newbie with a few questions

[bmxvideoman]

ive been shooting and editing bmx videos for a while with dv and i decided to play around with super 8. where is the best lab for developing and transffering super 8 to dv? also do u lose any quality when u transfer super 8 to dv? what is the standard fps for film? thanks for the help

[Pedro]

Developing should only be done at Kodak, when using the common K40 Kodachrome stock. This color reversal stock usually includes developing and you can project directy the returned rolls.
Transfer depends on your local possibilities, the amount of money you want to spend and what quality you are expecting. A good solution seems to be the workprinter.
Quality you always will have when transfering or copying/printing any S8 footage. It really looks best in projection on the big screen.
The point is, that chemical film, even at that tiny gauge, is superior to existing video systems. It has more resolution, reproduces more colors and mid tones and it has more contrast. Any transfer reduces the quality the the max. quality of the new media to where you transfer. Your transfer f.e. won´t show you that detailed structured trees and leafes in the background you can see when projecting, they will appear as a nearly homogene green area, as with any video system.
When planning to transfer, you can limit the captured contrast right during shooting. As chemical reversal film stock can capture more than the double amount of contrast as electonic registration, this is one of the main problems for transfering films.
But on the other hand, the projected film lives of these contrasts. Playing around with the max contrast range of the stock makes the result looking 3-dimensional and crisp. The neccessary flat contrast for a technical good transfer will show a more flat result.

So, when playing around with the sytem, it is interesting to have a look at the big screen as well and not "only" transfer and be satisfyed with the transfered thing.

Pedro

[Arnie]

Some Super 8 cameras shoot only at 18 frames per second. But many can also shoot at 24 fps, the standard used in big productions. When you transfer to video, especially if you need to sync sound, it's really important you find a transfer place that can transfer at the frame rate you shot in. Many places transfer at 20 fps, which would be slightly to fast if shot at 18 or too slow if the movie was originally shot at 24 frames per second.
Hope this helps with your frame rate question!
Arnie.