8mm Forum: How much film remaining in cassette

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Topic: How much film remaining in cassette

Michael Wright
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 184
From: Chorley, Lancashire, England
Registered: Dec 2008

posted October 05, 2011 10:43 AM

Hi all, does anyone remember a post that explained how to calculate how much film remained in a super 8 cassette? Thanks MIKE

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Winbert Hutahaean
Film God

Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted October 05, 2011 12:09 PM

If the cartridge (cassette) stays in the camera, you will be able to find out using the film meter feature which is usually available in every camera. It goes between 0 to 50 meaning the film has run between 0 feet to 50 feet. Each feet equal to 3 seconds at 24 fps or 4 second at 18 fps.

Plese use this calculator to knwo what is the duration of remaining film in second:

http://www.kodak.com/US/plugins/flash/en/motion/filmCalculator.swf

However, if you have pulled the cartridge out of camera, the meter will reset to zero so you will not be able to find out the remaining film.

cheers

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Winbert

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Michael Wright
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 184
From: Chorley, Lancashire, England
Registered: Dec 2008

posted October 07, 2011 11:15 AM

Thanks for your reply Winbert. What I really wanted to know was, how to work out the amount of unused film remaining in a cassette, that had been partly used and taken out of the camera. I remember seeing an article/ post that described a method of calculating the unused film, by pulling out a set amount of film from the cassette and counting the number of turns of the take up hub needed to wind the film back in. Does anyone else remember seeing this? Thanks MIKE

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted October 07, 2011 01:59 PM

I don't think I've ever seen anything like this here (It sounds interesting: I'd remember it.), but to me it sounds like something filmshooting.com could have. They run much more to the camera end of the 8mm world than we (usually) do.

Have you searched over there?

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Winbert Hutahaean
Film God

Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted October 07, 2011 02:27 PM

quote:
by pulling out a set amount of film from the cassette and counting the number of turns of the take up hub needed to wind the film back in.

I don't get it. You must be doing that in a dark room, otherwise film will get burnt instantly.

But more than that, if you have pulled the film out, why don't use a ruler to calculate the length of remaining film? it will come with more precise result [Confused]

cheers,

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Winbert

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted October 07, 2011 02:42 PM

I guess you pull out a short length of film and hope there's nothing good on it.

I see it something like this:

The more used up a cartridge is the more film on the take-up side, therefore the bigger diameter of the film reeled up on it.

So if you pulled out a foot of film at the beginning of a cartridge it would take more turns to pull it back in than it would closer to the end.

Think of a projector at rewind: how much faster the film moves at the end of rewind than the beginning. It's all because the diameter of the film already spooled on makes the reel on the front spindle act like a larger "pulley"

The whole trick would be knowing how many turns corresponds to how much film remaining.

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Claus Harding
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006

posted October 07, 2011 03:52 PM

Personally, I wouldn't pull it out; I'd keep that cassette aside if I knew I was about to shoot something requiring longer scenes, then use it for pickup shots until it ran out.

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"Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)

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Bryan
unregistered
Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006

posted blank , 1920

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