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Which
Stock Should I Use?
This is good question. To answer it, you might need to know a little
about the camera you are going to use. If you are a techno-phobe,
don't worry, I'll keep things simple and deal with you first! I'll
talk more specifically about the full range of choices and what
they mean later.
| Point
and Shoot: |
For
people who want to point and shoot, just use Ektachrome 64t
colour film. There is only one thing you need to know to be
able to use this film in your camera on automatic: what film
speeds does your camera read? Most simple cameras can only read
40 and 160 asa (sometimes such a camera will say 40 tungsten/25
daylight, 160 tungsten/100 daylight). Check your camera. Often
this information is printed inside the film compartment. Otherwise
its in the manual if you still have it. Failing that, send me
an email with the camera make and model and I can probably tell
you. It is possible to tell just by looking at the film gate
area inside the film compartment. Looking there, you will see
a little hole through which the light gets to the film. Above
and to the right of this there is usually a 'film speed notch'
sensing device. This can be all sorts of things, but in simple
cameras it is usually just one or two little tiny buttons. These
buttons are pressed in or not by the film cartridge depending
on the type of film. If your camera just has one or two of these
little buttons, then it is no doubt a 40/160 camera. Thats o.k.!
Now that you know, the simplest thing to do is just shoot with
this stock as normal and then TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME that you
have a 40/160 camera and I need to process the film as 40. Nano
lab is one of the few labs in the world that will do this, and
at no extra charge, so long as you send me multiples of 2 films
at a time. |
What
types of film are there?
Currently the only films developed by Nano Lab are so called
'reversal' films. These films produce a normal positive image
after processing that can be either projected in a normal super
8 projector or transfer to video (digital). There are Colour
reversal as well as Black and White reversal stocks to choose
from. Of colour reversal stocks, there is a choice of 'tungsten'
and 'daylight' colour ballance stocks.
Colour Reversal.
There are currently 3 colour reversal super 8 stocks available:
one tungsten ballanced - Ektachrome 64t (the 't' stands for
tungsten) and two daylight ballanced - Ektachrome 100d and Velvia
50d. All three of these films yield amazingly vibrant saturated
colours - considerably more so than the old Kodachrome stock.
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Ektachrome
64t.
This is the most available, cheapest and most widely used colour
super 8 stock. As a tungsten stock like the old Kodachrome 40
it replaced, Ektachrome 64t requires the use of a colour correction
filter for shooting in daylight (ie shooting outside). All super
8 camera have this filter built in. When shooting indoors under
tungsten lighting this filter has to be taken 'out'. This is
done in several ways - flicking a switch on the camera, inserting
a filter 'key' or screwing in a thread, depending on the camera.
With the filter removed the film speed is 64 ASA. With the filter
in place a little light is lost (2/3 of an 'f' stop) and the
film is effectively only 40 ASA. As mentioned preveously, many
cameras will not automatically detect this films ASA. See our
'Shooting Ektachrome 64t' page for more details. Of the colour
reversal stocks available, this stock is by far the grainiest
of the three. This can be a disappointment for people familiar
with Kodachrome. That said, many people are comming to love
this stock for its own properties. Of the three it offers the
most colour saturation. This can be (and should be) used to
great effect. Use this film if 'blow your socks off' colour
is what you want, especially in red and blue. This film is also
the least contrasty of the three colour stocks and noticably
less contrasty than Kodachrome was. This can be a benefit especially
when transfering film to video. Better results are achieved
with this film when it is possible to use a smaller lens apeture
(higher 'f' stop). Conversly, when underexposed you can expect
the most grain. |
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Ektachrome
100d.
While this stock is a Kodak stock, it is not produced by Kodak
in Super 8 cartridges. This is done by other private companies
in small volumes. This is why this stock and Velvia are more
expensive than 64t. Ektachrome 100d is a 100 ASA daylight
ballanced stock. It has very slightly more contrast and less
colour saturation than 64t. Even though this is a higher film
speed than 64t, 100d is noticably superior with regards to
grain.This is really an exceptionally good super 8 colour
stock. It is as fine grained as Kodachrome, but much more
colourful. It is the stock of choice for daylight filming.
As a rule of thumb, daylight stocks are always finer grained
than their tungsten ballanced counterparts because they comprise
more blue sensitive grains and blue sensitive grains are the
smallest. The cartridges have no filter notch, thus allowing
cameras with filter notch readers to automatically remove
the camera's internal colour correction filter. If your camera
has a tungsten/daylight switch for the internal filter, then
put the filter in the 'tungsten' (no filter) position.
