SOLD Super 8 (keep open for discussion if mods want)

[toptenmaterial]

Sold- topic is open for discussion

Edited February 8, 2016 by toptenmaterial

[Justin Payne]

Wait, just looking for some clerification. Super 8 is a film where hi8 is analog tape. You're saying camcorder, which makes me think tape but the "super" makes me think film. I have a hi8 and a I might have Super8 camera.

Tell us more about the 800 and post some good pics, please.

[cjameslv]

pm sent

[Justin Payne]

I hope public messages also count as "interested".

[7800fan]

The only super 8 camera I know of were old technology when I was a kid. I didn't think anyone still made blank super-8 films.

[Justin Payne]

Ok, I looked up Super 8 film and this was 8mm film that came in a cartridge. I know the camera I had didn't come in a cartridge but was 8mm so I must just have a standard 8 camera. Now, if he's talkin' Hi8, I have a sweet Canon ES4000 that has an eye controlled focus box. Pretty slick. I was just recently using to convert all of my Hi8's over to the computer but I need to get a new HDD because these things come out to get about 7 gigs a piece.

[toptenmaterial]

Ok! What I meant was Super 8, the 60s and 70s format in the cartridge. I got a PM so we'll see if it pans out.

[+save2600]

I would have made that trade with you, but gave away my Super 8 a while ago. Even had a mechanical wind up version of it that must have been from the 50's or earlier.

[Justin Payne]

I think I have one of those hand crank editors as well as a projector. Gotta get those films transfered to digital as well. So much ta do.

[+save2600]

I think I have one of those hand crank editors as well as a projector. Gotta get those films transfered to digital as well. So much ta do.

 

Haha, I remember those! Maybe look around your area for a service to do just that though. I did years ago and am glad I did. The cost spent to have a few dozen reels of film transferred to DVD by someone who took the time and had the right equipment was well worth it. Have edited and made several nice family album compilations from them since.

 

Oh wait, did I say DVD? That shit's not good enough… want my old memories from film on Blu-ray now!!

 

(hope that company is still in business!)

[toptenmaterial]

By the way, B&H does carry Super 8 film: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Movie-Film/ci/341/N/4093113313

 

It's awfully pricy!

 

The Lomokino looks pretty sweet: http://microsites.lomography.com/lomokino/

[Justin Payne]

Oh, yea, I know the transfer won't look good. In fact, these films have to be more than 46 years old so who knows what condition they are in.

[toptenmaterial]

Oh, yea, I know the transfer won't look good. In fact, these films have to be more than 46 years old so who knows what condition they are in.

Well the ones that they sell at B&H are still in production, I believe. I'm not sure if the transfer causes it to lose anything or not; truthfully I've never done any video work. I did just have some 35mm negative stills scanned and they look real good.

 

EDIT: After digging around... holy sh!t, is this film expensive. Starting at $35 for color.

 

EDIT: However, it appears that actual Super 8 motion feature films are cheap as hell, between $8 to $15. If I had a projector I'd be all over that.

Edited February 5, 2016 by toptenmaterial

[gliptitude]

By the way, B&H does carry Super 8 film: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Movie-Film/ci/341/N/4093113313

It's awfully pricy!

The Lomokino looks pretty sweet: http://microsites.lomography.com/lomokino/

A single 50ft cartridge of Super 8 film is worth more than most Super 8 cameras. 50ft of 8mm film equals less than 3 minutes of footage when shooting at 24 fps. You also have to find a lab that actually still processes movie film, and pay them.

 

It's encouraging to see that B&H has some Kodak Super 8. I'm pretty sure it is NOT still in production, or at least not directly by Kodak.

 

Kodak made Ektachrome color super 8 movie film up until their bankruptcy. I bought a few rolls from them a few years ago for about $25 per roll. Now that (recent and refrigerated) stock is selling on ebay for over $70 per roll.

 

.. Most of that stuff at B&H is probably not for you. You need REVERSAL film in order to yield an actual film you can watch. NEGATIVE film is a professional film which will yield a negative image which you will need to take to another lab and pay for a print on print film.

