New Movie Camera Book

Ryan Ball · April 2, 2007

I was just over at Spectra in North Hollywood on Saturday and saw that had this new coffee table book all about 8mm, Super 8 and 16 cameras. I think the title is just "Movie Cameras" or something like that. It's a big thick sucker with a lot of nice, glossy photography of just about ever super8 camera made. They're a bit pricy at about $120, but really nice.

I had them do a telecine on about 1,000 feet of Plus-x and Tri-x I shot back in 1995-1996. It came out looking great. Ill post some footage when it get it uploaded.

Alessandro Machi · April 2, 2007

I saw the book at Spectra also. It probably has a couple thousand of thumbnail pictures in it along with full size photos. It's really useful for the filmmaker that wants to do research on a camera that they are thinking of buying on eBay or elsewhere. Many times the seller doesn't know how to describe the camera properly and just being able to see a picture of the camera can help one tell what type of features the camera offers.

April 2, 2007

This may be one of the books produced by Jürgen Lossau, editor of Smallformat. See http://www.atollmedien.de/english/home.html.

Ryan Ball · April 2, 2007

This may be one of the books produced by Jürgen Lossau, editor of Smallformat. See http://www.atollmedien.de/english/home.html.

That's it. The "Movie Cameras" one.

Alessandro Machi · April 3, 2007

Hey I got an idea. Lets go to Spectra and thumb through their store copy, make a decision as to whether or not we like the book, and then find the cheapest place on the internet to buy it!

Yeah, that's the ticket!

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The above was sarcasm.

Poor Spectra, they're probably reading this going, "store copy, What Store Copy!!!" Having a U.S. distributor, where one can actually see the book before purchasing it, is something to be appreciated. I couldn't help but notice a box behind the counter at Spectra that had a whole in it. It turns out it was a book order from Europe and two of these terrific books disappeared from inside the the box before it arrived. The box arrived with a hole that had be taped back together shut, who do you think is going to replace the two books that never arrived? How many additional book sales will Spectra have to make before they just get back to the break even point from the two missing books?

I'm just pointing out that sometimes the internet can spoil all of us into forgetting what a gift it is to have a place to go and browse, for just a bit, and hopefully we don't just use those places to learn but then go do our shopping elsewhere at the cheapest possible price.

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Poor Spectra, they're probably reading this and thinking, "Browse, Just a Bit!!!! Alessandro was shooting photo art by the front lobby area with his Super-8 camera for over two hours!"

It seemed like a shame to drop off super-8 film cartridges that still had some unexposed Super-8 film left in them. I was able to run the cartridges all the way through to the end. The Natural light that comes through the front window softly spills inside and makes for a great naturally lit environment for shooting close-ups.

April 5, 2007

There's a new copy on offer at eBay for $79.00 + $29.00 shipping. See http://cgi.ebay.com/Catalog-MOVIE-CAMERAS-...1QQcmdZViewItem

Mike Crane · April 6, 2007

I feel like being evil! I'm dropping by Spectra tonight to thumb through their store copy! If it looks good i'm gonna snag that new copy on ebay. :P

Edited April 6, 2007 by Mike Crane

Alessandro Machi · April 6, 2007

There's a new copy on offer at eBay for $79.00 + $29.00 shipping. See http://cgi.ebay.com/Catalog-MOVIE-CAMERAS-...1QQcmdZViewItem

So it's $119 plus tax with a free preview versus $79.00 plus $29.00 = $108.00, but no preview. I can't speak on behalf of Spectra but they can probably make up the difference if you go in and actually do some transfer work as well.

Mike Crane · April 6, 2007

So it's $119 plus tax with a free preview versus $79.00 plus $29.00 = $108.00, but no preview. I can't speak on behalf of Spectra but they can probably make up the difference if you go in and actually do some transfer work as well.

...whatever.

However, I did want to thank you for your earlier suggestion of going into Spectra for a freebie sneak peek. That was really helpful! Sometimes, you're alright. ;)

Next, I think I may ask Spectra to let me use their photocopier to copy a few select pages for a more in depth review at home. Then i'll look for a cheaper place to buy! (anyone have a used copy to sell for cheap?)

Man, I feel great hearing that extra change jingle in my pocket! :P

Alessandro Machi · April 6, 2007

...whatever......

Whatever???

People browse in a store and then buy elsewhere, yech. In the bigger picture, that may fuel someone's desire to buy a camera or two, and perhaps even shoot, but in the short term, it's kind of cheap, no?

I do recognize your name from past posts as being a Spectra Customer so I guess you're being fascetious.