Mekel camera results

[ECNtoo]

Has anyone seen the footage shot on the Mekels. I haven;t had a chance to although I hear they are gorgeous

[aj]

Which footage? Cann't see any links posted in the mekel related threads.

[S8 Booster]

Magic Alex ... the first one known to own a few posted - reluctantly - a comments about the results his shoots and his results was less than satisfactory. i have never since seen he or anybody else post any results or comments thereof.

it appears that the cam was never designed for "nice footage" at 25 fps but firstly stable images and stabler images at higher speeds.

without proper and continous servicing the cam mechanical wear should be quite high and the image stability and reliability will eventually suffer.

high money - high risk.

my 2 ¢


shoot.....

[Nicholas Kovats]

I aim to post footage once I get my 250fps SP1 to work.

Finally got a power cable built utilizing the very last Visual Instrumentation stock camera side connector available. Connected camera and dc/ac transformer and then nothing.

With help from VI ...I attempted some troubleshooting of a tiny trip lever which activates when a typical 50 ft cartridge has exhausted itself. No dice.

I am about to ship the camera Stateside to VI to have it fixed and perhaps get them to provide a more standardized c-mount lens plate as the camera came supplied with a customized c-mountish lens plate instead.

Hey Irish Tony...

Any luck in getting your newer SP1 unit up and running?

Were all anxious for some working footage.

[escubria]

it appears that the cam was never designed for "nice footage" at 25 fps but firstly stable images and stabler images at higher speeds.

without proper and continous servicing the cam mechanical wear should be quite high and the image stability and reliability will eventually suffer.

high money - high risk.

my 2 ¢


shoot.....

Jesus you make big assumptions without really having any experience of the cam, witnessed any footage or any apparent genuine knowledge of it at all.

The camera runs perfectly at 25fps to 300fps.

I know the cam cos I have one and believe me at 25fps, it's the best footage I've seen from a super 8. The reason I haven't posted any footage is I don't have any footage telecined which I'd like done professionally before I post anything.

On the maintenance side the manufacturer states in the manual that it is designed so simply that it never needs maintenance like a regular super 8 cam except, maybe, a speed callibration after every 50,000 ft of film has passed through! Other than that a drop of oil on the cam shaft maybe.

These camera are built like tanks.

[filman]

hey escubria!
i am just curious about this camera. i will telecine gratis a reel for you. my telecine setup frame by frame scan:Eumig projector Mark S802 with stepper motor , camera head Sony DXC 750P 2/3 " 3ccd+ AJA uncompressed converter10bit, capturemate . if you are interested e-mail me.
regards
Roberto

[S8 Booster]

it appears that the cam was never designed for "nice footage" at 25 fps but firstly stable images and stabler images at higher speeds.

without proper and continous servicing the cam mechanical wear should be quite high and the image stability and reliability will eventually suffer.

high money - high risk.

my 2 ¢


shoot.....

Jesus you make big assumptions without really having any experience of the cam, witnessed any footage or any apparent genuine knowledge of it at all.

The camera runs perfectly at 25fps to 300fps.

I know the cam cos I have one and believe me at 25fps, it's the best footage I've seen from a super 8. The reason I haven't posted any footage is I don't have any footage telecined which I'd like done professionally before I post anything.

On the maintenance side the manufacturer states in the manual that it is designed so simply that it never needs maintenance like a regular super 8 cam except, maybe, a speed callibration after every 50,000 ft of film has passed through! Other than that a drop of oil on the cam shaft maybe.

These camera are built like tanks.

nevertheless.. Magic Alex and others who tried to operate them got stuck in problems due to what i describe. the high fps rate wont do good and espcially with lack of proper maintenance/lubing.

iirc Alex had 5 of them and none were in operationable condition but he finally made 1 operational for testing - which apparently came out bad as he was very vague about the results and he never posted - even an image and that was not due to lack of transfer gear as Alex actually has stock piles of high end transfer gear as that was hist lovechild and reason for opening up his own forum on hostboard.com "Super 8 Filmmaking in The Digital Age".

feel free to dream on, read on or believe in god - if you think that beats reality. it is a matter of simple rule of mechanical engineering.

shoot......

[ECNtoo]

The issue of camera maintanence is a myth. The camera was designed for heavy usage with LITTLE maintatence. There are two spots that need to be done and can easily be handled by the operator. One is a small wick near the film gate where at most a drop of 3 in 1, yes as hard as it may be to believe, 3 in 1 oil goes after every few thousand feet. After about every 25,000 feet there needs to be about a quarter of a gram of Lubriplate 930a grease placed on one gear in the "electronics" area of the camera. These things were meant to make rock steady images for scientific purposes such as explosions, rockets, etc. They are made to withstand harsh environments and need little maintanence. As for analysis cameras having low standards of registration...it's quite the opposite. When shooting biomechanics and then digitizing references points frame by frame it would require the utmost accuracy for image registration. Understand what it takes to creat scientific data and then you will realise every other super8 camera other than the Mekel doesn't make the grade. And that is not an exageration.

