Help! My newbie brain hurts (Quarzchrome notch question)

[namke]

Ok, so I just got three rolls of Quarzchrome from the Widescreen Centre, and popped it into my GAF 738.

I am now confused about the notching of the cartridge...

The film (as you will probably know) is rated at 50 ASA, however - if I understand the notching correctly - the notch cut into the cartridge indicates that the cartridge is 160ASA (Looking at photos elsewhere on the forum).
The 85 filter is pushed aside though.

Surely the film will underexpose quite severely. Of course I could (should!) use a lightmeter, but I just want to get this straight in my head!!

I was hoping to pop out this evening and do some test shooting, but it's now getting too dark I think...

john..

[leadlike]

You are quite right about the notching being wrong-perhaps russian cameras used a different system? At any rate, use some heavy tape or whatever to make the quarzchrome notch match the notch on a cart of kodachrome (asa 40, but with this film having expired in the early 90s, it's usually best to compensate for that by dropping the effective asa a bit), and you'll be good to shoot! This is what I have done with my quarzchrome carts, and they come out looking great!

[namke]

You are quite right about the notching being wrong-perhaps russian cameras used a different system? At any rate, use some heavy tape or whatever to make the quarzchrome notch match the notch on a cart of kodachrome (asa 40, but with this film having expired in the early 90s, it's usually best to compensate for that by dropping the effective asa a bit), and you'll be good to shoot! This is what I have done with my quarzchrome carts, and they come out looking great!

Now that I can understand Thank you for being so clear and concise!

Just to clarify (for my own understanding): basically, as the distance between the registration pin and the notch start increases, the ASA reduces?

cheers,

john..

[jpolzfuss]

Hi,

this link (or the links on that page) should answer that question:
http://super8wiki.com/index.php/Super_8 ... otch_Ruler

Jörg

[namke]

yeah, I think I've sorted it now... I've made up a small shim (a thin piece of plastic) and sellotaped it in place. The film is now recognised as ASA 40 I think

In fact the image of the GAF 738 over on the Super8Wiki is mine...

john..

[Fergus J. Ó MaoilEoin]

I'm not trying to cause confusion, but I've shot this stuff as-is using autoexposure (40ASA) and have not had any problems. The picture was perfectly alright, exposure-wise. I surely can't be the only one. Has anyone shot for both ratings and made a comparison?

[leadlike]

I made a post on this a while back, basically asking the same question namke asked; and I got a couple of responses back from folks saying that was why their footage was coming back looking so bad, due to the underexposure. We loaded an unaltered cart into my friend's canon 814, and it was indeed reading it at 160 when we matched it up against our hand held light meters.

[namke]

I'm not trying to cause confusion, but I've shot this stuff as-is using autoexposure (40ASA) and have not had any problems.

Perhaps I'm, reading the notch ruler incorrectly - as far as I understand, the large notch on the Quarzchrome cartridge makes my GAF think the film is 100 ASA... I have basically reduced the slot by 0.2 inches (making the camera think it's 40ASA.

I guess I'll just shoot it and see what happens

john..

(I know that this has been discussed before, but I couldn't quite get my newbie brain around the previous forum discussions... so apologies for bringing it up again!)

[Guy Bennett]

Do most labs process this film, or does one have to send it back to the Widescreen Center for processing? I was just there last week and had planned to buy some to try it out, but then decided against it because I wasn't sure I could get it processed in my local labs.

[Angus]

I've never tapedup my "Quarzchrome" carts, always used auto exposure as-is and apart from the fact that some of this film seems fogged my results are usually quite good. So I am not convinced that the notch is incorrect, but it would certainly be interesting if it were so.

The Widescreen Centre will forward your film to Andec in Berlin for processing, but any lab geared up to take super 8 B&W reversal (eg Super 8 lab Netherlands) can do it. I think the Widescreen Centre currently has a deal on processing so sending direct to Andec might not be an advantage.

I understand home processors have used the same process as the old tri-x but Andec has always processed this film on a different day to the tri-x so I suspect they do something different with it.

[Guy Bennett]

Thanks Angus.

[timdrage]

I'm not trying to cause confusion, but I've shot this stuff as-is using autoexposure (40ASA) and have not had any problems.

Same here... the black in most Quarzchrome i've shot is usually more like gray due to fogging i suppose, but it's never been overexposed particularly.

[namke]

I'm not trying to cause confusion, but I've shot this stuff as-is using autoexposure (40ASA) and have not had any problems.

Same here... the black in most Quarzchrome i've shot is usually more like gray due to fogging i suppose, but it's never been overexposed particularly.

But by my understanding, the notch 'as is' would make the auto-circuitry in the camera believe that the film is 100 ASA daylight, and therefore would underexpose???

john..

[Fergus J. Ó MaoilEoin]

I understand home processors have used the same process as the old tri-x but Andec has always processed this film on a different day to the tri-x so I suspect they do something different with it.

Of the five rolls I've shot of this, three have been processed by Andec via Widescreen, and two by Frank Bruinsma. The latter rolls looked much better than the Andec ones, which were slightly fogged. However, they did come from different batches (expiry dates one month apart).