16mm Movie Film as Still Film?

<p>This may seem stupid, but is it possible to shoot a roll of 16mm movie film as if it were still film? Maybe load it onto a normal 35mm reel from like a tri-x film canister, then load it into the camera and shoot? If so, what's a good way to load it? and how would you develop it?</p>

<p>The easiest way is probably to get hold of a Minolta 16, these were subminiature cameras designed to use 16mm film. Make sure it comes with its little film cassette, which is a separate item and often goes missing.</p>

<p>There have been numerous cameras that took unperforated or specially perforated 16 mm film, mainly the precision Minox "spy" cameras and also the low-end Kodak 110 cameras. A normal 35 mm camera would of course need extensive modification to take a 16 mm roll, the easiest thing would be to tape short pieces (about 50 mm long) to the camera pressure plate in a darkroom. There are plenty of secondhand developing tanks for 16 mm film. some intended for short 110 films, others for 25 feet of "double-8" 16 mm film which would be split after processing to give 50 feet of standard 8 film, still other tanks to take 50 or 100 feet of genuine 16 mm movie. You can also process very short pieces of film in trays in the darkroom using so-called see-saw development - this involves holding one end of the film in either hand and raising one end as you lower the other, and vice-versa, to move the film through the developer </p>

<p>In practical terms using a 16mm " sub-milature" camera would be the easiest.<br>

special cartriges for these cameras are expensive,.<br>

May may work well enough with just some kind of take-up spool and load and unload in a darkroom.<br>

Most B&W movie film is reversal film that can be developed as a negative.<br>

Experimantation of advice would be needed to detaermine the times ane ISO fgor a reversal film developed as a nagative.<br>

The not discontimnued Kodachome had a black "rem-jet" backing. It would eb best to avoid any film they had a vbacking like this that would rend to come off in the developer.<br>

Possibly the easiest do deal with would be a 35 foot roll of double 8<br>

which it 16mm stock with twice as many perforations.<br>

Using it in a 35mm camera would have problems framing the image..<br>

Sub-min cameras are not expensive,. and would be a fun thing to use.<br>

The only current/popular? sub min is the Minox that uses 9 or 9.5? mm film./<br>

there are slitters to cut down 35mm film.<br>

development: there are reels available.<br>

Or a plastic plate shaped like a wide toothed comb or just drop the film in an ampty film developing tank loose would work. </p>

<p>Yes, you could. But why would you when it's easier to just shoot the film that was meant to go into the camera?<br />In addition to the subminiature cameras already mentioned that used 16mm film, the 110 Pocket Instatmatic format was 16mm-wide film with special perforations.<br />As anyone who ever used Pocket Instatmatic or the 16mm spy cameras will tell you, the image quality of a picture on 16mm can't match 35mm. All else being equal, the bigger the negative the better the quality, and 16mm is very, very tiny compared with most film formats for still photography.</p>

<p>Grab a cheap old 16mm Bolex and there would would be a way to do single exposure. Not sure if you can adjust the shutter outside the conventional 1/30, 1/40 sec. You'd get avalanche of exposures from one roll. There were several other systems (like Eclair ACL) w/specific motor, but they quickly run up the price.</p>

<p>Les</p>

<p>In High School I bought Eastman 4X 16mm single edge perf b&w movie film and loaded it into Minolta 16 cartridges. The simple Minolta 16 PS has a very sharp lens. I am tempted to get a splitter and load some Ektar 100 or ImageLink HQ into some old cartridges. The funny thing is that lately I have been shooting more 6X6 and 6X7. </p>

,ovie cam,eras are really really outdated

the prioce of a roll of 7mm plus developing and it ran for what 4 minutes?

16mm was better as it usually was `00feet

dbl 8 was split lenghtwise to get the 4+ min

and the 199 feet of 16mm ran 8? minutes.

many modern digicams do better.

some of the european movbie cameras had a variable shutter.

