Super Mag

[Ryan Ball]

What happend to the 400' SuperMag that was being developed overseas?

[Michael Lehnert]

D.O.A. at the prototype stages - I am unaware of any of the prototypes that apparently were functional but suffered from problems in relation to friction, steadiness and issues of stray light, actually being sold to customers.

 

The only functional external magazines for Super 8 are the Beaulieu SD8/60 models for the Beaulieu 6/7/9008-series. Those were expensive and although allowed again to shoot with 200 feet long reels, they also were already quite big and "robbed" S8 cams of their "native" advantage of being very portable and unsuspicious.

[Paul Bruening]

Do I recall correctly that Kodak used to supply S8 in a plastic, 400' mag?

[Michael Lehnert]

Well, Paul, allow me to say that your memory only serves you 50% well :D

 

Kodak indeed offered a external magazine-style cartridge, the Kodak Ektasound design, but it took 200 ft / 60m rather than 400ft / 120m

 

You can hitch a ride into the past by reading more about the various cartridge designs in this post of mine here - roughly in the middle of it - in the pinned Super 8 FAQ thread.

 

-Michael

[Paul Bruening]

Thanks Michael,

 

Good post. I admit, I have mostly ignored the S8 thread and ended up asking a question that every S8 enthusiast already knew the answer to. Thanks for putting up with a S8 newbie such as myself.

[Marty Hamrick]

Well, Paul, allow me to say that your memory only serves you 50% well :D

 

Kodak indeed offered a external magazine-style cartridge, the Kodak Ektasound design, but it took 200 ft / 60m rather than 400ft / 120m

 

You can hitch a ride into the past by reading more about the various cartridge designs in this post of mine here - roughly in the middle of it - in the pinned Super 8 FAQ thread.

 

-Michael

 

 

Kodak may have offered 400 foot single strand rolls by special order to accomodate owners of Wilcam sound on film news cameras that came out in the 70's as an attempt to compete with 16mm and ENG.

[Michael Lehnert]

Indeed. I think I have a list of available film stocks in the 1970s around... There were plenty of third party suppliers then, hence no reason to rely on Kodak for Super 8 film stock in either cartridges, let alone on reels.

 

I am currently neglecting my activities here on ciny.com alot as I am rather busy with non-film stuff (sorry, Paul, for not coming back immediately as usual, or participating in the other subforums, let alone support you in your Crazy 8 film format that would give Frankenmitchell a whole new dimension B) - what about three-stripe Super 8 Technicolor guided along a 35mm Mitchell fim gate - no need for prisms and stuff like those blue monsters - just expose all three films at one gate. would the optical axis shift be negligible as the3 film reels are slightly side-by-side...?! Hmmm....), but I will be back to film next week with my workload off as I promised Chris Cotrill an new article for Super 8 Today.

 

I will post if I can find any info on reel-based S8 from the 1970s next week.

[Martin Baumgarten]

I just saw this age old posting regarding the SuperMag 400, which was designed and built in Arizona.  A lot of work had gone into it and it was sadly plagued by film transport problems. It relies on the film claw to move the film through, and that is just too difficult.  I own one, and had hoped to one day modify it so it has a center sprocket internally similar to the Beaulieu-Ritter Super Drive 60m/200ft magazine [which is a reworked Beaulieu R16 magazine for Super 8mm].  Had they adopted a similar sprocket drive driven off the film core advance cog in the camera as was done for the Beaulieu, then it would've worked.  No matter how careful I was, all my tests showed unsteadiness.  The initial advantage was that it was made to run in any Super 8mm camera that was built to accommodate the original KODAK 200ft Cartridge [but the KODAK 200ft cartridge has an internal plastic double sprocket and an internal spring motor that winds itself while running the film and sits in the middle of the double coaxial Supply/Take-up Reels. That's how KODAK was able to avoid a mechanical linkage to the camera other than using the core cog drive and the film claw].  Even the Beaulieu-Ritter Super Drive Magazine was only made in small limited production numbers and had/has limited support for those few still using it today in 2024.