 

... That Lomokino does look neat! .. It seems strange though that they didn't use a smaller size frame in order to fit more in.

[gliptitude]

EDIT: After digging around... holy sh!t, is this film expensive. Starting at $35 for color.

If you are referring to the color super 8 films at B&H, it looks like those are all NEGATIVE films.

[Goochman]

My Dad used a SUper-8 camera to do family videos in the 70's and early 80's. I was dying to get them converted to a digital format and couldnt find any reasonable solutions, so DIY was in order.

 

Half the fun of watching these was loading the projector and hearing the clickity sound as the reel went through the movie so I decided these were elements I wanted to keep. So I set my projector and screen up in my basement - totally pitch black at night. I set my camcorder up near the projector and focus/zoom perfect on the screen and recorded the movies as they played. It came out great and obviously looks *exactly* how my family remembered watching them.

 

Word of warning - these are 2-3 mins in length which isnt much, but if run into a glitch during playback you have to run the whole movie through, rewind and start again. It took about 4 hours to watch/record like 24 reels.

 

Good times

[+stupus]

I just had 22 rolls of my old super 8 films transferred last year to DVD and they look very nice.

And they were all around 40 years old or more.

Anyone in chicago area, I know a great place if you need any media converted

[Justin Payne]

That's good to hear. Hopefully mine hold up as well. They're actually my mom's so it'll be interesting to see what's on them.

[7800fan]

I really need to get my 8mm done. Not super-8 but older 8mm. They run at 16fps and looks horrible if you tried most video camera for capture because 16 does not evenly divide from 25/50 (PAL) or 30/60 (NTSC) so I need to get them professionally done.

 

40 or 50 reels, all 3 minutes, and I'm looking at a few hundred dollars minimum. Anyone want to suggest a good place in USA? I only know of a place in Clio but will ship if there's recommended pro digitizer.

[+stupus]

This is the wonderful guy in batavia, IL who has done all my stuff:

http://www.reelprovideo.com

 

He has been doing it for 34 years.

He cleans all films, and views them to make any possible improvements he can.

And I think he does every media.

He even did a 16mm reel from my uncles wedding from 1941 and it was great.

Looks like you can ship there to.

And I know his prices were better than going to even walgreens drug store on my super 8 stuff. And they just ship out to a lab that does who knows what with it.

[gliptitude]

None of the film frame rates divide evenly into any of the video frame rates, except for special (now obsolete) film cameras specifically made for television broadcasting.

 

Motion picture film technology is a very straightforward mechanical process. Video is not. "Frame" and "frame rate" are very concrete concepts in film, much less so in video. The film is coming to a complete stop inside the camera every time a frame is captured. It is only moving (one frame at a time) while the shutter is closed. The projector does the same thing at the same rate.

 

With video, and all electronic image capture, there is a scanning process and a corresponding drawing process when displayed. You are not consistently being presented with a concrete sequence of individual full pictures. There is overlap.

 

TELECINE is the older technology for transfering film to video, and probably still the prevailing technology for consumer "home movie transfer". This diagram explains it:

 

 

I used a semi-pro telecine machine to transfer some stuff a few years ago when the equipment was part of a free film workshop at one of the art museums in Los Angeles. There are also cheap consumer products sometimes called telecine that basically just use a screen to obscure the flicker while you record with a digital camera. I've never used one of those but i would guess that it will suffice for most home movie purposes and i am certain that some of the businesses advertising film transfer just use one of these, rather than real telecine.

[toptenmaterial]

 

If you are referring to the color super 8 films at B&H, it looks like those are all NEGATIVE films.[/quote

 

If I am not mistaken the cheaper black and white stuff is reversal film. Would you mind explaining the difference?

 

EDIT: I think that I understand now. The reversal film is good for immediate viewing? In my case what I'm trying to do it make a short little cheesy horror movie with my friend. I am a decent photographer but have never done video. The idea is to send the stuff out to be transferred digitally so I can edit it on the computer, dub over it etc.

