Ektachrome 100D, the Bolex H8RX, and a 18-5 Projector!

[super8man]

WOW! Most awesome film. Very forgiving when over exposed. I am completely blown away by the detail, apparent sharpness, natural-looking color, vividness of the reds and greens, and the forgiving latitude (I estimate about a 3/4 stop latitiude to give perfectly acceptable scenes - this is far greater than the latitude of K40). Forget E64T too - there is NO dancing grain, this is it. When I compare 100D and E64, it seems that E64 is soft due to the size of the grain (I know, this is not accurate) and with 100D there is simply no thought of the grain or size of sharpness...its TIGHT! And, combined with fixed-focal length Switar lenses and the "Hi-Fi" Bolex 18-5 projector lens, this is how movies should be seen. Simply amazing. Sorry, no stills since I am set up in "analog" mode and not "digitizing" mode.

Seriously, this combination will make you sell your super 8 equipment en masse! Finally, an incredible combination of film, camera, lens, and projection. Hmmm, selling my super 8 gear...seems entirely plausible.

Oh, as for manual exposure - I simply used the shutter speed settings from the reflex manual and used a spot meter to determine the f-stop - a winning combination in retrospect. Time to buy more film.

Anyone experience the same thing?

Cheers,
Mike

[ALAN]

I was looking at some old K40 footage and was surprised at how grainy it looked in the dark shadows -- how does the 100D look in the shadows? -- for grain and tonal seperation?

[Old Uncle Barry]

Well I can concur with your findings-thought I was the only one in the world using the same combination as you! The film is a real good one,giving good results.
Top stuff now Std8 has some good film stock behind it and of course the H8RX what a team-as Bolex products are anyway

[T-Scan]

Ive been saying all along that 100D is a whole new level from K40 and 64T. I've been shooting it in DS8 and Super 8. Of course the DS8 is sharper, but the last test rolls of S8 from Spectra came out really nice. I'm going to order some more S8 from them when it's available and try my pressure plate.

[ALAN]

"...when it's available."

Which is why I just bought a 16mm ACL, and a KODAK 100D shipment arrived this morning

[robbie]

how does this 100D compare to K40s contrast and color saturation? i desire k40 qualities.

[standard8]

i agree completely, i was really impressed when i tried 100d with my Bolex P3, but after seeing the results with my H8 it totally blew me away, and with 100ft loads you never have to worry about running out of film.

i also found that a little over exposure (about a quarter stop) make the colours more vibrant and reduces the grain.

and i have to thank super8man for inspiring me to switch from super8 to standard8

[studiocarter]

Huh, and I was thinking of selling my camera. Now you got me thinking of using it some more. First though, I'll need to get the lens shades filter holders off the 16mm Bolex...
John Schwind has the film and I know he'll provide addresses for labs to process it.
Who did you use for processing? Satisfied?

Michael Carter

[super8man]

I sent it to Dwaynes. Came out just fine.

WOrd of caution - when loading the 16mm square hole spools onto the smaller 8mm spindle take up, BE SURE TO ADVANCE THE FILM MORE THAN A COUPLE OF ROTATIONS - I say this since my Bolex jammed after 25-feet - thought I was a gonner - but, with the help of a black changing bag, I cut the 25-feet off, loaded the rest, making sure it was wond on a lot, then ran normally. The Bolex is an incredible camera - takes a beating and still runs.

The 100D looks great projected...seems to have similar qualities to E64 in that it looks smoother projected (grain-smoother, etc). When I convert it to video, it looses some of its magic in that the highlights look more blown out than would otherwise be the case...so, I am thinking a little UNDEREXPOSURE by half a stop works great for both telecine and projection. I would avoid overexposure but again, it is forgivable when projected. Of course, so much is dependent on the variables in the telecine...

But yes, Dwaynes did a nice job. Though their leader is not spliceable so I recommend changing that if you run the 18-5 projector like mine (the 1961 variety). Its a dream machine folks. Sheer artistic beauty with the credentials to back it up.

http://www.bolexcollector.com/projectors/185.html

Cheers,
Mike

[super8man]

[sciolist]

Seriously, this combination will make you sell your super 8 equipment en masse! Finally, an incredible combination of film, camera, lens, and projection. Hmmm, selling my super 8 gear...seems entirely plausible.

Before you get rid of ALL of your Super 8 gear, think about what's acheivable with a Bolex H8 Rex-4 DS8 camera!

[avortex]

I would love to shoot regular-8, but it's impossible to do any kind of sync sound with it.

I use to crystal-sync my Super-8 projector for mixing the sound on the computer and transfer back to the magnetic stripe on film. I don't know any regular8 model that can do this...

Besides, the light power use to be very dim in these models...

[David M. Leugers]

I would love to shoot regular-8, but it's impossible to do any kind of sync sound with it.

Not so. There are sync motors that will run a Bolex H-8. I have a Tobin TXM-10B sync motor that Clive Tobin modified for me (different gearing) to be able to run my H-8 cameras with. It will run crystal sync at different speeds, but most importantly 24,25, and 30 fps. With a video frame controller accessory, it will shoot crystal sync 23.976 and 29.970 fps = great for syncing up transfers to audio captured on a mini-DV camera for instance. I plan to build a hard blimp for both my H-8rex and H-8 DS-8MM cameras to be able to shoot sync sound in both R-8mm and S-8mm. It can be done. Meanwhile, images you can get from a Bolex H-8mm camera is pretty awesome. As much as I like the pocket Bolex R-8mm cameras and other makes, none can match the image quality of the H-8.

E100D I have had processed by both Dwayne's and Yale Labs. Both are excellent from my experiences. Remember that Yale won the E-6 processing test done by Smallfilm magazine. I too love E100D. It looks absolutely great projected, so much so that you tend to notice more that transfers never can match the look of the film projected. One more plug for R-8mm = it is THE most robust format for projecting film around. All you need is one of the many excellent projectors made in this format and keep the gate and film path cleaned and you can project this film God knows how many times. Enjoy.

David M. Leugers

[aj]

Check the buttons 1 2 3 by the side of the BOLEX camera on this page: http://www.supersens.nl/supersens/paginas/camera.html Three test samples of Ektachrome 100D in N8. I suppose it was transfered using the Flashscan which they have there. Processing at Andec

[avortex]

That's great, guys. But still the problem is in projection.

For digital editing is perfect, but make a crystal-sync for an 8mm projector is impossible. You can't transfer the sound edited on the computer to the magnetic stripe without losing sync...