What would your perfect Super 8 Camera be like?

[Greg Crawford]

Mine would have the following:

1. Orientable Viewfinders.

2. Follow focus.

3. Self blimping.

4. Great lens choices!

5. New gate design, where the Super 8 film is gently pulled out of the cart rage and placed around rollers and into a pro gate, for better sharpness. The film is then electronically cleaned, dust blown-sucked away before the film hits the gate.

6. Able to take 200 loads, just in case they come back!

6. Variable pitch shutter, tied into variable pitch
film speed, for smooth ramping FX.

7 Manual controls, no multi (on or two buttons does all) controls.

8. Auto mode optional! And on board computer for time laps work.

What do you think, did I miss anything?

[Actor]

May as well dream.
<ul type="square">[*]True SLR viewfinding via rotating mirror shutter. No beam splitter.[*]TTL digital light metering, both area and spot.[*]EE Lock switch. No @#$%^&* button that you have to hold down.[*]Manual override of film speed detection. You can go with the notch or select your own.[*]Variable shutter angle with digital readout of the resulting shutter speed at the currently selected frame rate.[*]Digital readout of frames remaining with corresponding readout of min:sec:frames remaining at the current frame rate. Manually re-setable in case you want to remove a cartridge and re-start it later.[*]Single frame capability.[*]Crystal sync with frame rates of 1 fps to 100 fps in 0.001 fps increments.[*]Three position lens turret.[*]Isolation of the film from the viewfinder so you don't have to worry about fogging the film if you take your eye away from the eye cup while shooting.[*]7-50 mm f/1.4 lens standard.[*]Multi-cartridge capability which can be used to 1)seamlessly start a second cartridge when the first one runs out, 2)film two separate emulsions simultaneously (e.g., color and B&W) or 3)switch between two cartridges without having to remove them from the camera.[*]Depth of field preview.[*]A gate which extends all the way to the edge of the film on one side (taking up the soundtrack area) and all the way to the edge of the perfs on the other side, switchable with the standard gate.[*]16:9 and 2.35:1 masking on both the film and in the viewfinder for those who don't want to use anamorphic lenses.[*]PC.[*]Absolutely quiet.[*]Self slating, i.e., a flash of data onto the film accompanited by either 1)a loud beep from a son-alert or 2)an audio out of a bloop which you can feed to your sound recorder.[/list]Available accessories:
<ul type="square">[*]A selection of f/0.7 prime lenses with focal lengths from 4mm to 200mm. I.e., Stanley Kubrick/Barry Lyndon lenses.[*]Intervalvometer with frame rates from 1 sec to 100,000 sec in 1 sec increments.[*]Video tap (flicker free or course).[*]A selection of anamorphic lenses with compressions of 1.33(16:9), 1.75(2.35:1 cinemascope) and 2.00(8:3). Each comes with a corresponding viewfinding corrector.[*]Built in color temperature meter.[/list]Finally, all this should be up-gradable. You can, if you want, start with a simple box with a single prime lens and clockwork motor and slowly upgrade to the most ultra-sophisticated box. All upgrades are nuts-and-bolts jobs which the owner can do himself without sending the camera back to the factory.

[cameraguy]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ August 30, 2003 10:34 AM: Message edited by: cameraguy ]</font>

[Greg Crawford]

Pip Dream or not, got ya thinking!

Good ideas guys.

[Mike Buckles]

I would want lens interchangeability, adjustable shutter speeds, and electronic readout of the fstop/light meter/film footage counter, etc. and crystal sync for sound.