Cine camera, super 8 help

[mondo77]

It's nice to see this thread transform into a way to modify carts.

Getting back to the original request for advice: the Canon 310XL is a good secondary camera (f1.0!!!), but will be a frustrating starter camera because of it's focusing system- which is purely "guestimate", with no split image finder.

It's nice to be able to actually see that you're shot is in focus when you are a new filmmaker.

I'd agree with the last sentence but I've always found it VERY hard to shoot out of focus footage on the 310 XL. Way easier to get it in focus.

[vidwerk]

I rarely have issues with its focus myself. I think it'll only pose a problem when your zoomed in while shooting in dark conditions.

vidwerk.

[Jim Carlile]

Get a Kodak M2. Manual exposure, simple, great results.

For a starter, I would also recommend the Elmo sound cameras-- the 350SL, or the 230, 240, 260s. Good, solid, cheap, available everywhere, they will meter Tri-X well. With a little exposure adjustment they will also run Plus-X.

The camera you get will determine which B/W film stock to use. Too complicated to get into right now, but after you get the camera, then query which stock to buy.

Elmo sound cameras are great beginner's cameras, and they are terrifically underrated. They have a nice heft, too. The 350SL is fantastic.

[alex-rus]

Maybe these all are good but you still can get the 814 AZ for a cheap

[Mr Blackstock]

A good focusing trick that works well for me: before rolling the film, zoom in fully on the object, adjust focus till its clear, then zoom out to what ever focal length you want to shoot with, then roll camera.

if the object you are filming is going to be moving around alot, focus the camera to infinity, then as far as i can recall everything (to a degree) should be in focus.

other members might have more accurate advice, but this technique seems to work fine with my cameras.

cheers

[MIKI-814]

if the object you are filming is going to be moving around alot, focus the camera to infinity, then as far as i can recall everything (to a degree) should be in focus.

I find this a bit optimistic...

[Mr Blackstock]

Optimistic how?

I have shot very little footage that has returned out of focus. unless a person wants to follow focus and risk the object coming in and out of focus, infinity, for me, has worked very well.

[mondo77]

Optimistic how?

I have shot very little footage that has returned out of focus. unless a person wants to follow focus and risk the object coming in and out of focus, infinity, for me, has worked very well.

I don't know if we're talking ALL cameras or the 310XL only. I had this debate with myself when shooting a rock band with a Nizo 156 XL. It was too dark to focus properly and I wasn't sure where to set focus so I put it at infinity and everything came back in focus (bar a few shots of the drummer which were still in focus enough to be useable). I then thought why not just keep it set at infinity the whole time. I talked myself out of this.

However, with the 310XL I noticed it's possible in most lighting conditions(even without the WA adaptor) presumably due to the large DOF at the wide end of the lens plus the fastness of the lens to just set at infinity and treat it as focus free. Hardly anything I've shot this way with this cam ever comes back out of focus. In fact my main complaint is how hard it is to blur backgrounds with this cam