[StoneBuilder]

I googled the Mekel Super8 camera - just 110 of them made with a maximum filming speed of 300fps and a safe maximum of 250fps. It looks like a dinosaur machine and my regards go to the enthusiasts that intend to keep a few of these cameras 'on the road'. If you put two people in a room they will disagree about some things and agree about others - that's just life!

[ECNtoo]

You googled the wrong camera. The one you found is the Polavision version that used Polaroid instant super8 film. It could go to 300fps. The super8 version was a small batch for sure but did 250 fps, although I have been told by one of the overseeing engineers on the project that the camera could go over 250fps providing it was setup to do so.

As for people disagreeing on points...that I understand. It's the lack of common sense that astonishes me. If pin (or claw) registration was ineffective, unreliable and a detriment then why is it used in 16mm and 35mm when the larger the format the lower the tolerances need to be?

As for the logic behind image analysis, why would scientists choose to use a systen that gives them poorer images when the equipment costs more? Sorry to say it but some people seem to have a tough time putting two and two together. It's one thing to see direct evidence that illustrates something is 'bad' but to make assumptions that counter general knowledge is bizzare.

[escubria]

nevertheless.. Magic Alex and others who tried to operate them got stuck in problems due to what i describe. the high fps rate wont do good and espcially with lack of proper maintenance/lubing.

iirc Alex had 5 of them and none were in operationable condition but he finally made 1 operational for testing - which apparently came out bad as he was very vague about the results and he never posted - even an image and that was not due to lack of transfer gear as Alex actually has stock piles of high end transfer gear as that was hist lovechild and reason for opening up his own forum on hostboard.com "Super 8 Filmmaking in The Digital Age".

feel free to dream on, read on or believe in god - if you think that beats reality. it is a matter of simple rule of mechanical engineering.

shoot......

Sorry, but who are these others you speak of other than Alex? As far as I know Alex owned 2 of these cameras and one of them works fine. You're basing a lot of your info on your own suppositions not "reality", which you seem to be an expert on.

You seem to think there's a conpiracy against you seeing any footage, talk about solipsism.

[escubria]

I googled the Mekel Super8 camera - just 110 of them made with a maximum filming speed of 300fps and a safe maximum of 250fps. It looks like a dinosaur machine and my regards go to the enthusiasts that intend to keep a few of these cameras 'on the road'. If you put two people in a room they will disagree about some things and agree about others - that's just life!

You googled the right camera and it's no dinosaur machine, it's more practical than any other super 8 cameras and smaller. It's more like a Fujica ZC1000 for adjustability and features, there's even a time-pulse led that can mark the film. Noother camera features that.

[christoph]

[..]there's even a time-pulse led that can mark the film. Noother camera features that.

very interesting!
on a rather strange coincidence, last week i was thinking about designing something similar that could be built into any super8 camera, ie a pulsing LED with an optical fibre that leads to the area next to the sprocket hole, which could be later on used for registration reference after transfer.

++ christoph

[MovieStuff]

[..]there's even a time-pulse led that can mark the film. Noother camera features that.

very interesting!
on a rather strange coincidence, last week i was thinking about designing something similar that could be built into any super8 camera, ie a pulsing LED with an optical fibre that leads to the area next to the sprocket hole, which could be later on used for registration reference after transfer.

++ christoph

Great minds think alike, apparently. I had considered something like that, as well. It seems to me that you might not even have to pulse the LED. If the exposure level is right, there is a high chance that the LED will only make an imprint when the film is stationary. The LED could be on the whole time the film is running, though pulsing the LED wouldn't be hard, of course. Also, waiting until the film is totally stationary before imprinting the registration mark with the LED probably would be more accurate than letting the film settle to build up the exposure from the LED.

Roger

[christoph]

It seems to me that you might not even have to pulse the LED. If the exposure level is right, there is a high chance that the LED will only make an imprint when the film is stationary. The LED could be on the whole time the film is running, though pulsing the LED wouldn't be hard, of course.

yeah, my first thought was about a "always-on" LED as well, but then i thought that pulsing it would have some advantages (less risk of fogging is the film gets stopped, better accurancy, even longer battery live ;) and doesnt add a lot of complexity..

the whole thing started over a year back when i considered filing registration marks into the gate that would give some exposed edges (i think we even discussed this on the forum), but obviously this wouldn't work well on dark scenes...
then i thought about LEDs but was afraid of fogging, then i had the idea about hiding the LED in the camera body, drilling a tiny hole and drilling a tiny hole next to the perforation into the gate.

looks simple on paper but of course it will take me another year to finish, like all my projects ;)
++ christoph