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Kodak announces new Super 8 camera at CES


Tyler Purcell

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Everybody yaps about pro8mm. From the spontaneous reviews one would hardly regard these as a good service supplier. Certainly not for consumer or small scale filmers.

 

If it is not Kodak than Dwayne's would need be to be the first to be invited. They have tens of years of experience with supplying processing service to the masses. With a possible upgrade to their machines and adding a scanning line they can be in business in no time.

 

Just my two cents.

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Kodak is opening a lab in NYC very soon. I assume they'll be doing all the processing and transfers themselves. I don't think Logmar and Pro8 has much to do with this new endeavor. It seems to be a direct with Kodak venture, which is great actually. It leaves the remaining labs to focus on more commercial ventures 16/35.

 

Robert... I was going to ask you... If someone wanted to shoot 70mm and use you guys as a processing facility, what's the ramp up cost for you to convert?

 

I will talk to PhotoMec in London about what it would take to convert our 35mm ECN machine to 65mm I am not sure it can happen.

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Well running 65mm ECN on the PhotoMec would be a matter of replacing all of the rollers with 65mm size ones and rebuilding the scrubber for the Rem-Jet with a 65mm size one.

 

It is possible but it would make our 100ft/min machine into a 50ft/min machine and then we probably couldn't run 16mm on it.

 

I will ask PhotoMec but I doubt that I would invest in trying to run 65mm as we don't have the printers or scanners for doing 65mm/70mm post.

 

We do have the ability to Process, Scan, Print and Optically Print Vista-Vision.

 

We have both 2K and 6K Vista-Vision scan capability and our Optical Printer was used on the original Robo Cop ( amongst others ) so we can do Vista to 35mm printing.

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Kodak is opening a lab in NYC very soon. I assume they'll be doing all the processing and transfers themselves.

 

Hi Tyler,

 

has this information about a new lab been published somewhere or was it heard through the grapevine? There seems to be some speculation about Kodak offering prints of those super-8 (negative) films sent for processing and at the same time Pro8mm searching for a used contact printer.

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Pro-8 contacted me about getting a Modal-C printer for making Super-8mm prints.

 

I have not heard anything about Kodak opening a NY Lab but anything is possible.

 

NYC is an expensive place to run a Motion Picture Lab and the costs are not just incredibly high rents.

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has this information about a new lab been published somewhere or was it heard through the grapevine?

I heard about it a while ago, but it was leaked by some others in the press recently and Kodak mentioned it on their facebook page. Now that the camera is announced, it's clear they're focused on getting it open. I'm not sure where it will be located, but it's supposedly in the city and will be an all-new lab. I know they will be a full-service facility 8/16/35, but don't know the capacity. I wouldn't doubt they will be using their own scanners and try to use the facility as a test bed for future products.

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Well running 65mm ECN on the PhotoMec would be a matter of replacing all of the rollers with 65mm size ones and rebuilding the scrubber for the Rem-Jet with a 65mm size one.

 

It is possible but it would make our 100ft/min machine into a 50ft/min machine and then we probably couldn't run 16mm on it.

 

I will ask PhotoMec but I doubt that I would invest in trying to run 65mm as we don't have the printers or scanners for doing 65mm/70mm post.

Yep, that's kinda what I thought. The back end stuff (printing/scanning) is the expensive part anyway.

 

Good to know thou! thanks! :)

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Nicholas,

 

WHERE exactly have you read that LOGMAR Camera Solutions in Denmark is a partner for the newly announced Eastman KODAK Super-8/MAX-8 camera?

I cannot find anything anywhere that supports this, so far...

 

Bengt Fredén, Stockholm

 

They were mentioned in the initial announcement. But Tommy from Logmar has also confirmed they were involved in the technical design of the camera. It's a brand new design from them.

 

"This is not the Logmar S-8 product that had pin registration and Latham loop. The new Kodak camera is a "standard slot-in" cassette super8 camera like all of the "normal ones" on the market and it's a completely new design from us that doesn't resemble our S-8 in any way, shape or form."

