My First Super8 Wedding Film

[Richard Alvarez]

Jim, he said he had it transfered by Pro8 which is in Burbank. It's also who he bought his camera from. They sell refurbished, re-fit Super 8 cameras - filmstock, and do transfers. http://www.pro8mm.com/main.php

[Jason Magbanua]

Originally Posted by Richard Alvarez

Some advice on setting the diopter.

Aim the camera at the sky (preferably on a cloudy overcast day.) Set the lens to infinity. Rotate the diopter until you see the grain on the focusing screen pop into and out of focus, then back. You want the diopter set so that your eyes are focusson ON the screen - since that is where the image is focused. If the camera has a splt screen center point you will see that pop into focus.

Then it's set.

Super 8 look can be simulated in post by adding those qualities that make film look TERRIBLE. IE: Too much grain, jitter, scratches, dust etc. This usually creates the mental impression of "Oh, I remember how bad those old films looked in the garrage..." hence the nostagia factors.

The film latitude, color balance and gamma response are MUCH trickier to emmulate, (even if it's super 8) that's why there are whole forums dedicated to getting 'the film look' ;)

(Yeah I own a half dozen nice super 8 cams, projectors and editor/viewers... I can't bring myself to part with them.)


By the way,, I thought you did an EXCELLENT job cutting this piece together. Made me want to go out and shoot some film today.

Thanks Richard for taking the time out to answer our colleague's questions (been offline the past weekend).

Amazing diopter tip. Thanks for that and thanks for watching.

The most exciting thing about shooting super 8 is experimenting with various film stock to achieve a particular look.

[Richard Alvarez]

Yeah, the point of the diopter is to correct your eye so that it can focus on the SCREEN which is the target for the lens. I do effectively the same thing with the diopters on my XL-2 viewfinders I look at TEXT MENU on the little screen, and focus the diopter on that. That way I know my eye is looking at the screen correctly.

I think I'm going to order some negative stock, and go shoot some stuff next month. Should be fun. I have to pull out the old Sankyo EM60xl.

[Robert Dombaj]

Jason,
I enjoyed your film. I think the song was fitting for the style and look. What song did you use?

Robert

Originally Posted by Jason Magbanua

cross-posting from another forum ...

www.jmagbanua.com/vids/hannah_rob_super8.wmv

So I got the package from Pro8 through Fedex yesterday and wasted no time putting this video together. I was THAT excited.

I shot this on an Canon 814XLS, I had ten rolls during that wedding and used a total of eight. The first half was mostly ASA500 tungsten balanced (Fuji Eterna) and the remainder was asa 250. It is going to be fun and challenging learning what kind of film gives what kind of look.

I had a lot of fun shooting that day, perhaps primarily because I wasn't shooting in the capacity of an official videographer. The noise from the camera was not at all loud. Of course the first roll elicited laughs and smiles from my colleagues but they got used to it pretty soon.

This was shot on auto exposure. Looking at my footage, I started to figure out where I may use manual iris control (strong llight sources during the first dance).

The most difficult thing was focusing. I have yet to perfect the diopter setting. After a while, the viewfinder would dig in to my eyes (hurts!). I hope somebody can suggest a solution for this.

My camera is a LOT more expensive than what can usually be found on ebay. I was a first timer and I didn't want to gamble. I needed to know that my camera was in pristine condition. If the footage screwed up, I would know I was the one who screwed up. The cam came with a Tiffen owarming filter, a sparse manual, and foam all shipped in a nice pelican case. The cam also came from Pro8. It runs with 4 AAs and a small dry cell for the meter.

Although I have no basis for comparison, I found the transfer very very clean.

I just wanted to share how stoked I am for being able to actually shoot a product with the kind of grain, saturation, mood that I take pains to achieve with video. The "film clutter" wasn't even added, it was there in the first place.

Thanks for watching.