Post a pic of your Super 8 camera here please.

[Matthew W. Phillips]

I decided to start a thread where everyone would post a pic of their Super 8 camera (if you have more than one, post your best/favorite one) and put the Brand name, basic specs, how you would rate it on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being like a Beaulieu 6008 with a 400' Mag and 1 being a Kodak Instamatic with a black oozing eyecup, only autoexposure, non-TTL viewport, and no 24fps, and if the camera is quiet, medium, or loud for doing sync work. I figured this could be helpful for newbies looking for info on S8 gear, or veterans who want to buy a camera they have never tried or heard of before. Superwiki is not the greatest source of info as you all know. I hope this turns into a wealth of info for prospective buyers.

 

Here is mine:

 

Sankyo 620 XL Supertronic

My Rating: 8.5

18, 24, and 36 fps.

Manual/ Auto exposure

Lap Dissolve/ Fader

Many transitions

Camera Noise: Medium

 

[Seth C King]

Beaulieu 4008 ZM II

Tobin TXM-20Ba crystal sync motor

[alexandros petin]

1.

Nizo S 560 with Sankor anamorphic 16-d (custom bracket best i could make but Matthew W. Phillips is building a matte box for us ;-) )

Weight: 1200 g

Lens: Variogon 1,8 / 7 - 56 mm

Split Image Focusing

Auto / Manual Zoom with 2 Speeds

Frame rates: 18, 24, 54 + single frame (nice and steady slow mo )

Shutter degree: Var.

Manual / Auto Exposure

Time exposure (VERY interesting feature)

Fades (Good but for one reel festivals, digital editing makes it)

Lap dissolve of 85 seconds

Interval timer with 1/6-60 second intervals

50Hz pulse sync for external sound recorder (never used it ;-( )

No sound

Camera Noise Lots of it

My Rating=8 (would love to have the nizo pro)

 

2.

Nizo S 2

Lens: Schneider Variogon 1,8 / 8 - 40 mm

Frame rates: 18, 24 + single frame

Aerial Focusing (Bad one)

Auto / Manual Zoom

Manual / Auto Exposure

Weight: aprox 700 g (Very handy)

Camera Noise Lots of it

Take everywhere camera

[Anthony Schilling]

Beaulieu R16

Canon Scoopic DS8

Nizo 481 Macro

Canon 814XLS

Canon 1014E

Edited September 22, 2007 by Anthony Schilling

[Tony Hudson]

Could you post a bigger picture?, this only fills my 30 inch screen.

[Raz Birger]

My only Super 8mm camera (which my grandfather gave me):

 

Canon 514XL-S

 

My Rating: 7 (nice, but can't expose all the stocks correctly)

18 and 24fps + single frame

EE lock/ Auto exposure

Camera Noise: Medium

**I read that with the Canon C-8 wide attachment it gives the "widest angles on a super 8 camera ever" (but unfortunately, I don't have this lens :(... )

[Rod Otaviano]

Canon 814XL-S + Isco 54

 

 

[Bernhard Zitz]

zenit quarz 1x8S-2, after an attemp to repair it :blink:

[Matthew Buick]

Although this isn't a picture of my actual 814XL-S as my Digital Camera was broken by my cat you get the idea.

 

[Kevin Olmsted]

Here's my little guy.

Bauer S209XL

18, 24, 40 fps

interval timer

1.2 / 6-51mm lens

real nice macro

 

I also have a Porst 1500 (Bauer 715 XL). I prefer a nice wide lens to a deep zoom, as well as portability, so in those regards this camera beats out the 1500 for me.

[Matthew Buick]

Oops! Tha was a 1014XL-S. :blink:

 

 

Again not my actual camera. Owing to my cat. :angry:

 

 

9, 18, 24, 36 fps.

Auto/Manual Exposure.

Split Image Focussing.

 

My Opinion: Absolutely wonderful. Amazing lens. The best camera I have ever used. Worth every penny. :wub:

Camera Noise: Ye Olde Chainsaw. :P

[Douglas Wilkinson]

Emdeko ZL-7200

Lens: Reflex Zoom Lens 1,8 / 8,5 - 42,5 mm

Manual / Auto Zoom

Frame rates: 18, 32

Remote control socket

No sound

 

Just shot my first cart this weekend, so I'm not sure about performance.

 

[Jean Beaudoin]

Nizo Professional :)

Beaulieu 4008 ZM II w/1.8 6-66 Schneider lens :D

[joe garcia]

Beaulieu R16

Canon Scoopic DS8

Nizo 481 Macro

Canon 814XLS

Canon 1014E

 

 

SHOW OFF !!

