I'm shooting my first, well, second actually (the first was a complete disaster from the beginning and was never completed), short film next week. I'll be using Super 8.
But, let's be honest here, I'm scared.
I'm afraid of having poorly exposed film which is the most likely problem to arise with luck like mine.
I've heard of a technique where one uses a Polaroid camera to test the lighting of the scene in order to see if one can get a proper exposure. I've Googled it, but have not come up with any information that teaches me how to do this, and this is where I hope someone can step in (though I will continue to search).
Does anyone know how to "rig," or just use a Polaroid to give an approximate exposure similar to a Super 8? I'm assuming it depends on the iso of the film used, but any information that could help me would be... well, helpful.
Hope this makes sense.
Thanks for everything.
I know that regular Polaroid 600 film is ASA 640. If the speed of the super 8 film is anywhere near that, then I guess you could use polaroids to check exposure. But still, wouldn't this not be entirely accurate because the shutter speed and aperture of the polaroid are unknown? Unless you can check the model of the polaroid camera and see if it has a fixed aperture / shutter speed. I think some do.
I don't really know what I'm talking about because I've never worked with film, but if you're really worried about your exposure being right, I would find a friend with a dSLR so you can set the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed similar to the super 8 and get a more accurate idea of what the exposure will look like.
Thanks, and that is a fine idea, I suppose. One that, perhaps, I will end up using if worse comes to worst.
The limited amount of information I gave is the extent of all that my searching has given me. I will find sites that say, "oh, I use polaroids to test exposure. You should buy it from [link is dead]. Oh, well, I guess they don't sell them anymore. =*("
It's those frustrating people that lead me to ask Xixax.
But thanks again.