My love hate with K-40
Moderator: Andreas Wideroe
My love hate with K-40
I got 3 rolls of K-40 back today. now that we are in the dead of dreary winter, the day is over by 2:30pm up here in the Pacific NW.. reminding me of K-40's limmitations as a slow ass film. we shot around noon and about half of the 3 rolls were too dark. I need to stick with an XL camera 220 shutter to get decent results from now on. too bad 100D won't be out untill AFTER winter, if at all. so instead of hybernating or trying to make due with K-40, i've ordered 400ft of 16mm 100D that I plan too shoot and project in the upcoming weeks. will post results when it happens 8)
Re: My love hate with K-40
I know it's expensive, but I bet the faster Vision2 neg stocks would be really nice to use on those dreary afternoons... But I guess you want to *project* this stuff, like on film and all.T-Scan wrote:I got 3 rolls of K-40 back today. now that we are in the dead of dreary winter, the day is over by 2:30pm up here in the Pacific NW.. reminding me of K-40's limmitations as a slow ass film. we shot around noon and about half of the 3 rolls were too dark. I need to stick with an XL camera 220 shutter to get decent results from now on. too bad 100D won't be out untill AFTER winter, if at all. so instead of hybernating or trying to make due with K-40, i've ordered 400ft of 16mm 100D that I plan too shoot and project in the upcoming weeks. will post results when it happens 8)
7217 is pretty awsome up here in daylight at 125ASA. I've been experimenting with DIY transfers and color correction on that note. I suggest anyone with a Work Printer do the same, for the grain is about par with K-40, sharper and the latitude is so nice. but i'm also excited too see what the 100D can do. I want to start with reversal in 16mm for low budget experimenting. I'm surprised it seems no one is shooting 100D in 16mm over K-40.. it looks amazing from what i've seen of it. I know its only available in 400ft and 200ft A-Minima, but Forde Labs will spool it for you for like $3 per spool.
Tscan,
If you shoot reversal 16mm I will extend the same offer I gave Jack.
I'll transfer it for free. I am trying to catch up, so that I can use my
Scoopic. I need to take the lens apart because the focus ring is
stuck, and I need to buy the battery holder that one of the guys
talked about. I became side tracked trying to write some dust busting
software using gimp. I think some of the particulate that I get is from
the film itself. I find tiny slivers of amber particulate near the light bulb
after transfering a large quanity of film.
I have a three light kit with soft boxes and barn doors, but I need to
get a better light meter.
Stoney
If you shoot reversal 16mm I will extend the same offer I gave Jack.
I'll transfer it for free. I am trying to catch up, so that I can use my
Scoopic. I need to take the lens apart because the focus ring is
stuck, and I need to buy the battery holder that one of the guys
talked about. I became side tracked trying to write some dust busting
software using gimp. I think some of the particulate that I get is from
the film itself. I find tiny slivers of amber particulate near the light bulb
after transfering a large quanity of film.
I have a three light kit with soft boxes and barn doors, but I need to
get a better light meter.
Stoney
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scottbobo2
- Posts: 70
- Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2004 9:09 pm
- Contact:
I truly wonder about the f-stop you are using or what camera because.In New york it is dark in the winter by 4:30pm and I get great full results with K-40 even at 5:00pm. I just posted a big praise to Dwanye Photo for the excellent results I got shooting in many different lighting situations.(At times practically no light at all with K-40.)
If your rolls are dark at 12noon something is wrong and it is not K-40. I feel from my experiences, K-40 is the BEST super 8 stock. P.S .....my camera is not an xl and I even shoot K-40 at night with surprising results..........Long live k-40 ... long live k-40 ....long live k-40
I've shot the negative super 8 stock and I'll take K-40 over them all right now.
If your rolls are dark at 12noon something is wrong and it is not K-40. I feel from my experiences, K-40 is the BEST super 8 stock. P.S .....my camera is not an xl and I even shoot K-40 at night with surprising results..........Long live k-40 ... long live k-40 ....long live k-40
I've shot the negative super 8 stock and I'll take K-40 over them all right now.
I was going to post something about K-40, but from looking at my setup I realised that using K-40 with a 1.8f stop, a daylight filter, anamorf lense and my prefered solariser filter I have an effective ASA of around 10. No wonder I get so varied results from the stock, I can see every bird that's moving across the sky. And I'm living in northen europe, where this time of year we have to have lights on inside the houses at daytime...
Am I just too lazy to not get good results from this stock?
Will I find more pleasure in other stocks with wider latitude, as Nigel suggests?
Is there really something wrong with the shooter, as Super8Booster says, since I'm not getting the results I wanted?
Will using negative film with wider latitude make me bother less with correct exposure, since I will always get decent results?
Is K-40 the "real" stock and other new stocks just too easy?
I don't know the answers. But I know that it's more easy to get good results with the new negative stock.s K-40 has for me proven to be the home movie maker stock, that has some obvious good looks, but never quite performs where you want it to.
michael
Am I just too lazy to not get good results from this stock?
Will I find more pleasure in other stocks with wider latitude, as Nigel suggests?
Is there really something wrong with the shooter, as Super8Booster says, since I'm not getting the results I wanted?
Will using negative film with wider latitude make me bother less with correct exposure, since I will always get decent results?
Is K-40 the "real" stock and other new stocks just too easy?
