Not to cause any grief here but the ACL meter is not a standard
reflectance light meter. What it does is tell you when the light has
changed. Those who have bothered to read the manual on the ACL know
that you have to first read the light of the scene and then set the
meter in the ACL to zero set. It then tells you haw many stops the
light changes as you pan, zoom, whatever. In my opinion this isnt worth
the price of the leds. You cannot set ASA or DIN into this meter and
you cannot simply turn it on aim it at something and read the exposure.
It is not a light meter as we know it. It is more like a voltage /ohm
meter. Whatever that is worth when you are shooting a scene I dont
know.
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Welle <mwelle@starband.net>
Date: Thursday, July 10, 2003 5:53 pm
Subject: RE: Eclair Cameras: Light Meter Issues
> There are, nevertheless, situations when having an internal
> lightmeter
> would prove invaluable. Let's say you were walking down the
> street and
> you saw a UFO. I can pretty much assure you that you don't want
> to be
> taking out your lightmeter and calculating F-Stops at this time--
> no
> matter how much more accurate it would be.
>
> One of the great things about the Canon Scoopic and its M and MS
> versions were/are the ability for auto iris. Yes, film snobs
> around the
> world will tell you that you should always be calculating your
> readings
> with a light meter--but in the real world the built in lightmeter
> solves
> tons of problems. I remember being able to do long tracking
> shots with
> the M or MS because it could compensate when you moved from an
> area of
> lightness to darkness instantaneously. How were the seemingly
> endless
> tracking shots in "Goodfellas," "The Player," and "Snake Eyes"
> accomplished? I can't imagine these being done with the operator
> manually adjusting the iris. Why do all of the leading video
> camera
> manufacturers put auto iris onto their cameras--because it makes
> shooting much less dicey, gives you less headaches if in the
> opposite
> situation you had taken inaccurate readings and it gives the
> inexperienced videographer or filmmaker the ability to make movies
> without having to worry about the painstaking process of light
> readings.
> Yes, in some instances manual light readings may make a slightly
> better
> exposed picture. But when the pressure is on its often more
> reliable to
> put your trust into a filmmaking machine rather than (to quote the
> Sex
> Pistols) "a human machine." In essence, auto irises and built-in
> meters
> add to the democratization in filmmaking.
>
> While the ACL does not have an automatic lightmeter like the
> Scoopic,
> its built in light meter allows you to determine the light reading
> for a
> static shot or a shot without much lighting change (although a
> safer bet
> would be static shots). In a previous post it was inferred that
> reaching up and changing apertures with the Eclair ACL was
> essentially
> futile. In order to change F-Stops while the camera is exposing
> film
> you have to adjust the iris poteniometer while the camera's
> shutter is
> running (let's say at 24fps). If you calibrate the meter without
> the
> camera's shutter moving you will get inaccurate readings (if you
> take
> your readings while film is being exposed). If, on the other
> hand, you
> take readings before the shutter is moving then you should
> calibrate the
> meter by adjusting the potentiometer without the shutter in motion
> (this
> is how I expose film). According to what I understood from a
> conversation with Bernie O'Doherty, having red diodes activated
> while
> film is running through the camera can lead to flicker problems.
> I have
> spoken with Bernie about creating an on/off switch for my camera
> which
> will allow me to de-activate the light meter after I've taken a
> reading
> and before I am about to run film through the camera. I wonder if
> the
> previous post entitled EXP ON/OFF switch is related to this?
>
> Now that I'm clear on all of this, it leaves me with two
> questions: 1)
> Does the internal light meter go up to ASA 800 or ASA 400?
> 2) Does anyone have any other suggestions on how to make the
> internal
> light meter work with Super 16?
>
> Since the Eclair ACL is such a light weight compact camera it only
> makes
> sense that it should have a built-in light meter. The techs at
> Eclair
> were smart enough to realize this for Regular 16. Even if you
> dislike
> the built-in metering, it would be nice to have others understand
> that I
> am one voice in this community (who may be among others) who does
> believe in the built in light meter for the reasons mentioned
> above.
> For people like me, who believes in automation at a fair price, It
> would
> be great to keep the simplicity and democratization of built-in
> light
> metering as an option for Super 16 with the ACL.
>
> Gerald.L.Loessberg-1 wrote:
> >
> > This is only my opinion and there are quite a few here on
> topica, but
> > having a light meter that informs the operator that the lighting
> > conditions have changed is not very helpful. While shooting,
> what are
> > you going to do, reach up there and change apertures, good luck.
> Most
> > experienced dp´s check their external meter between shots.
> Modern
> > telecine will let you compensate for minor or for that matter
> even major
> > exposure changes inside a take. There is no replacement for
> > understanding exposure and taking a moment to analyze your scene
> and
> > what your gaffer has done to it. Take the meter out . If you
> want an
> > ARRI SR S16 then buy one and quite trying to make your ACL into
> one. The
> > ACL when healthy is quieter, lighter and more flexible than the
> SR will
> > ever be. Eclair has achieved the sublime in this camera and
> remember
> > that the Arri SR was in fact designed after the Eclair NPR,
> neither of
> > which is as quite as a healthy ACL. The ACL with the 200´ mag
> is the
> > smallest professional camera on the market and if it has been
> modified
> > properly with Mark´s Gold kit, ( he still has some available) it
> is the
> > coolest. Whatever cool is worth. Have your camera serviced by
> a good
> > tech, converted and start shooting. That is what the camera was
> > designed for, shooting.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Mark <super16acl@aol.com>
> > Date: Wednesday, July 9, 2003 8:00 pm
> > Subject: Re: Eclair Cameras: Light Meter Issues
> >
> > > It would certainly be a pain to try to retain the light meter
> with
> > > a Super-16
> > > conversion, and frankly I've never done it. But I can
> visualize
> > > how it would
> > > be accomplished.
> > >
> > > It could involve replacing the convex lens on the prism with a
> > > longer one,
> > > using a wide angle diopter on the viewfinder to see both the
> light
> > > meter and the
> > > full super-16 frame, and ultimately the circle in the finder
> that
> > > represents
> > > where the reading is taken would be off-center of the image. I
> > > gave
> > > suggestions in the HD-144 manual for those who wanted to try,
> but
> > > I think it may fall
> > > into the category of either "Life is too short" or "the cost
> is
> > > more than the
> > > camera is worth." But check with Bernie O'Doherty. Also,
> August
> > > Loessberg has
> > > been playing with enlarging the field of view through the
> finder,
> > > which would
> > > be a major help. Mark.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>
>
> Michael Welle
>
>
>