FILMING WITH THE ZC1000N IN ANTARCTICA: REASONS FOR A CHOICE (PART 2: the secret of rock-steady picture with the ZC1000 REVEALED!!!)

(Coming from Part 1 -clic here-)

In this second post of the series, I explain the reasons why the ZC1000N can shoot with supreme steadiness for the picture.

The Super-8 cartridge works perfectly in normal filming situations, but in conditions as extreme as those filming "Perfect Antarctica Madness", with several days at temperatures of -35 degrees Celsius -or lower-, its coaxial, single-axis design is not the technical the most appropriate solution for this special situation.

In the upper cartridge, Super-8, you can see the double loop that the film must stick 12 frames before the window. In Single-8 (the lower cartridge) the path is more direct and, in addition, cameras has a proper pressure pad

Among other reasons to be considerate, the loss of flexibility of the film, at such low temperatures, made me trust more in the Single-8 cartridges, with two axes, and a direct path, from upper roll to lower roll.

There is another factor that decided me to load film into Single-8 cartridges: avoiding the "damned" frame.

Photograph by my friend Luigi Petrin

WHAT IS THE "DAMNED" FRAME?

There is, when shooting 8 mm type film with a Super-8 cartridge, a "damned" frame: the -12, that is, the one located 12 frames before the exposure window, right where the convoluted coaxial design forces the film to rotate on itself to move from one axis to the other.

If the Super-8 cartridge is left in the camera with filming interrupted for a while, the triacetate film base (not the poliester one) takes shape on that axis (a problem that becomes more accentuated as the hours go by, in certain conditions of temperature and humidity or with very open f apertures): As the Super-8 lacks a a proper in-camera pressure pad, this -12 frame will often be blurry and will even produce some unesteady in the images immediately before or after (with movements that, although they can be stabilized in post-production, are nevertheless visible in direct projection of the reversal film original).

This problem at frame -12 is accentuated the thicker the triacetate base is, such as that of some film that come cut from photographic emulsions. The ZC1000N completely avoids this drawback as the camera, like all Single-8 cameras, has a pressure pad built on the camera itself.

ZC1000 double claw after pull down: frames + 3 and + 4 (photo from IB Cinema archive)

THE SECRET FOR PERFECT PICTURE STEADINESS WITH THE ZC1000N REVEALED: A PROPER PRESSURE PAD AND DOUBLE CLAW BELOW THE GATE WINDOW.

Due to the technical demands of the coaxial arrangement, all Super-8 cameras contradict those of the professional world in one thing: the pull-down movement is done by a single claw BEFORE the window itself, PUSHING the film down starting at the perforation -3 and ending at -2.

But it´s very different in the ZC1000N has not one, but TWO CLAW, and these pull the film, not push it down, BELOW the exposure window, at frames +2 and +3 through +3 and +4 . This feature, together with the availability, in the camera, of a true built-in pressure pad (articulated in three parts), is able to shot at image     with rock-steady perfect steadiness, which is the best using reversal film, because the camera film original is projected. If projection is done with a professional Fumeo or Heuertier professional projectors , with the double claw AFTER the window gate, as was always, and still is, the norm in professional motion picture film, steadiness in projection is incredible steady.

The ZC1000N also has a third drive claw, before the window, to shoot in reverse (along the entire cartridge!), without changes in the frame line of the picture.

The two secrets, then, of the supreme steadiness of the ZC1000 are: 1)  a double claw under the window gate; and 2) a pressure pad built in the camera.

Single-8 cartridge in a Z800 camera by Luigi Petrin

Note: in projection, my reversal originals provide perfect steadiness;  however, I cannot match it in digital version due to the telecine scan I´m using. But I'm an independent filmmaker and I have to make do with what I have.

• More information about the claw to gate distance in S8: CLICK HERE

(to be continue)

• IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR THOSE FILMMAKERS WHO WISH TO INCORPORATE SUPER-8 INTO THEIR PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO:

For those readers in the professional field who believe it is convenient to offer Super-8 in their service portfolio, I always recommend Pro 8mm, the same provider used by Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee or J.J. Abrams.

My recommendation is proven: it certainly makes me proud to work with Phil and Rhonda Vigeant, whose efforts on Super-8 have been recognized by the ASC.

At Pro 8 mm they serve in Spanish and English, in the following link, and shipping to Europe takes only 3 days!

The complete catalog of products and services can be seen at the following link:

PRO 8MM