I don't know the answers. But I know that it's more easy to get good results with the new negative stock.s K-40 has for me proven to be the home movie maker stock, that has some obvious good looks, but never quite performs where you want it to.
michael
I did get some beautiful exposures that day in wide open daylight overcast, but its expusure limitations and narrow latatude come crashing in very easily if you reach into any shadey areas. I was using a 1014E at 24fps.. forget about slow motion, even at 1.4 in open light. K-40 can look extremely well, or it can look like crap. I will retire my 1014 for the winter and stick with a 220 shutter XL lense with K-40.scottbobo2 wrote:I truly wonder about the f-stop you are using or what camera because.In New york it is dark in the winter by 4:30pm and I get great full results with K-40 even at 5:00pm. I just posted a big praise to Dwanye Photo for the excellent results I got shooting in many different lighting situations.(At times practically no light at all with K-40.)
If your rolls are dark at 12noon something is wrong and it is not K-40. I feel from my experiences, K-40 is the BEST super 8 stock. P.S .....my camera is not an xl and I even shoot K-40 at night with surprising results..........Long live k-40 ... long live k-40 ....long live k-40
I've shot the negative super 8 stock and I'll take K-40 over them all right now.
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scottbobo2
- Posts: 70
- Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2004 9:09 pm
- Contact:
I dont claim to have the answers to all your questions but I do feel that K-40 is not a lazy shooters stock. I have even seen some 35mm shooters taken back to school with this stock. K-40 in my opinion is like the beautiful girl that you must treat right every single time and if you do her wrong even once ,no matter how much she loves her, Bang!!bad results.
Everything must be right every time, then she'll leave you with footage saying"WOW,she looks like 16mm!.
LOVE HER BUT TREAT HER RIGHT EVERYTIME.SHE HAS A SHORT MEMORY
Everything must be right every time, then she'll leave you with footage saying"WOW,she looks like 16mm!.
LOVE HER BUT TREAT HER RIGHT EVERYTIME.SHE HAS A SHORT MEMORY
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Alex
I camera assisted on a Super-8 film in the early 90's and I realized how troublesome shooting with K-40 was for the situation we were in.
We were shooting campground scenery on a small plot of land in the Topanga Canyon mountains in Los Angeles. The problem was the land was sloped downwards and we were shooting on the bottom part of the land. We were of course surrounded by trees AND we were shooting in the fall and winter seasons.
This is absolutely the worst secenario for Kodachrome 40 because not only do the surrounding trees create contrast, so does the fact we were shooting in the lowest part of the plot of land. Then factor in it was winter and the sun was further south in the sky and in essence "lower" in the sky, which made the already unnacceptable contrast even more contrasty.
Now if we had been on a mountaintop with a view, then the Kodachrome 40 would have been spectacular. But if we had the money to pay for the ideal location in which the Kodachrome would have looked spectacular rather than grab at what was available for free, then perhaps there is also the money to shoot it in 16mm or 35mm.
What plagues Super-8 perhaps most of all is as a specific filming location is found to be film friendly, then why not go the extra step and film it in a bigger format? Some of the best locations for Super-8 are wide open locations with deep rich blue sky backgrounds, but if one is going to go a great distance to shoot in these types of locations, then why not spend a bit more money and shoot in 16mm or 35mm since money, time and effort are already being spent by going to the remote location in the first place.
I wouldn't hesitate to shoot Super-8 in that type of environment, but I would never have the time to leave for a few days to do such shooting if the money was coming out of my own pocket initially.
If you can find Super-8 features such as Kung Fu Rascals, Games of Survival, or a Polish Vampire in Burbank, check out how beautful the blue sky backgrounds look and how beautiful the kodachrome 40 look is in general.
We were shooting campground scenery on a small plot of land in the Topanga Canyon mountains in Los Angeles. The problem was the land was sloped downwards and we were shooting on the bottom part of the land. We were of course surrounded by trees AND we were shooting in the fall and winter seasons.
This is absolutely the worst secenario for Kodachrome 40 because not only do the surrounding trees create contrast, so does the fact we were shooting in the lowest part of the plot of land. Then factor in it was winter and the sun was further south in the sky and in essence "lower" in the sky, which made the already unnacceptable contrast even more contrasty.
Now if we had been on a mountaintop with a view, then the Kodachrome 40 would have been spectacular. But if we had the money to pay for the ideal location in which the Kodachrome would have looked spectacular rather than grab at what was available for free, then perhaps there is also the money to shoot it in 16mm or 35mm.
What plagues Super-8 perhaps most of all is as a specific filming location is found to be film friendly, then why not go the extra step and film it in a bigger format? Some of the best locations for Super-8 are wide open locations with deep rich blue sky backgrounds, but if one is going to go a great distance to shoot in these types of locations, then why not spend a bit more money and shoot in 16mm or 35mm since money, time and effort are already being spent by going to the remote location in the first place.
I wouldn't hesitate to shoot Super-8 in that type of environment, but I would never have the time to leave for a few days to do such shooting if the money was coming out of my own pocket initially.
If you can find Super-8 features such as Kung Fu Rascals, Games of Survival, or a Polish Vampire in Burbank, check out how beautful the blue sky backgrounds look and how beautiful the kodachrome 40 look is in general.
I headed out again today at 11am to the countryside. ended up shooting 2 rolls of Plus X and a half roll of K-40 based on conditions. I have figured out a way to make the sun and clouds do the opposite of what you want.. pull out some K-40 and Presto! Today I made a rainbow disappear, and a beautifully lit spinich field turn to gloom by pulling off the road and setting up.. i'm not griping! just being sinicle toward why good shots are priceless. had a great time today. we did some stop motion goofball stuff and interesting rural footage on the Plus X.