This
stock copes well with being pushed 1 stop to 200asa and can
even take 400 asa and yield acceptable results. Please ask
if you want us to notch 100d carts for these higher asa speeds.
As noted
above, many 40/160 cameras are actually 40 tungsten, 25 daylight
/ 160 tungsten, 100 daylight cameras. The difference is that
the latter type are capable of reading the filter notch on
super 8 cartridges. This is the lower notch on the side of
the film cartridge. These cameras are capable of reading Ektachrome
100d automatically and without the operator making any ajustments.
The filter notch reader is a little button inside the film
chamber that is depressed by cartridges that have no filter
notch. In depressing this button, the camera's internal colour
correction filter is removed automatically and cannot be accidently
put back in. Thus 100d is 100ASA in daylight. The down side
here is that to use daylight films indoors under tungsten
lights you need to use an external blue (80A) filter that
cuts out a whoping 2 stops of light, making 100d only 25 ASA
under tungsten lighting. How do you know if your camera has
a notch reader? In general, 40/160 cameras that do not have
a notch reader have a simple switch for removing the camera's
internal filter. This switch usually has a picture of the
sun in one position and of a light bulb in the other. 40/160
cameras that do have a noth reader usually require a more
convoluted method for removing the internal filter, such as
a filter 'key' or a screw that must be inserted. To use this
stock in non-filter-notch-reading 40/160 cameras (a mouthful
in itself!), one would have to make a similar ajustment of
two thirds of an 'f' stop as when shooting 64t in these cameras,
but in the other direction - i.e. open the lens 2/3 of a stop
as in if the camera's meter indicates an exposure of f8, then
set the exposure to f5.6+1/3. In short, 100d is a good stock
for fine grain shooting in daylight. It is not really suitable
for shooting under lights.
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Velvia
50d.
This stock is a Fuji stock, it is not packaged into super 8
cartridges by them. Unlike the Fuji Single 8 film stocks, Velvia
is produced on an accetate base like all of the other available
super 8 stocks. Like 100d, Velvia is a much finer grained stock
than 64t. It too yields slightly more contrast and has slightyly
less colour saturation than 64t. These are very subtle differences.
More noticably, Velvia has a tendency in the green direction.
This is most noticable when intercutting between Velvia and
the Ektachrome stocks. On transfer, these differences can be
made to disappear. The chief advantage of Velvia is its suitability
to all super 8 cameras without the need for ajustments. All
40/160 cameras will read this film as 40 asa, which is close
enough for jazz (a 1/3rd stop over exposure). This stock is
arguably better for wide shots and nature work than 100d.
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Black
and White:
In super 8 cartridges there are 2 black and white stocks to
choose from - Plus-x and Tri-x. Both can be processed as reversal
for projection or as lower contrast negatives for telecine.
Black and White super 8 stocks are designed for use without
the camera's internal colour correction filter. They have no
filter notch, thus automatically removing the filter on cameras
with a notch reader. Two film speeds are given - one for shooting
in daylight, and one for shooting under tungsten light - in
both instances, without the camera's internal filter. The reason
for the speed difference is that these black and white films
are slightly more sensitive to blue light. |
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Plus-X
(7265).
100 asa in daylight, 80 under tungsten. This is a very fine
grained stock - much finer than Tri-x and probably the finest
grained super 8 stock ever. Its lower contrast yields an 'even'
toned result with a wide range of greys. This is the stock to
use for general black and white shooting in normal light levels
(not low light) where you don't want to emphasise grain or a
super 8 'look'. Note that previous version of Plus-X were rated
as 50 asa. This stock is notched for 100asa daylight but gives
in my opinion even finer results when 'pulled' to the older
speed of 50asa. When using cameras with exposure compensation
dials, this can simply be done by setting the camera to '+1'.
Note that some 40/160 cameras that don't have a filter notch
reader will most likely expose this stock as 160 asa - an under
exposure of 2/3 of a stop. |
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Tri-X
(7266).
200 asa daylight, 160 tungsten. This is a contrasty and grainy
super 8 stock. A classic for the super-8 'look'. Great in low
light. This stock can be pushed processed to 400 or even 800
asa for an extreme contrasty and grainy look. Not ideal for
use in bright daylight due to its hight speed (a neutral density
filter to cut down the light would be useful in this instance).
Note that many super 8 cameras will read the speed notch on
this stock as 160asa instead of 200. This is a very slight over
exposure of 1/3 of a stop - not generally an issue. |
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