Anybody Remember Film?

[Huddy]

I had a Chinon super 8 camera with 12x zoom. It was a heavy beast. My Eumig projector was unusual in that it was capable of recording and playing back two sound tracks. Sound film had a magnetic strip on one edge for recording sound. There was a second thinner strip on the opposite edge just to ensure the film wound on the spool evenly. Eumig used that to record a second sound track.

My main problem with film was making joins that didn’t make the picture jump. People used a thin tape to make the join. I eventually settled for a machine that chamfered each end to be joined, then they were glued together. That was better, but it was always visible.

When the idea of digital video came along, it was looked on by many as a gimmick that wouldn’t last. Now I’m making perfect 4K videos from a flying camera.

 

[Whitwellian]

I had a Chinon super 8 camera with 12x zoom. It was a heavy beast. My Eumig projector was unusual in that it was capable of recording and playing back two sound tracks. Sound film had a magnetic strip on one edge for recording sound. There was a second thinner strip on the opposite edge just to ensure the film wound on the spool evenly. Eumig used that to record a second sound track.

My main problem with film was making joins that didn’t make the picture jump. People used a thin tape to make the join. I eventually settled for a machine that chamfered each end to be joined, then they were glued together. That was better, but it was always visible.

When the idea of digital video came along, it was looked on by many as a gimmick that wouldn’t last. Now I’m making perfect 4K videos from a flying camera.

Again, you're making me feel A N C I E N T !!! In the late 1970's a guy at work lent me a Super 8 camera, which I used once - and got "hooked" - so I bought a small one of my own.

Originally my films were "silent" but I soon got round to writing a commentary and recording it onto a "compact cassette". My local cine club (Chesterfield) once suggested that I enter a film in a competition that was being held in another town, but as I knew that I couldn't attend and "adjust" the projection speed, the commentary would make no sense at all. I declined the offer to enter the film.

Later, still using silent film' I used a device that I bought separately to add the magnetic stripe to a "silent" film - then edited it as necessary and added a sound commentary.

 

[Huddy]

... Later, still using silent film' I used a device that I bought separately to add the magnetic stripe to a "silent" film - then edited it as necessary and added a sound commentary.

I seem to remember you could buy a special cassette machine where one of the tracks had a pulse on it. This pulse aligned with another pulse derived from a light that shone through the sprockets on the film running through the projector. Thus, it was able to make small speed adjustments to keep the sound in line with the pictures. I remember it was very expensive.

I did enjoy the ingenuity people used to overcome the problems we just no longer have.

 

[Whitwellian]

Can't remember that one Huddy. These modern kids don't have the fun we had when we were kids

Remember when we used to go to those red phone boxes, put 4d (4 old UK pennies) in and press Button A if we got through, and Button B to get the money back . .
Really showing my age there . . .

 

[Huddy]

Indeed. Although it all seemed so modern and futuristic at the time

 

[Nomand Eloc]

Again, you're making me feel A N C I E N T !!! In the late 1970's a guy at work lent me a Super 8 camera, which I used once - and got "hooked" - so I bought a small one of my own.

Originally my films were "silent" but I soon got round to writing a commentary and recording it onto a "compact cassette". My local cine club (Chesterfield) once suggested that I enter a film in a competition that was being held in another town, but as I knew that I couldn't attend and "adjust" the projection speed, the commentary would make no sense at all. I declined the offer to enter the film.

Later, still using silent film' I used a device that I bought separately to add the magnetic stripe to a "silent" film - then edited it as necessary and added a sound commentary.

Wow, I can't believe a headache's that would be involved with working with film and audio. My work with video has been strictly digital.

 

[Whitwellian]

The biggest headache was actually "striping" the film (gluing the narrow strip of magnetic material down one edge of the 8mm film).

Firstly, splice all films together (8 x 50foot = 400' ) and about 10 foot or so blank leader at each end. Then set up the striping device on a clear area of floor with the 8mm projector about 8 or 10 foot away.

Put the 400' reel of film in the striper, along with another reel of magnetic "stripe". Feed the start of the film and stripe through a little pressure roller setup, making sure that there's enough liquid "glue" in the machine.

Set everything running (projector bulb not "on") and sit (or stand & fidget), watching the film run through - making sure you can stop everything quickly if there's a problem.

30 or so minutes later, breath a sigh of relief when everything's (hopefully) worked OK.

Edit your film - cutting out un-necessary sections & changing order as necessary.

Think about your commentary & background music . . .

I always found it best to record the commentary separately - just in case something went wrong. I could at least re-record single sections.

Record your appropriate background music.

Put everything together using projector (in record mode) and 2 tape recorders playing commentary and background music . . .

Breathe a sigh of relief after a couple of weeks when the edited film was complete!!!

 

[Huddy]

I bought my films already striped. I think sound film cassettes were an extra £1 for a 50ft film (3 minutes and 20 seconds at 24 fps as I recall. Or was I running at 18 fps?)