Edited February 5, 2016 by toptenmaterial

[gliptitude]

If you are referring to the color super 8 films at B&H, it looks like those are all NEGATIVE films.[/quote

 

If I am not mistaken the cheaper black and white stuff is reversal film. Would you mind explaining the difference?

 

EDIT: I think that I understand now. The reversal film is good for immediate viewing? In my case what I'm trying to do it make a short little cheesy horror movie with my friend. I am a decent photographer but have never done video. The idea is to send the stuff out to be transferred digitally so I can edit it on the computer, dub over it etc.

 

You are correct. The black and white KODAK TRI-X REVERSAL FILM, $21.95 at B&H is the one you want. The $38 B&W product would also work. The $15 ones won't work for you because they are only on spools, not super 8 cartridges. (I presume these are made to load on re-usable cartridges that were common in USSR and maybe Europe). The color ones won't work for you because they are negative films.

 

Reversal vs Negative? I have already somewhat explained it, but it might still be confusing if you have never shot any kind of film (such as 35mm still photography).

 

If you ARE old enough to remember when all photgraphy was film then you will remember getting NEGATIVES back with your picture prints from the photo lab. Negatives are used to make PRINTS. If you wanted to make more prints you could take the negatives back to the lab and they would use them to make new prints. Typical still photography film is NEGATIVE film. When you look at the processed film that went through the camera you see a negative image, an image where the things that were dark in real life appear bright and the things that appeared bright in real life appear dark. .. The print that is made from the negative could be called a positive image, bright is bright and dark is dark.

 

Well have you ever seen a SLIDE? A slide was just a single frame of 35mm film mounted in a cardboard frame. To view the slide you simply shine a light from behind it, just like a stain glass window, or put it in a slide projector with a magnifying lens. When you bought a roll of slide film, took your pictures and dropped it off at the lab, you got the same film back (cut up and mounted in cardboard frames).

 

SLIDE FILM IS THE SAME THING AS REVERSAL FILM. In fact some of the slide film stocks are the exact same film stocks they used for Super 8 movie film. It is simply cut and perforated in different dimensions in order to conform with different cameras.

 

"Reversal" and "negative" are designations of the actual film stock you are putting in your camera, which is the same physical length of film the lab will return to you after processing.

 

Does this make sense?

 

..

 

I guess if you shoot negative film the lab will probably offer you a PRINT and they can probably skip the film print and go straight to a video transfer. .. In general negative movie film is more for professionals and you should use reversal to learn first. Also a large part of the fun is getting a roll of film back that you can actually look at.

 

The Tri-X is a really great place to start. It was always the easiest movie film to use, even when Kodak still had their full range of products. There is still some stuff you'll need to learn, but less than if you use anything else.

[toptenmaterial]

@gliptitude thanks for the detailed explanation. I did actually grew up in the pre-digital era but have only been into photography for a few years. A good friend of mine has a lab so I've seen her process negatives. I don't know the tech angle but I get the general idea.

 

My dad had a large beta camcorder growing up that my sisters and I made some little movies on. You had to have a floodlight on or else your footage was nearly black. In high school I took video production which used VHS but I got turned off by how complicated the editing boards were.

 

But after a few years of learning photography I am interested in shooting video. I've seen short Super 8 films on YouTube and they look awesome. So I think I can do it, especially since I won't be editing them authenticity.

[7800fan]

This is the wonderful guy in batavia, IL who has done all my stuff:

http://www.reelprovideo.com

 

He has been doing it for 34 years.

He cleans all films, and views them to make any possible improvements he can.

And I think he does every media.

He even did a 16mm reel from my uncles wedding from 1941 and it was great.

Looks like you can ship there to.

And I know his prices were better than going to even walgreens drug store on my super 8 stuff. And they just ship out to a lab that does who knows what with it.

 

I sent them an email asking for quote, the email bounced back as non-working account. If you're nearby can you ask them to check that email and web site, it is possible the site has obsolete email link.