European Resources

[aeiou]

I just want to start with S8 and I am wondering if someone can help post online European resources mainly retailers selling Super 8 equipment.

[#Pedro]

www.wittner-kinotechnik.de www.kinotechnik-rinser.de www.beaulieu.it www.bps-cine-home.de (it?s worth to contact them, Mr Kretzer, new and used Beaulieu)

Where are you from???
Pedro (Germany)

[aeiou]

Thanks, are there other places?I live in Italy. What exactly do I need? I know I should get a projector and a viewer/editor. I know where to get the film stock. What about the filters, lighting equipment and other stuff?

[#Pedro]

aeiou:

the suppliers I posted deliver worldwide, shurly no problem to Italy which is so close to Germany. Probably you?ll understand some words in German to read the sites or you use a web translator. One link is in Firenze (Norman film, sells remanufactured and new Beaulieu equipment).

What you should buy, depends first on your Budged. A second hand Beaulieu 6008/7008/9008 would be a very good choice, as the 7008/9008 is actualy in production.
The Beaulieu projectors are very fine and actually in production, too, but very costy. The second best is the Elmo ST1200GS, the Braun Visacustic 2000 (very good, there is one at Wittner about DM 1300), and the Bauer T502, T525, T610 (the later two are very fine for creating a sound track in post production).

If you?ll need syncron sound in future, you should purchase a camera with crystal (Beaulieu pro series, same price as S series with commag), a Beaulieu, Elmo or Braun projector as mentioned and new Gebuhr sync equipment.
Very important is a good cement splicer, the best choice is the Hamman (very costy), the second best the motoized H?hnel or similar slicers, if you are lucky one with heating element (thermo-coll). And a motorized editor such as Goko or Erno. (For sync sound one of Gebuhr).
If you want to make indoors, you best use one 2000 W halogen main light, one 1000 W halogen additional light and one 300 W halogen camera light. As the film stock is made for artificial light you need no filters. For outdoor, you?ll need the Wratten 85 filter, if not built-in in the optics or camera body. And don?t forget a good triplet, such as the Italian Manfrotto, which I consider has the best value.

If you don?t need sync sound and will be satisfied with the soundtrack you can create with your projector, a quality-equipment will keep at more or less low budget, Beaulieu 6008S about L 1.500.000 (should have digital counter and full ground glass viewer),
Visacustic 2000 projector (HIFI Stereo) about L 1.300.000,
motor editor about L 150.000,
motor slicer about L 60.000,
3 lamps about L 300.000 (all second hand), and new Manfrotto triplet about L 350.000. For the sync equipment please refer to Gebuhr/N?rnberg, might be once again the same amount of money!

Good luck and ciao,
Pedro

P.S. Where in Italy?

[#Pedro]

aeiou:
Some more comments about sync equipment. You record the sound on a tape recorder which at the same time records speed informations from the camera. Afterwards you edit your film and get it stripped. With your sound projector and a syncron coupling device you transfer the syncron sound parts back to the film soundtrack, szene by szene. Everytime, when frames have been cutted or added, you?ll have to restart the sound transfer. On the second sound track of the film, you can record aditional sound and mix it together while playing. For a stereo soundtrack you?ll have to record the aditional stereo sound first and then overlay carefully the sync sound, as there are only two tracks on the film.
The basic equipment is:
Special Gebuhr tape recorder Sony WM-D6C AV, about L 2.000.000
Gebuhr Impuls generator cable, about L 160.000 (for cameras without crystal)
Gebuhr Synchronizer unit, about L 1.600.000
Gebuhr Power supply, about L 440.000

The projector should be at least a Duoplay type and have a single frame contact.
The Elmo ST1200GS can be controled directly by a impulse tape, it has a in-built synchronizer which controls the projector?s speed and uses the tape as master device.
But the normal way is to use the projector as a master device and control the tape?s speed with the Gebuhr synchronizer unit.

Pedro

[aeiou]

Thanks, you have been very helpful. I hope you can answer these two other questions.
1. How go with the telecine in Europe? And does the Elmo projector "ELMO GS 1200 VIDEOTRANSFER" on the Wittner site does video transfer, and if so, what about the quality?
2. If quality film making in super 8 is this expensive, why not go with 16mm? I am not being sarcastic, I just want to understand, because an Arri 16BL with a crystal motor can be got for $4000.

[#Pedro]

aeiou:
16mm: for 15 m K40 S8 film you?ll pay about EUR 10 incl. developing, for 30 m 16mm film you?ll pay EUR 50!!! That?s the difference. The cameras are nearly at the same price, the 16 mm projectors even cheaper.
With the Elmo video-tansfer you?ll get a sharp and flickerfree quality, but without any contrast or color correction. Note, that real film like S8 is has a much wider contrast range as any video will ever have, a higher resolution and is richer in diferent colors. With videotransfer you?ll have to reduce this quality extremly and?ll have to select, what colors, what contrasts and so on you will have on your tape to look good. For video transfer there is no significant difference between S8 and 16mm, but in 16 mm you have a wider range of different film materials available.
Quality transfer can be done in a transfer studio and there are many in europe, p.e. ANDEC in Berlin ([email protected]), but if you do a search, you?ll shurly find some in Italy, too.
Pedro