Eumig C3 and regular 8 purchasing and processing

[BetterSense]

This is the camera
http://www.franckh.be/Collection/Eumig/en_Eumig_C3.html

I have some noob questions about Regular 8. I'm an experienced B&W still photographer/printer but don't know much about film.I googled around, but in niche fields I have never found as good of information via searching as by asking the people involved--they always know better than search engines.

I inherited this Eumig C3 camera years ago, and I thought it was broken because the viewfinder meter needle seemed stuck. I recently got it out and it maybe the needle has unstuck itself....it moves now. Even if not, I now know enough to calculate exposure with a separate lightmeter if the light is even. I have a video camera but I never use it; it does not interest me. It seems my motion-picture sensibilities are following in the footsteps of my still photography ones.

My wife and I are going on a vacation this weekend and I now all of a sudden I want to bring the 8mm camera. I have acquired a new-looking Kodak Brownie 500 projector. What I need now is a spool of film, and processing.

First of all, do you have any reason to suppose this camera doesn't work? It runs. Do I need to do anything special that I can't read about in the manual?

Second, where's a good place to buy regular 8 stock, and what's a good one? I don't have a preference for color or B&W right now. I also need processing; I can find people via google that claim to process, but I don't know if they are trustworthy.

Third, is it a simple matter to process reversal B&W? I have all the chemicals for still photography; if it's a simple matter of buying some bleach and turning the lights on at a certain point I can handle that.

Finally, basic cinematography tips, so that I don't act like a total hack, or waste film might be a good idea.

[Ektagraphic]

If you can wind up the camera and press the shutter button and it sound like it is working...it most likely works. You can buy regular 8 from Dwayne's Photo (dwaynesphoto.com) and you can also send it back there to be processed. If you need it for the weekend, you can call them with your credit card. Dwayne's will only handle color. If you are looking black and white, you can buy Foma R100 from Freestyle Photo (freestylephoto.biz). It is out of stock right now. I have a local place, The Cine Lab (thecinelab.com) and I bet you can mail your film to them no problem. They are the guys for Black and White. They will only do black and white. As far as exposure goes, keep the camera at 18 or 24 fps (frames per second) and estimate the aperature. I have an exposure guide that came with one of my cameras that I have typed up and I can put it up here if you would like. Please let me know if I can be of any other assistance.

[BetterSense]

The exposure guide would be good I think. The users manual says that 16fps corresponds to 1/36 of a second. I could do the math to figure out the shutter angle I guess. Do you recommend shooting at 18fps? It seems like the FPS on this camera is steplessly adjustable from 8 to 30 some with a mark for 16 in the middle. I had planned on shooting at 16, thinking that must be the normal FPS for regular 8.

I think the meter on this camera is pretty much conked out so I'm left with metering separately. If the aperture settings on the camera are accurate, it shouldn't be a problem, but there's only one way to find that out.

Can I send color or B&W film to fuji labs through wal-mart? I send my slides in that way. I have heard they take Super 8, but I'm not sure about regular 8.

I'll probably call Dwayne's tomorrow. I guess I will be going with color since I need it on such a short notice.

[Ektagraphic]

You can send color through the Fuji WalMart service, but not black and white. I will put the exposure guide here for you later on today.

[marc]

Does target still accept super or regular 8mm?

[BetterSense]

I know that my local Target does not. It seems they no longer send film out anymore. I use them a lot for in-store C41, but that's apparently all they can do, APS or 35mm C41. I'm not sure about other targets though.

I bought a roll of 100 speed Ektachrome from Dwayne's today, it was $17. I hope it is here by the weekend. According to their website Dwayne's charges $12 for processing; does anyone know how much it costs to send to Fuji through walmart? It's always a mystery with anything but common print film, because the store staff never know the pricing information for anything else.

[Ektagraphic]

Trough WalMart it is $6.98 per roll.

8MM EXPOSURE
f-1.9 HEAVY SHADE BRIGHT INTERIORS
f-2.7 VERY DULL
f-3.5 DULL DAYS
f-4 OPEN SHADE
f-5.6 HAZY SUNLIGHT
f-8 WINTER SCENES IN BRIGHT SUNLIGHT
f-11 SUMMER SCENES IN BRIGHT SUNLIGHT
f-16 BRILLIANT-MARINE SCENES

I hope this helps.

[ricohmite]

It is a bit tricky for me to use current regular 8 stock in old cameras. The index above I believe is for ASA 25 film (old Kodachrome 40 shot in daylight). To use with ASA 100 film you have to close the camera down an additional 2 stops. The problem is that many of the old cameras only stop down to f/16 which makes shooting under normal full daylight almost impossible. Filters or even step down ND filters are very difficult to find. When buying an old 8mm camera look for one with a variable shutter or whose lens goes down to at least f/22.

