Got to watch my first Super 8 rolls today...

[Jeremy Lunt]

...After finally getting a working bulb for the cheap old projector I snagged, I today got to watch for the very first time the five Super 8 rolls (1 Tri-X, 1 Plus-X, and 3 K40)that I shot over the summer. It's the first S8 I've shot so far, and from the looks of the film I made every newb mistake imaginable, including...

1) Jerky hand-held camera work. [img]eek.gif[/img] I have a tripod now, will definitely need to start using that more.

2) Using the auto exposure too much. One of the K40 reels I shot with a camera that had manual exposure only, and it actually came out looking better than the other two, where I let the auto exposure do all the work.

3) BAD, BAD, BAD lighting!

In case anybody's wondering, I'm using a Nikon Super Zoom 8.

[Skyliner]

You know,Ragheb, this is really good! You are looking at your mistakes and putting them right.(I can think of many people who would have blamed the lab and the camera!)
Sounds like buying a light meter and using that instead of the aging 'on board' will help. I find that the auto exposure is a pain because when you move from light to darker in the centre of the shot the sky at the top will suddenly brighten up,result-unusable shot.
You already know that your next films will be better, by small steps you will reach the moon!

[Greg Crawford]

Read a couple good books on lighting, even if it's for still photography. Three point lighting is three point light.

Try using bounce fill outside on your close ups reducing the contrast from the bright light to shadows.

Try staging your close ups in a back light or overcast situation. what Kodak use to call open shade. Expose for the face. Shadows will usually be three to three and a half stops darker than sunlight.

If you set the meter off say the face exposed with sunlight the shadow area will be to dark. Expose it the other way around and you will not have any detail in the sun lit areas.

That's why filling in the shadows in sunlight or staging the shot where the actors will not have to deal with the harsh lighting of a sunny day.

Assuming you are shooting more of a theatrical project. You could make and use your own butterfly and overhead skrims. get 3/4 in. PVC and make a 4x6 unit. Get a silk like material to use to defuse the light. Hang this unit over the actors ...and instant open shad. If your not doing anything so "theatrical," then work on staging the shots at the best time of day, direction and in the shad of a tree or building to cut the contrast ratio on your subject.

In the Midwest we get a lot of overcast days, true they do not give you that beautiful Kodachrome blue sky, but people look great on cloudy days.

[BolexPlusx]

I was out of Super-8 for about 10 years, and the first couple of cartridges I shot when I started up again were probably worse than yours (I had a lot of trouble getting my middle aged eyes to focus a camera correctly).

Over the long term I found the rhythm again and I'm getting beautiful results.

Keep with it, the same thing will happen for you. This is a complicated business with several things having to be right at the same time, so it takes a little experience.

[Colorburst300]

You know though...

I shot last year on the fairy going to the Statue of Liberty with a cart of Tri-x and it came out all wobbly. Now, at first I figured it was the motion of the boat making things unstable, but it stopped midway through and looked perfect. It wasn't until I really looked closely and noticed it was in fact the film that caused the motions, being that I bought a jittering cartridge.

Sometimes that happens, but most of the time it's our own fault when things don't look good.