K40 Flicker

[carnation wharf]

Has anyone recently noticed in K40 that the image jumps about? This was a problem a few years ago that was supposed to be fixed and the only remaining carts that were defective were supposedly stored away in shops that were unaware of the problem.

However I just shot 11 rolls of k40 i ordered directly from Kodak in Jan 2003 and when the first 4 came back I noticed they all flickered. (This I've noticed by viewing on a Baia Ediviewer--my footage is important and I'll not risk projecting it. I don't think it's the viewer because other reels shot on older k40 don't jitter).

This is for student film and I don't have the time or money to reshoot, so I'm trying to think of possible solutions. If anyone else has had this problem and transfered to video, have you tried to correct it at all, whether having the transfer house try something or simply running it through an NLE and hand correcting it frame by frame?

[rcroster]

I haven't had any problem with my K40 and its possible your problem is not with the film cartridge itself. To really ensure that the film is flickering or that frames are jumping around you should just go ahead and project one of your reels on a projector that you know is in good working order. After this, if the problem is still present, you might next want to shoot a test roll and, if at all possible, shoot the test roll using your own camera plus one or more different cameras. Be sure to slate each test shot indicating which camera was used. Upon receiving the developed film, project it, using again a projector you know to be in good working order. This will cost a few bucks but it just may isolate and pinpoint your problem.

[c_77]

Here is a thread that mentions specific batch numbers that are defective.

http://www.hostboard.com/cgi-bin/ult...c&f=409&t=2743

Film flickers if it is not properly lubricated. This service is longer longer done by the developers. I use Filmrenew to accomplish this, but have even used a treated gun cleaning cloth in the past and it worked fine. Doing this will stop any flicker and extend the life of your film.

[carnation wharf]

Roster, the film I looked at that was not jumpy was shot on the same camera 3 months ago. The film itself however was older, and not the 505 3335 package, it was just the k40 itself.

I will look around for a projector I trust, but mine itself I paid a lot for and now it is wrinkling my film a bit so there's no way I'll run my prize film through. You're probably right though; I've no way of knowing for sure unless I either project or transfer, and if the footage is bad I don't want to have it transferred, so I think I'll have to risk projection at some point--through someone else's projector.

c_77, I've checked the order numbers on what I have here at my house (some of the boxes are still at the studio) and they are all above that recall #.

And some questions: You're saying I should lubricate the processed film right now? Unlubricated processed film will flicker in an ediviewer, or just a projector, or both? This is more than a flicker (how I define the word), this is extensive image displacement that makes it look like the tripod was on a pogo stick. Is this still what you're talking about?

[lightfeat]

The problem is called "jitter" and it has been the curse of many a Super8 filmaker over the past few years. It was supposed to have gone away, but it hasn't - a look through the archives for the word Jitter will help you to understand the severity of the problem at it's height about a year ago.

Lucas

[c_77]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by astrocom:
And some questions: You're saying I should lubricate the processed film right now? Unlubricated processed film will flicker in an ediviewer, or just a projector, or both? This is more than a flicker (how I define the word), this is extensive image displacement that makes it look like the tripod was on a pogo stick. Is this still what you're talking about?[/QB]</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

The first thing I try to do before putting the film in any machine is make sure it is lubricated. But I once got some film back that i knew was underexposed and hastily through it in my projector and it flickered, i.e. the images were smeared and blurry. I lubed the film and the problem went away. Do a search on this board under "jitter" and you'll get more info than you'll want on your problem but i hope the lube job is a fix.
http://lavender.fortunecity.com/lavender/569/
Super 8 & 8mm film lubrication:
http://lavender.fortunecity.com/lave...brication.html

[carnation wharf]

I wasn't ignorant--I was being cautious--I didn't want to risk running my senior film through my projector and have it wrinkle and scratch etc. But after a bunch of advisements, I decided to run it through after giving both the film and my projector a thorough cleaning with Edwal.

NO JITTER! Projector working better too. I trust it now. c_77 you are best; I see people on this board always joking that you're really gung-ho about cleaning and lubrication, but it seems that important. That info should be at front of all these super8 resources ( or is it and I've just not checked up? ). I hope I can be excused for not researching all this in advance, but the truth is that I had a cinematographer/cameraman, and had to get started on the project right away, with some insane pre-production, so I left some personal research out. I did know about the jitters but thought they were corrected. Anyway, thank you thank you thank you.