A regular8 film test: tri-X underwater!

[hirudin]

Hi All!

Just got back my latest film, this one is a film test for an upcoming short film I'm working on... this was filmed over three dives and was intended to test framing, lighting and get my weighting correct... these dives were way off but I think I'm improving. They were scanned in SD and the vid is a rough cut, so there's plenty of issues.

Anyway, enjoy.

https://vimeo.com/61628293

Thanks!

-Jesse-

[Mana]

Beautifully sharp! Bet it looks great projected! Did you set the lens a f8 or something and zone focus?

[hirudin]

Thanks!

The lens was a 5.5mm preset Switar, and the focus was set to infinity at f2... at this setting the focus is about 2.2ft to infinity... awesome!

-Jesse-

[BAC]

That looks great Jesse, you're becoming the master of 8mm underwater photography! How deep can you go with that housing? I recently came across a Nemrod Siluro Underwater Camera that was made between 1960 and 1966. It's a medium format still camera. It has a port where you can pressurize it with a bicycle pump (very low pressure) so that you can detect leaks when you have it underwater. I haven't tested it yet but if it is leaking you will see bubbles. Does the Bolex housing have anything like that?

[hirudin]

Thanks, BAC!

This is the standard spring winding Bolex housing... it's very simple and solid as a rock; you can go 330ft, roughly 10 atmospheres, with it... I've taken it 160ft with no issue and plan to go 250ft in a week or so. There's no ability to pressurize the housing, just a clamp to keep the lid on.

-Jesse-

[Nicholas Kovats]

Superb, Jesse! I agree with the prior statement. You are now the pre-eminent 8mm underwater small format cinematographer! I really like the tonality of the white "cauliflower". I suspect you will enjoy the increased resolution of your forthcoming Bolex UltraPan8 2.8 camera in this underwater environment. As will I!

A thought. There has been no new b/w stock developed in the last 30-40 years. You may wish to consider shooting with the ultrafine grain of modern V3 color negatives and convert to b/w in post. "Control" was shot in this manner and the "b/w" cinematography was ethereal.

Great effort.

Nicholas

PS: By the way I really enjoyed your prior 8mm underwater hockey film.

[doug]

Great, Jesse ! It's strange we are all so used to colour for underwater movies yet monochrome can look beautiful. (Though I was brought up on Hans and Lotti Hass monochrome movies a long time ago )
I also have a Bolex housing, got on Ebay, that I intend to test out when the sea warms up a bit. So I'm glad to see your film as I was also thinking of filming with Tri-X. One of the seals leaks a bit, when I tried it in a bucket, but it might just need tightening. Hope so.

[hirudin]

Thanks Nicholas,

Yeah, I'll be shooting vision3 250D for principle photography, re-perfed by Edward Nowill. Even on my last project I noticed the difference between the colour and the b+w stock that went beyond the structural differences... it was jarring to go from one to the other, so I'll be keeping to the same stock at the same speed and simply modifying colour in post.

Very excited.

Doug, good luck with your housing... it's so much fun! Hope you can sort out the leak.

-Jesse-

[Nicholas Kovats]

Thats great, Jesse. I am looking forward to your 250D fooatge. Now I understand the context for your prior questions. May I ask how many feet you are ordering reperfed from Edward? Are you initially shipping the film from Kodak Canada to the UK? I have found a much cheaper alternative re: international shipping. You can order online via Stanley Productions in the UK. They are located fairly close to Edward in London with very reasonable local shipping. I recently purchased a 400ft roll of V3 200T form Stanley's. Edward has stated that Stanley's film stock prices are cheaper that Kodak UK.

They have Kodak V3 250D 400ft and 100ft single perf 16mm rolls and also 400ft rolls of Fuji ETERNA 250D. You could potentially roll down this roll into 100ft lengths for the Bolex UP8 cam yourself or request assistance from Cineworks in Vancouver (http://www.cineworks.ca/rentals/rates#equipment),

Here are the current offering I mentioned on Stanley's websitei.e.

http://www.stanleysonline.co.uk/product-3415.htm
http://www.stanleysonline.co.uk/product-4962.htm
http://www.stanleysonline.co.uk/product-4125.htm

Cheers!

Nicholas

[grainy]

beautiful footage.

[doug]

Thanks Jesse I was wondering, being a novice re underwater photography etc, if it's still possible to get seals or whatever for these old Bolex housings. :? But first I'll try the spanner. I aim to use a regular old H16 with the 10mm that I hope will connect to the controls. I agree, Nicholas, Stanleys are very good for film and fast delivery too in UK. Whereabouts did you make your film, Jesse ?

[Nicholas Kovats]

Doug,

Jesse appears to have been offline. He shot his footage in British Columbia on Canada's beautiful west coast (Pacific Ocean).

Regards,

Nicholas