my first camera

[Guest finley]

hello all,i just got a bell/howell director series super 8 xl super 8 camera and was wondering if it is any good,it is my first film camera and am excited to use it,

thanks finley

[Rick Palidwor]

I am glad you got a camera but I don't think those Bell and Howells are very good IMHO. Use it but I am guessing you'll want something better in no time. The Canon Autozoom 518 are good starter cameras: solid, reliable, and very inexpensive - lots on ebay in the $50 and under range.

 

Good luck

Rick

[Steve Wallace]

hello all,i just got a bell/howell director series super 8 xl super 8 camera and was wondering if it is any good,it is my first film camera and am excited to use it,

thanks finley

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I think there is good news and bad news.

 

The Good: I have one of these cameras and it works pretty good. The auto iris is spot on with the exposures. The lens is fast 1.2 and it is XL, so it is good in low light. Color reproduction has adequet saturation.

 

The Bad: No manual f-stop settings. Crappy 18fps setting with a fast motion (probably around 32 fps) that you have to hold down. Crappy lens, everything is really soft. Batteries are in the pistol grip (so you can't remove it).

 

If you are careful you can get some nice images out of it. But Rick is right, this camera has many limitations. I shot this short below on this camera and it played festivals world wide. I would say have fun with it. Just don't expect to learn anything about cinematography from it, it is more of a point and shoot cam.

 

http://www.wolftoob.com/killer_bunnies/