Most ameruical cameras had a ficed 1/30 sec

ok for slow film but nothing over iso 65.

you could speed up the camera to get a higher shutter speed. it was called slow motion and the film still ran in 4-8 minurtes.the rotary shutter in " vaiable shutter" cameras like the bolex

copuld be adjusted and the cameras will use the 100 speed film made today

there may be some iso 50 fuji

but B&W is 100 or much faster requiring a variable shutter that could be set at higher speeds like 1/60

or even faster.

yjis makes most movie cameras almost unusable.

and the hassle of using narrow film in a larger camera is diffcult

and not very rewarding.

<p>As stated, the Minolta is the way to go. The cassettes are the problem now. A quicker alternative and cheaper is a FSU Kiev 30M or 303 because the cassettes for those are $1 each. They look the same superficially but there is an important difference in the take-up side. The Kiev cassette has a smaller hole for the winding capstan that prevents it being used in a Minolta but allows 24 instead of 18 exposures. Otherwise it is identical to the Minolta cassette. The Kiev also has a focusing wheel that the Minoltas lack; those have slide-in close-up lenses. Both kinds have speeds from 25 (30) to 200 or 500th depending on the model.<br>

Remjet backing is intended to be rubbed off after processing and the film is still wet. Use a finger gently or a piece of chamois leather.<br>

The quality of the final result is a challenge of technique, both of steadiness in exposure and avoiding grainy developers. I have used them for over 50 years. If you've been offered the film at the right price (?free?) grab some and outlay for a Kiev with a couple of cassettes. It's great fun and there is still a following for this stuff. Google 'goat hill' and go from there.</p><div></div>

<p>Minolta 16 is a nice subminiature camera, however the Minolta cassette is hard to find.<br>

I use Wirgin Edixa 16 and Edixa 16M for unperforated 16mm film. Edixa 16 uses Rollei 16<br>

single cassette, which is easier to find. I some times eveb load 16mm film in the darkroom without cassette, this allows me to shoot up to 70 frames instead of 20.<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17439082-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="377" /><br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17439084-lg.jpg" alt="" width="496" height="192" /></p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/16894836-lg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="602" /><br>

Photo with Edixa 16</p>

<p> </p>

<blockquote>

<p>Remjet backing is intended to be rubbed off after processing and the film is still wet</p>

</blockquote>

<p>AFAIK, b&w movie film is not coated with Remjet.</p>

<p>Personally, the smallest I'd want to go for still photography would be 4-perf 35mm. You could get a good 12Mpx scan from that size if you used a fine-grained emulsion and exposed well. Just FWIW.</p>

<p>My 16mm camera collection<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18278724-md.jpg" alt="P1030382.JPG" /><br>

Steky 16mm,Japan<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18275884-md.jpg" alt="P1030354.JPG" /><br>

Goerz Minicord III 16mm twin lens reflex,Austria</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18274992-md.jpg" alt="Mikroma lens hood" /><br>

Meopta Mikroma II 16mm ,Czeckoslovakia<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18285761-md.jpg" alt="P1030414.JPG" /><br>

Mamiya 16 automatic,Japan<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18278607-md.jpg" alt="P1030374.JPG" /><br>

Mamiya 16 Super,Japan<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18235198-md.jpg" alt="P1030256.JPG" /><br>

MEC-16SB, Germany<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18233938-md.jpg" alt="P1030245.JPG" /><br>

Golden Ricoh 16,Japan<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18272576-md.jpg" alt="P1030342.JPG" /> Narciss 16mm SLR made in Russia</p>

<p> </p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18282999-md.jpg" alt="Minicord2016906 (25)" /><br>

Minicord<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18272707-md.jpg" alt="Guildwood Park 16807 (7)" /><br>

Narciss<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18262490-md.jpg" alt="Untitled (2) (25)" /><br>

Mikroma II<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18241894-md.jpg" alt="Untitled (8)" /><br>

Mamiya 16 super</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18287202-md.jpg" alt="Minicord III A 2016919 (15)" /><br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18287193-md.jpg" alt="Minicord III A 2016919 (6)" /><br>

Goerz Minicord, Kodak Plus X cine film 7276</p>