 

Nah just kiddin man,,, relax,,, this is very nice gear

don't mind me I'm jus jealous,,, LOL

I got no gear had to piggy-back off'a you

 

 

cheers

[Joe Uman]

 

 

 

[Mark Dunn]

Fair enough, the Mekel speaks for itself.

[Richard Baines]

Cosina MS XL-204

 

 

Although mine is missing the lens cap. Takes the 200ft Kodak cartridges and has an f/1.2 lens for low light filming. 9-36mm, macro function, 18/24fps. Only meters 40/160asa stock but has manual override.

 

Very nice camera and has shot lots of excellent footage over the past 30 years.

 

 

 

My other camera is a Canon 814XL-S, but everyone knows what that looks like.

Edited December 17, 2007 by Richard Baines

[Mark Dunn]

30 years. Gosh, it IS that long, isn't it?

Although it wasn't really. Only 24. I shot my last Super-8 in Venice in 2001. With the demise of K40 it's unlikely I'll use it again. <Sigh.>

[Alessandro Machi]

Oops! Tha was a 1014XL-S. :blink:

 

 

Again not my actual camera. Owing to my cat. :angry:

 

 

9, 18, 24, 36 fps.

Auto/Manual Exposure.

Split Image Focussing.

 

My Opinion: Absolutely wonderful. Amazing lens. The best camera I have ever used. Worth every penny. :wub:

Camera Noise: Ye Olde Chainsaw. :P

 

I missed the cat story. How does it go.

[Michael Lehnert]

With the demise of K40 it's unlikely I'll use it again. <Sigh.>

 

Why that? Have you stopped shooting 16mm with the demise of K-25, too?

[Orlando Thompson]

 

i just got a subscription to super 8 today and i read your article on the 4008 II. my question: how does my

4008 compare to the 4008 II. you compared everything after it but never anything before it. i learned a lot,

but what can i apply to my own camera?

[Michael Lehnert]

Thank you for your kind words about my article published in Super 8 Today. The point of this series of articles is to discuss the leading production cameras for the Super 8 format. I hence focused on the most accomplished designs (in this case the Beaulieu 4008 ZM II) and also critically commented on later developments that actually were a step back (the Beaulieu 4008 ZM IV) which I had to do because all too often, people assume that newer is automatically better.

 

To answer your question about the predecessor of the Beaulieu 4008 ZM II, namely the Beaulieu 4008 ZM which you own and kindly posted a picture of: The changes with the Beaulieu 4008-series are minimal (and they are all identical re. ergonomics and operations, so you operate it as I described), but have nevertheless varying available features and functions. Your 4008 ZM has only three differences to the ZM II, which neverthless do matter (depending on what you want to shoot):

 

First of all, you notice from looking at the published pictures and your picture that the motor-shaft/sync-sound socket on the left hand is covered by the body's case (it describes a tear-drop relief there) and is thus not accessible.

That means that you cannot use your ZM for two types of synchronisations to sepmag systems, namely those two that require the broadcast-standard Pilotton Synchro-Pilot or Erlson Contact-Switch to be inserted there.

That also means that there is no place to insert the 'reverse wind device' or rewind knob through which you execute lap dissolves or multiple exposures by hand. This means that you cannot do any of these optical effects. Although you might not need them ever for your type of filmmaking, these are nevertheless pretty much standard feature on production cameras for the Super 8 format. Their lack hence makes the ZM less accomplished then the ZM II which introduced these features.

 

This ties in to the second omission: if you look at the published pictures and your picture, you will notice that the small 'film wind locking button' or friction brake (which is pressed to declutch the motor at the starting point of lap dissolves or multiple exposures) is missing. It would normally be placed above the film counter, next to the frame counter dial

 

Finally, and most importantly, the ZM came supplied not with the leading lens for this small format, namely the Schneider Beaulieu-Optivaron 1:1,8 / 6-66mm (C-Mount) with Beaulieu Reglomatic, but with another lens that Beaulieu used as default earlier: the Angénieux 1:1,9 / 8-64mm (C-Mount) with Beaulieu Reglomatic. This is also the lens fitted to your camera. To see how the optical quality fares as compared to other lenses for the Super 8 format, please go to this post of mine here:

 

I hope that clarified the issue a bit. In case of any further questions, please feel free to post them.

[Michael Lehnert]

As a follow-up to the above post and because it's this sort of thread, I might as well post a picture of my own trusty Beaulieu 4008 ZM II body with its Schneider Beaulieu-Optivaron 1:1,8 / 6-66mm (C-Mount) with Beaulieu Reglomatic.

[Fernando Morales]

One of my favorites: Bauer C Royal with Bell & Howell Kowa anamorphic lens and time lapse mechanism:

[chris buddy]