|
Beaulieu 6008 S One of the few super 8 cameras with interchangeable lens system.
The photo above shows the camera with a Nikon 35mm f/2.5 with an mount adaper. Although it has many attrative features, I wouldn't rely on this camera for serious projects due to the fact it breaks easily. Well, here is the story of mine. When I got the camera, the reverse run feature wasn't working and the time lapse feature was acting weird. After several months of storage, the camera decided not to work anymore. It was one of the most expensive super 8 cameras I have ever bought, and now its worth is close to nothing. Well, that's just my story. If you get the right one, it might work perfectly for a very long time. But I see this model being sold on ebay as "for parts or repair" quite often, so I don't think my story is uncommon. Not to mention, the body is made of plastic and feels kind of squeaky. If I will ever want to get a super 8 camera with the interchangeable lens system, I would probably go for one of the 4008 series. By the way, if you are wondering about the difference between 6008 S and 6008 Pro, the latter is a slightly better version with a synchroquartz motor and 80fps max. frame rate. The C Mount
The internal silver thread is C mount. There is LED light within the viewfinder to help you set the exposure TTL (Go to the Viewfinder section below for more on this). The external silver thread is for the lenses supplied by Beaulieu with which you can do automatic exposure and electric zoom. Here are some of the Beaulieu mount lenses I know of:
As far as I know, there is no adapter for Beaulieu mount, so these lenses can only be used on Beaulieu. However, some of them are available in C mount without auto exposure and electric zoom capability.
The Mirror Reflex
Unlike many super 8 cameras, which use beamsplitter prism for reflex viewfinder, Beaulieu use mirror reflex system. Having mirror reflex is helpful especially when the lens is interchangeable. The viewfinder screen is very simple:
The exposure guide can be used when you want to set exposure manually; the yellow LED flickers when it's not at a correct (average) exposure. Turn the aperture ring until the yellow LED stops flickering. When it does, you have your exposure. The Beaulieu 6008 uses partial groundglass-like range finder (the circle in the viewfinder). To me, split-image is more usuful.
The Variable Shutter
What's interesting about Beaulieu's variable shutter is that it doesn't go by "shutter angle" because it doesn't have the widely used rotary shutter. Beaulieu uses oscillating (guillotine) shutter instead. According to the manual, the shutter speed for 24fps when the shutter is set at L.L. (low light) is 1/60 sec. 1/96 sec for 24fps at N (normal). The shutter angle equivalents would be 144° (L.L.) and 90° (N). Anyway, it's great to have a variable shutter. But I'm somewhat disappointed by the fact that Beaulieu only offers two options (N or L.L.) and the widest opening is appoximately 144° which is about 1/3 of a stop darker than typical 180° shutter. I wish the widest were around 210° and it went all the way down to at least 45°.
The 200ft Cartridge
It accomodates the 200ft cartridge. Too bad it's discontinued. However, Wittner Cinetec in Germany might still sell 200ft super 8 film.
The Sound Recording
I wish I could record sound directly on Super 8 like you see in the film Super 8 (2011), but the time has long gone.
Specifications
|
