8mm Forum: Ektachrome 64T, a First Encounter....

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Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on June 27, 2008, 01:37 PM:

I used Kodak 64T for the first time a few weeks back and just got my footage back.

I had a problem: we went to Disneyworld in late April and it seemed a great chance to make a little film. I had two stocks in the ‘fridge: leftover Kodachrome and Plus-X. I really wanted to use up the K-40 finishing up existing projects, and there is something unhealthy about the idea of a film of Disneyworld in black and white. The time had obviously come to take the plunge and try 64T.

My most trusted cameras are a pair of Minolta XL-401s, which are among the 40/160 only herd. I have several other cameras which are probably OK, but I’ve never tried them. Being that we were talking about anywhere up to 5 rolls of film at risk, I decided to take the least chancy path and do a mod on one of the Minoltas to compensate it 2/3 of a stop.

Thusly:

http://super8wiki.com/index.php/Minolta:_how_to_adjust_XL-401/601_meter

So I went to Florida and exposed 4 cartridges of film, not being certain that even an inch would be usable. It was quite a feeling! I imagined my wife saying “Have you got that Disney film back yet?, and me muttering “Yeahhhhh….I need to…. edit…that. May take a… long time.”

I finally got around to sending it to Dwayne’s last week. I got it back last night and I’m happy to report the footage was actually very good. The colors are wonderful, especially the reds. The grain is more than K-40, but not as much as Tri-X. Projected about 4 feet by 6 I did notice that faces in the distance became more indistinguishable than on K-40. If I bear this in mind when I compose my shots I can probably work around it.

The interesting part is some exposure experiments I did. I decided to play around with the unused 1/3rd of the last cartridge in one of the untried cameras. I put the film in a Bolex 280 Macro I had never used. This camera exposes 64T as 40 ASA, but has exposure compensation. I exposed at no compensation and -1/2 stop, therefore 2/3 stop over and only 1/6 stop over. Either exposure looked good and weren’t really distinguishable one from another, so I suspect that 64T has enough latitude that 40ASA exposure should be OK.

It’s also worth noting that after I adjusted one Minolta, I compared it side by side with the other and found the meter readings were identical. So apparently the variability in cameras is as much as this 2/3 of a stop we’ve been so concerned about, and it’s probably worth trying 40/160 only cameras unmodified first.

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 892) on June 27, 2008, 04:30 PM:

Thank you for a wonderful summary, Steve. Makes me want to get busy to try a camera out that needs testing. (More to follow in coming months.)

While I love to give Kodak my business, I'm itching to try some Fuji Velvia 50, which I'm told looks phenomenal both in color and sharpness, and is the closest thing to a K40 image available at the moment. But 64T is both grainer and more lifelike in color compared to K40, IMO.

I wish Kodak would slit and load more of their own product for Super 8. I wonder how sales in general are doing.

Posted by David Kilderry (Member # 549) on June 28, 2008, 09:08 AM:

You'd be surprised how the 64T comes up in cameras that should read 64 as 40. I have tried many over the last two years and in most the exposure looks pretty good. Canon 514 XLS and 318 are just two that fall into this category. My 814 XLS does recognise 64.

I understand the 64T sales are higher than Kodak expected. They would be even better if people would try a roll in one of their non-compatible 64 exposure cameras, you may just be surprised.

David

Posted by Simon McConway (Member # 219) on June 28, 2008, 11:56 AM:

64T is great; I found that sending film to different processors causes different levels of graininess on the finished film. However, these days, all places seem to be making a pretty good job at processing. I read somewhere that this film can withstand exposure errors from cameras not designed to take it. In other words, you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Posted by Adam Wilkins (Member # 1172) on June 28, 2008, 09:36 PM:

i have heard that 64t exposed at 40 asa can give much tighter grain..i haven't tried this myself. i have only shot one roll of 64t and this was in a 1014xl-s which reads as 64.

Posted by Jon Anders Klausen (Member # 818) on February 03, 2010, 03:42 PM:

Hi, I´m considering buying a Canon 514XL camera (my first). But I read over at Suer8Wiki here that this camera will think that the E64T is another type of film called 160ASA, and therefore it will underexpose. It is suggested that one should "Use the EE lock to adjust your exposure to be 1 and 2/3 stop more than the camera suggests."

Has anyone done this? Will E64T work good with this camera? Or maybe there´s another film as available as the E64T?

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