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[oldasdirt]

OK Alex I'm in.Thanks for the invite.
Marty

[Alex]

Hey Marty, glad to have you! I read your post on the other forum about Vista Vision and Super-8 and want to share a story with you about that.

Years ago I worked on a Mark Pirro Film and his DP suggested that turning the Super-8 frame sideways ala "vista vision" could be a real interesting way to shoot Super-8. The cartridge would not last as long but the aspect ratio would allow for a "fuller" transfer for a cinemascope type of look and would result in a better quality transfer.

If you can make it happen, go for it! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

I have found Nigel to be frustratingly negative and INNACCURATE on Brantley's forum when it comes to talking about Super-8 but Mr. Brantley has forever banned me from that forum so I can't ever respond to some of his...well, I'll just stop there.

Nigel once compared the cost of shooting super-8 to 16mm by using the same amount of footage rather than run time and in the process doubled or tripled the actual cost of shooting super-8. When I was able to point out his error he never changed it, but let it sit on that forum for over a month.
Leaving false, negative information on a super-8 forum about super-8 film costs just rankles me, so it's probably better I don't post there. Although leaving false, incorrect information about Super-8 costs on that forum for newbies to see isn't that bright of an idea either.

Because Nigel knows it's more difficult to make money from shooting Super-8mm versus shooting 16mm, he tends to unnecessarily bash it way more than is necessary. I thought his response to your topic post about vista vision was unnecessarily harsh and contributed nothing to the discussion you were trying to have.

What camera are you thinking of converting for your vista vision idea?

[oldasdirt]

At the time I came up with the idea for Vista 8,I had in mind to design something from the ground up rather than convert an existing camera.For one thing,as you pointed out, a standard s-8 cart wouldn't even run a minute in the vista format.
So I designed a camera somewhat loosely based on the binocular design of the Kodak XL line that was popular then (I had one back then)and the Wilcam conversion(also popular for TV news as an alternative for 16mm newsfilm).It would be a camera that would take 400 feet of s-8 film on a single strand roll.What I ended up with on paper was a camera,projector,editing system.The cam and projector could be converted out of the box to an optical printing system.
My goal at the time was to come up with an alternative to the then popular multi media shows where multiple projectors were synced via a pulsed cassette.They were a major pain in the neck to setup and a single operator/lecturer couldn't do it well.
What I had in mind for a VistaVision 8 system was to convert the existing slideshow (some multi media shows then incorporated movie projection with slide)onto vista format with a mag striped sound.In this way a single operator could run a simple projector with a remote control.Kind of the way today's LCD projection multi media presentations are done.
I realize it's a now archaic design and probably has no marketable value,but as I stated that's not my point.At the time I designed VistaVision 8,people told me 35mm VistaVision was dead and it's chances of a revival were nill.It was less than 4 years later that the format was picked up again for special effects.Maybe someone can find some application for the idea.
Marty

[Alex]

Do you have drawings of your idea?

[oldasdirt]

I wish I still had those but you're talking about drawings I did in an 8th grade shop class over 30 years ago.The only thing I have left form my 8th grade shop class is the magazine rack I made in wood shop and I'm not sure which family member ended up with that.
If someone would want to work out the math involved in VistaVision 8 format,I might attempt to draw it again.
Marty