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Ultra 16 film gate coming to Bono Labs?
By Frey | April 23, 2007
What?! You’ve never heard of the Ultra16 film format?!
Don’t feel bad, it’s definitely not the most prominent 16mm shooting format out there. Think of it as a kind of a mix between standard 16mm and Super-16 film, but the explanation is a whole lot more technical. When using Ultra-16 and blowing the film up to 35mm, there is only a 3% difference in the amount of frame used as compared to Super-16. When compared to a regular 16mm blowup to 35mm, the Ultra16 frame is 28% larger (or 35%, depending on which 16mm standard you’re reading).
The real beauty of Ultra 16 is that you can still use double-perf cameras and still use your regular 16mm lenses! You also don’t have to change the placement of the lenses (a Super 16 camera lens mount is off-center from the standard 16mm lens mount placement). Nor do you have to change anything in the magazines. It’s original creator, Frank G. DeMarco, had the idea that the only thing you would have to change is your gate - which is rather easy. This makes things really nice, since you don’t have to buy another set of lenses (for Super-16); you can use the same beautiful 16mm lenses that you’ve been using. Oh - Did I mention you can still use double-perf cameras?
So, what’s the hangup? Why haven’t you heard of it? Well, not many facilities have been transferring Ultra16 in the USA. And most of those places that have been, have stopped doing so or don’t advertise it. Why? Because Super 16 became the de facto second standard of 16mm, and no one has really looked back to investigate a third standard, no matter what kind of cost or even shooting advantage it may offer.
Did I say shooting advantage? Yep. With Ultra 16 you can still use double-perf 16mm film. This means you can do some serious high speed shooting versus single-perf 16mm film. Double perf means the film, in theory at least, should remain steadier in the gate.
Several years ago, I posted a 16mm, Super 16, and Ultra 16 format comparison chart. I’d become very interested in it after finding an Eclair NPR for sale that was setup to shoot that format. After doing the research and gathering all the information that I could find, I realized that the Ultra 16 format was theoretically a great idea, if you could find someone that was doing the transfers. And that’s where the problem lie: finding a facility to transfer was no easy task.
And then along came Tim Bono of Bono Labs. Tim actually started working on this about two and a half years ago, after he’d been getting many calls and emails requesting Ultra16 HD transfers. Tim asked me to help him, so I sent him some of my Ultra16 film for testing. Later, he asked me to shoot some more film for him, this time against film charts. Since then, it’s been something Tim has been trying to get finished, but testing this kind of thing is tricky, since it requires his Cineglyph to do the tests - and since the Cineglyph needs to be ready and able to do it’s day-to-day job, it hasn’t been easy, and it looked like a new gate might not ever get made.
That is until yesterday, when I received this email from Tim:
“Adam, the gate is still alive and especially after meeting the guys at NAB that will be cutting the prototype. I still have your [second ultra16] roll of film here that has yet to be processed but will revive the machine here in the next week or so for testing. I’ll let you know once we get a test off, maybe send you some files on a drive once it’s making pictures. Regards, Tim”
I’m looking forward to seeing the results and, if Tim sends me the files, I’ll try to post a few rips here on MarylandFilms.com, if possible.
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Topics: film |
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