Which brings me to overall cost. I seem to remember my camera cost about £200, and my projector was a similar amount, maybe more. That at a time when I was earning a very respectable £60 - £70 a week. I remember visiting my bank manager for a loan to buy the projector, and discussing with him the merits of the machine. This was a time when bank managers took time to get to know their customers.

Spending £1300 on a drone seems crazy, but in real terms it’s cheaper than funding our cine hobby back then. And we’re getting a lot more for our money now.

 

[Chirp]

I’ve recently started back up using film, rebuilt the old mans ‘63 Pentax and happily using that. I notice film gear is way more scarce than it was 5 or 6 years ago. The only LF setup locally is good for 2 grand and nobody around here develops sheet film. Even MF is expensive, I’d love a TLR again, got some great results from my Rolleicord back in 2009

B&H online has 120 roll film for about $6 a roll. It's 400 ISO. It's called Portra.

They also have B&W 120 for about the same price.

Adorama online has it also. I I used to use VPS. It was rated at 160 ISO if I remember correctly but I shot it a 80 ISO and it was fantastic.

 

[Chirp]

...
When the idea of digital video came along, it was looked on by many as a gimmick that wouldn’t last. Now I’m making perfect 4K videos from a flying camera...

For a thousand dollars...

 

[360iViews]

To think I went off to RIT back in the '80's with my Hassy in hand to pursue a degree in photography, and scoffed at the first digital camera (Nikon/Kodak consortium). In all seriousness, after having shot somewhere in the neighborhood of 750-800k digital images in the last 18-20 years, there are days that I wish for an EMP...er, I mean film. It would get rid of 3/4 the so-called photogs.

Gawd, I miss Verichrome Pan. F8 @ 10 feet baby!

 

[Lubelaczek]

It still works ;-)

 

[Huddy]

For a thousand dollars...

True. But the kit I was using in the 70s (camera and projector) were probably a total of £300, and a bit extra for the screen. That was probably 5-6 weeks pay. Now it’s maybe 1-2 weeks pay for a Mavic. And there were ongoing costs with film. It was quite expensive to buy rolls of film, and they were only good for 3 mins and 20 seconds at 18fps. I’d say we’re getting much more for relatively less money today.

 

[2nckayakers]

I got started with an old Minolta Hi Matic 35mm that my Dad bought when I was really young. Once I got into high school I was in photography class as an elective and things grew from there. I had a Canon AE1p and a Canon A1. I did mainly B&W stuff and even though I had free reign of the darkroom at school, I still managed to buy an old enlarger from a buddy and setup a darkroom in one of the bathrooms at home. Mom didn't like that too much, but at least she knew where I was. After I got married I just wasn't interested in photography anymore except for taking pictures of my kids and stuff like that. Film kind of died off for me as digital became more available. It was just a whole lot easier and cheaper. You know the only thing I miss about film though is we had to be real photographers. You couldn't take 1000 shots and hope to get one or two good ones, it was just too expensive and time consuming. You actually had to know how the camera worked, frame your shots and get everything perfect before you released the shutter. There wasn't any of this take a picture and then hit the review button and then take another one if that one didn't look good. In the darkroom you really had to know some chemistry. You had to pay attention to details. I see so many people now that get a digital camera, take some pictures for a friend, and next thing you know they are setting themselves up as Photographers just because someone said they did a good job. An expensive camera and Photoshop does not make you a Photographer.

I loved Super 8 as well. I played with dad's super 8 until it got to the point you couldn't find film for it. After that I moved to a VHS camera and then used a Hi 8 VHS when my kids were little. Finally when digital rolled around, I just used a cheap Nikon pocket camera. Now I just used my DSLR like everyone else, and some GoPros and now my Mavic.

 

[Chirp]

When I started this thread I added a topic called 'stupid photography things I've done' to the list of topics to discuss.

So far no one has volunteered their story so I will start off with one of mine that took place a while back.

The job was to take a photo of a choir of 10 people in front of an altar in a church. Everyone was in a hurry because the printer needed the photo asap because it was going to be the front cover of their new music album.

I had a Norman power pack for flash and 2 flash heads on stands with umbrellas.

The camera was a Mamiya RZ67 on a tripod. After getting everything set up I realized I forgot the sync cord--the cord that electronically connects the camera to the flash unit. This could be a show stopper.

I searched everywhere and could not find one.
There were no camera stores in the area and it would take about 2 hours to go home and back to get one. Plus the folks were already getting a little impatient so what I ended up doing was to turn off all the lights in the church except one which was controlled by a switch 100 feet away from the camera. This made the church quite dark. With that light on I posed the people, got them to smile, asked them not to move and keep their eyes open. At that point I ran (100 feet) to the light switch, turned the light off, ran back to the camera in the dark, opened the camera shutter on "B", popped the flash and closed the shutter. Then I did it all over again about 5 times because they wanted a few different poses to choose from.

It actually came out well.

I never told them I forgot something, I just acted as though this is how I do it all the time. They were nice enough to pretend they believed me...

