Processing Super 8

Pavan Deep · April 4, 2011

I've been looking for solutions to process Super 8 in Jobo Atl, it's as close you can get to a 'plug and play' for home processing of stills. It seems many other people have been thinking of using such a machine too, but the problem seems to be how to get the 15 metres of Super 8 film in a Jobo drum so that it can be processed properly.

People have been have been talking about developing some sort of rack / system to load Super 8 in a Jobo drum. I wonder if anyone has been successful with this and has managed to process their Super 8 in a Jobo Atl. It would be nice to find a solution to automate home processing.

P

Martin Baumgarten · April 4, 2011

Well, if using either the JOBO 1000 or 1500, then the reel capacity is 5 - 35mm reels, or the length for 8 inches (225mm) and the wrap-around length of the diameter is 10 inches (202mm), so that 8 x 10 inch paper can be processed. IF you were to design your own round film frame, whereby you'd wrap the Super 8mm film around the outside, then the maximum amount such a design would allow is 16.5 feet. This is too short for a 50ft (15m) length of film. So, you'd have to design the film reel, so you could wind film up on an inner part of it, then to a 2nd stage, and then onto the outside, which would be the 3rd stage. If the smallest inner part would hold say, 10ft, the 2nd stage 13ft and the outside 16.6 feet, the Total would still only be shy of 40 feet. Even so, such a design would have to be a bit complex, yet easy enough to master for loading an entire length of film. With some flexibility, it should be possible to accommodate an entire 50 feet of film. Personally, I prefer manual film processing, since as nice as machines are, they have their drawbacks of course.

On another note, you sent me a message regarding the JOBO processor for Super 8mm. [i'm at Super8mm at aol dot com] This is an entirely different design; the JOBO Super 8 tank is a large 12 inch diameter spiral reel design, which sits on a loading platform with a feeding finger, and has a shaft for holding a 50ft film reel to which you would've already spooled the film onto from the cartridge core. This is all done in total darkness, and the spiral reel is then loaded into the processing tank, which has a light-tight cover. The design layout is virtually identical to the one for 16mm and other spool film formats. None of which is compatible with your JOBO ATL processing machine of course, sorry.

Hope this helps. Get inventive and make a rack design you can load into the film processing tube for your ATL.

Good luck!