[BetterSense]

Yes, I have already considered that I will need at least 2 stops of ND filtration for daylight shooting. Preferably more like 4. I had been planning on using my green X1 filter which is a good 2 stops of attenuation, but now that I got color film, the only ND filter I have is a circular polarizer which is just over 1 stop. So I need to buy a ND filter locally or bust the lens out of a pair of cheap sunglasses...when it comes to hacking, I ain't skeered. Of course the filters don't fit, but that's nothing that tape, rubber bands, and/or rubber cement can't fix.

The upside of fast film is that shooting in low light gets that much easier, if you just take the filters off.

[Jim Carlile]

It is a bit tricky for me to use current regular 8 stock in old cameras. The index above I believe is for ASA 25 film (old Kodachrome 40 shot in daylight). To use with ASA 100 film you have to close the camera down an additional 2 stops. The problem is that many of the old cameras only stop down to f/16 which makes shooting under normal full daylight almost impossible. Filters or even step down ND filters are very difficult to find. When buying an old 8mm camera look for one with a variable shutter or whose lens goes down to at least f/22.

No, just use a cheap gelatin ND filter. Cut it to size and tape it over the lens. Here's a secret source:

http://www.glennview.com/filters.htm

[71er]

I own a Eumig C3 that was purchased in the 50's by my grandparents and then passed on to my parents. It was in use until the late 70's and produced some great footage of my family. Now that got in my hands I tried to get hold of an instruction manual and I did find one on the internet. I printed it out but unfortunately I don't remember the site. But obviously there was some correction added, which reads: "Attention: The pointer may occasionally stick on one side or the other, if the diaphragm opening differs greatly from the prevailing light conditions. It may be freed by tapping the side of the camera sharply with one finger, the diaphragm lever meanwhile being set at the middle of the scale between 2.7 and 4"
I can confirm this, my camera acts exactly like that. I haven't filmed with it yet, but I'm planning to. I do film with other Standard 8 cameras and I'm using Foma and Kahl film stock; both I purchase in Germany. Foma is for self developing and the Kahl includes developing. Kahl has b/w and colour 50 ASA films that can be set correctly on the C3 (setting "E"); but 100 ASA should also be no problem: you set it on "E" and the light meter needle should be set on the left edge of the inner square.
If you film on 16 fps and you have a projector that can only do 18 fps you will sometimes notice that people move a bit slowly, but it is not disturbing. I don't know whether you can set the C3 accurately enough that it does about 18 fps as the scale is not linear.
However, a great camera and I wish you loads of fun with it!

[8mm]

Se the "Filmmaking" section in this forum under "Old time silent movie" there is a movie I made with the exact same camera model Eumig C3 using Fomapan stock. Foma, the manufactor of Fomapan, also supplie a prosessing kit with the nessecery chemicals for processing. I have never processed the film myself so I dont know exactly how it works. I buy my films from here:
http://www.wittner-kinotechnik.de/katal ... _filmm.php
And have them processed at this laboratory: http://www.super8.nl/english/e_index.htm
Using a filter is a good idea. I havn´t had a filter for my C3 and the pictures is a little overexposed in broad daylight. The exposure meter in my camera works, but you have to gently tapp it a little on the side of the wievfinder becouse the needle tends to stuck. 16 fps is the standard speed of regular 8 so any projector of that type should handel it. Good luck filming!

[BetterSense]

Good to know about the meter. It might be in better shape than I think because up till now i'd been testing it inside by pointing the camera and bright lights and things, and noticing the sticky behavior. Maybe I should take it outside.

The Foma film that comes with chemicals looks cool to me. I have been on APUG discussing a way to develop PlusX reversal with D76 and sodium dichromate bleach. I would like to be able to develop myself because it would be cheaper and faster.

[BetterSense]

I just watched the Bike Napper. It didn't look to bad to me, exposure-wise. If you don't mind my asking, how did you get it to video?

[8mm]

When we filmed the Bike Napper, we tried not to film in the sunniest times of the day but tried to film on the afternoon and around sunset so this particular film don´t have that kind of over exposure. But the film´s that I have taken in the real sunniest times is a bit overexposed but still watchable. The fomapan film can be under exposed with tow steps and over exposed with one step without making any difference.
The film is digitalized in the most simplest way there is, simply by filming it of the screen with a video camera while running it on the projector (I normaly do not digitalize my movies).