 

[Chirp]

You actually had to know how the camera worked, frame your shots and get everything perfect before you released the shutter. There wasn't any of this take a picture and then hit the review button and then take another one if that one didn't look good

In reference to knowing how the camera worked (yes, another war story from long ago) I hired a guy to photograph a HS reunion because I wasn't available at the time so I farmed it out to him. He seemed knowledgeable, had a medium format camera (I wasn't familiar with the make and model) so I gave him the job.

Long story short --too late--I know--can't help it--what I got back from the lab was 8 rolls of 120 VPS blank, clear film.

What had happened, he said, was there was some kind of setting on the camera that would keep the shutter from opening and that's where it was accidentally set to. He said he borrowed the camera from his uncle and wasn't familiar with it. My point being is to know how your camera works, as stated by 2NC above...

 

[Sterling]

I bet a lot of you kids are saying 'yeah I heard of that once.'

Well if you're old enough like me it was a little different than digital.

If the mods don't mind, and anybody even cares to talk about it, I would like to start a little discussion about the stuff I worked with up until I sold my studio in the year 2000. Here are a few keywords if anyone would like to start it off. Once again if this is improper in any way let me know.

• Medium Format
• 4X5
• Darkroom
• Polaroid Backs for film cameres
• Commercial photography
• Portraits
• Weddings
• Stupid stuff you did

Thanks!!!

RB 67 with Polaroid back - still have one ;-)

 

[Chirp]

RB 67 with Polaroid back - still have one ;-)

That's one of the best medium format cameras ever made imho. Plus it has available the greatest soft focus lens--the 150SF. which will fit both the RB and RZ. I still have some portraits hanging that were taken 25 years ago with the SF lens, they are that nice.

 

[Huddy]

I seem to remember there were several formats back then. Super 8 is the one we all know, but we were often frowned on by the older enthusiasts who stuck to Single 8 and Standard 8. I think they used different sprocket arrangements. Wasn’t there also a 9.5mm format?

Either way, us Super 8 newcomers were looked on in the same way my classic music listening father used to condemn the synthesiser. Utter disdain. I don’t know what they’d make of me recording 4K moving pictures on one of those pocket telephones. [emoji849]

 

[Babaco]

Reading Babaco's remarks above makes me feel even older!!!

My first computer in the 1970's was a MK14 kit based on the SC/MP chip that displayed onto a LED display. I quickly graduated to a Nascom 1 - that had a large memory card that about 256Kb(?) memory and also was adapted to take a ROM chip that held a BASIC programme.

Makes me feel ancient!!!

I love to see older people interested in such a high tech hobby. Whitwellian, you are the same age as my father which makes you guys baby boomers. I can see that most people here in this forum are over 50 at least older than 40. I was expecting younger people would be more involved with this hobby but it turns out oldies are still going strong [emoji123] keep it up guys because my generation is full of ****. No soul, no principles, no effort for happiness but only satisfaction and drive for achievement of getting filthy rich. I’m 30 now and having hard time sharing values with the people of my age since they don’t care about a thing... Personally, I think the best period to live in America is between 50’s and 60’s.

I hear stories from my father about the past and how different the life was back in the day when you actually had human interaction instead of synthetic relations of today.

Look at music, Justin Bieber? Hell no! But young generation love his music and his skinny ***, the kid is a complete douche with degenerated values.
I prefer these titles when I want to listen to something else rather than contemporary titles .

The animals- house of rising sun
The mamas & .... - California dreaming
Bee gees - Massachusetts
Scott McKenzie- San Francisco
John Denver- take me home
The moody blues- nights in white satin
Any song of Beatles
So on...

I put these songs while driving around with my girlfriend to impress her with the moment. You know the ambiance that creates. A warm summer dusk, windows rolled down and one hand on the wheel while other on the shift holding her hand at the same time. I light one cigarette and drive calmly to the sunset. Sounds cool right? Well yes at least for me but girls of my generation doesn’t give a flying f@k about it and ask me to put something faster or electronic music. I love contemporary music and big fan of electronic music but I need something else too... I want to feel the sentiment and depth of the music and titles from 60’s is just that!
I also have a huge library of 80’ music which I believe comes second best for me. Most music made after 2010 is crap [emoji90] except singers like Adele, Any Winehouse, Sia and so on. You would get my point...

The bottom line is:
From drones to first generation computers to Kodak films to music. There’s so many things to talk about. I just wanna say that your generation lived the “life”. When America was red white and blue America where you work hard and take no short cuts and explore the mysteries of the future one step at a time. Today is just a chaotic crucible which people from so many different backgrounds clash and try to neutralize each other’s views instead of cooperating and supporting each other’s and this happens mostly over the internet.
Please don’t get me wrong, my opinions are based on my observations and I’m not claiming every member of my generation is just shallow. There are so many sentimental and bright young people who have interest in living with values and simple happy life all around the world. Unfortunately, those young people aren’t the majority not even close to a number which can be considered minority. It’s just rare...

Thanks for your, and other elderly people for their involvement in such a high tech hobby.

I wish you safe and happy flights sir...