focal
XL-303 (with a f1.1 lens) still in the original box for $6.50 on another
visit. It took two hours to get all the contacts cleaned but it is pristine
shape now. WD-40 is great for cleaning the plastic and chrome.
