Super Duper 8

[Matthew Buick]

I have a few questions about Super Duper 8, well, here they are :

 

What exact Aspect Ratio is Super Duper 8 ?

 

How do you get a 16:9 image from Super Duper 8 ?

 

Are there any faults with the Super Duper 8 system ?

 

Are there any better names for Super Duper 8 ?

[Timothy David Orme]

Super Duper 8:

 

can also be called Max8 or Ultra8 if SD8 sounds dumb to you.

 

can be faulty in that some of cameras need a bit of a repositioning of the lens. Example: the Nizos tend to vignette a little.

 

shoot with a apsect ratio is 1:66 at the largest, a little bigger on others. To get a 16:9, just cut/crop the image.

 

 

If you're interested in more info check out the webpage for SLEEP ALWAYS: http://www.friendlyfirefilms.ca/. You can even talk to the filmmakers directly.

[Matthew Buick]

Is the Canon 814XL-S one of the jiffy Cameras for Ultra 8 conversion ?

[Rick Palidwor]

I have a few questions about Super Duper 8, well, here they are :

 

What exact Aspect Ratio is Super Duper 8 ?

 

How do you get a 16:9 image from Super Duper 8 ?

 

Are there any faults with the Super Duper 8 system ?

 

Are there any better names for Super Duper 8 ?

 

I believe the aspect ratio is 1.55:1. As mentioned, you get 16:9 by cropping a little of the top and bottom.

 

Lots of faults: possibility of vignetting, especially at wide-angle settings and when focused close and aperture wide-open. A combination of all three of these things will certainly result in vignetting. Shooting with a decent aperture (e.g. f4) reduces chances of vignetting significantly.

 

More faults: you can't see the right-hand edge of the frame, so you have to frame carefully, checking that side to make sure there are no unwanted objects there. Also, when centering something, you frame it off-centre a little. Some trial and error on this but not hard to get used to.

 

More faults: some processing machines can scratch the right-hand edge of the film, since it was not supposed to be capturing image in that area. We use wet-gate in our transfer to eliminate the scratches.

 

Re: the name super-duper 8, there have been many discussions of this. I am one of the people behind the name and we think it's silly and we like it for that reason. Lots of people hate it. Call it what you like.

 

Rick

[Andrew Means]

I believe the aspect ratio is 1.55:1. As mentioned, you get 16:9 by cropping a little of the top and bottom.

 

Lots of faults: possibility of vignetting, especially at wide-angle settings and when focused close and aperture wide-open. A combination of all three of these things will certainly result in vignetting. Shooting with a decent aperture (e.g. f4) reduces chances of vignetting significantly.

 

More faults: you can't see the right-hand edge of the frame, so you have to frame carefully, checking that side to make sure there are no unwanted objects there. Also, when centering something, you frame it off-centre a little. Some trial and error on this but not hard to get used to.

 

More faults: some processing machines can scratch the right-hand edge of the film, since it was not supposed to be capturing image in that area. We use wet-gate in our transfer to eliminate the scratches.

 

Re: the name super-duper 8, there have been many discussions of this. I am one of the people behind the name and we think it's silly and we like it for that reason. Lots of people hate it. Call it what you like.

 

Rick

 

Thanks for that info, Rick- I wasn't aware about the viewfinder issue, interesting. I'm still totally interested in doing that- I'll have to get in touch with you when I'm back from Japan...