Well, on vacation recently, my dad explained to me how when he was kid, he used to own a super 8mm camera and a projector. Turns out it's at his mother's place and I desperately want to experiment with this old thing.

First off, have any of you used a super 8 camera before, and how's it like? Secondly, where can I find film for this thing (if I can find any, that is -)? And last, what kind of places can I go to transfer the film into a digital format for editing.

Thanks.

kodak still makes 8mm.

but it depends on the camera, so you have to check what kind of film it uses. 8mm was around before video cameras, remember. now think of all the kinds of video cameras we have today, that's how it was with 8mm. so you have to check what kind of film the camera was made for, because kodak doesn't make some of those kinds anymore.

other than that, 8mm is just like shooting any other film, and the cameras work on the same principles. it's just that the lenses and focal lengths are smaller because of the size, but that's nothing you have to worry about it, it's already done.

developing is a hassle. i think there's only one place on the west coast that does it. so there might only be on place on the east coast. look it up on line.

here's the place on the west coast:

www.pro8mm.com


transferring 8mm is just as expensive as transferring real film, even more so since 8mm is so small and fragile. so i don't think you'll have enough money for that. but on ebay they're always selling 8mm projectors because everyone has one that grandpa or grandma used to use, and no one wants them anymore.

Super 8. the wonderful world of super 8. it took me close to a year to finaly get full super 8 capabilities. Kodak only continue to make their Kodachrome 40, silent range of super 8 film, thats, 40 ASA daylight film in cartrige form.

Kodak on develops super 8 in switzerland and because Kodak has no super8 offices in the states, if you purchase your film in the states you will have to send it either to kodak switzerland direct or an independant processing company.

If you have any other question. just post it, i have done heaps of research into super 8,

Check out this site. This dude is a Super 8 fanatic.

I'd love to switch from Digital 8 to Super 8, but since I'm not even a filmmaking student, I need a cheep way to scan the film. If anybody knows of a way, I'd love to hear it. I think I might just build my own work printer.....

http://www.super8filmmaking.com/

Super 8 is phenomenal. DEFINETELY GET IT. Kodachrome looks great, great accurate color and sharpness, almost looks as good as 16 for a fraction of the price (a roll of kodachrome WITH PROCESSING is cheaper than a roll of TRI-X 16mm).

You can but a SYNCH SOUND Super 8 camera off ebay for @ $300. Also there are cheap telecine devices, under $50 on ebay and you can buy a variable shutter projector for the telecine process for under $100, so for a few hundred bucks you can have your own telecine station.

Super 8 looks great and is WAY cheaper than 16mm and looks just as good if you are a skilled cameraman (no it does NOT look grainy and cruddy as rumor has it).

Ebay has some Super 8 film, Kodak sells film, B and H photo (bhphoto.com) also sells super 8 film, along with many other websites.

Also I recently had a roll of super 8 sent off for development and Kodak told me they just changed and NOW DEVELOP IN THE STATES. They no longer send it out to Switzerland (though it did take two weeks for me to get it back).

from my experience, super8 will not look anything like 16mm. super8 is grainier and doesn't handle colors as well. especially when you compare it to Vision2 16mm. this is even more apparent when you project them.

there's also regular 8mm, i think it's called Cinepak, and it comes in 25 foot rolls from Kodak.

I found a camera that uses 16mm film, but shoots only have the frame so you end up with an 8mm frame. so you end up with a small format, you get 200 ft of film off a 100 ft load, and you can use the Vision2 stocks to help the grain out a little more. plus get better colors and contrast than the Kodachrome.

although i really like how kodachrome messes with the colors sometimes.