 

http://www.filmshooting.com/scripts/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26911&start=15#p216781

 

It was the Logmar camera that directly inspired Kodak to come out with a new camera. And I think everyone who supported Logmar throughout their mad idea to make a Super8 camera, despite all the cynics, should consider themselves as playing a significant role in the arrival of this new camera from Kodak.

 

C

Edited by Carl Looper
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They were mentioned in the initial announcement. But Tommy from Logmar has also confirmed they were involved in the technical design of the camera. It's a brand new design from them.

 

"This is not the Logmar S-8 product that had pin registration and Latham loop. The new Kodak camera is a "standard slot-in" cassette super8 camera like all of the "normal ones" on the market and it's a completely new design from us that doesn't resemble our S-8 in any way, shape or form."

 

http://www.filmshooting.com/scripts/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26911&start=15#p216781

 

It was the Logmar camera that directly inspired Kodak to come out with a new camera. And I think everyone who supported Logmar throughout their mad idea to make a Super8 camera, despite all the cynics, should consider themselves as playing a significant role in the arrival of this new camera from Kodak.

 

C

 

 

I couldn't agree more with you Carl, being myself a proud owner of the original Logmar Super 8 Film Camera.

 

MOY

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The three Logmar Musketeers!

 

Well, the Kodak "exclusivity" agreement with Logmar has officially deleted any references but I am committed to publicizing the fact for time immemorial.

Edited by Nicholas Kovats
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Really good news to read that Kodak is back in the Super 8 game.

Hope it'll mean some new / different film types in the future, like reversal 100D (yes we like to screen our homemade movies and not only watch them on TV after telecine or on whatever streaming platform).

 

Don't really know what to think about the Max-8 choice, though : while I truly understand it technically (we are now used to 16:9 on a daily basis and Max-8 makes things easier), I still hope for a lens company to develop modern anamorphic C-mount lenses ... maybe one day. I truly think that Kodak sticking to the 4:3 format would have made it happen earlier. But once again that was a logical choice from Kodak (and probably an impossible dream of mine).

 

Really eager to see this camera for real and curious about the full cost for cartridge + development + scan, the various options (more than 1080 HD ? 4:4:4 scans ?) ... I know Star Wars has been screening for a while but it sure sound like "A new hope" for Super 8 (even it was far from dead up to now) :)

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Really good news to read that Kodak is back in the Super 8 game.

Hope it'll mean some new / different film types in the future, like reversal 100D

Kodak discontinued the last of its reversal stock a few years ago so it doesn't even make the emulsions any more. It's not coming back, unfortunately.

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Kodak discontinued the last of its reversal stock a few years ago so it doesn't even make the emulsions any more. It's not coming back, unfortunately.

If all goes well, there could be a new color reversal for all we know. Maybe something better than 100D, it was a little too soft. Or maybe they will offer prints of S8 negative as an alternate to telecine? Everytime Kodak posts something about film, people start calling for 100D. They hear it, so we'll see what they do.

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Considering I'm about to shoot a short on super 8 next month this seems like a perfect opportunity to ask this question (even though it may be unrelated to the topic). I'm deciding whether to shoot the two cartridges of 100d that have been sitting in my fridge for the last two years or go with v3 50D which I shot for my previous project. I know there will be a tighter grain structure resulting in a sharper image as well as a wider dynamic range with the vision 3 so why is it that people miss 100d so much? I'll admit there's something about the warmth of 100d but by comparison it seems obvious that the superior quality is with color negative. I'm also aware that the reversal has a unique aesthetic with that classic saturated look which is why I'm torn. I guess what I'm wondering is that if both daylight stocks were available from Kodak why would someone choose 100D over 50D besides the convenience of in home projection? I was hoping to get some opinions on and differences between the two stocks so I can finally make a choice.

 

Thanks you and I apologize in advance for the dumb question :D

 

- Hunter

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Hi Hunter,

 

I think the main reasons would be exactly the ones you have mentioned: classic look, higher contrast, possibly sharper image when projected in the old fashioned way (last generation reversal films apparently have higher resolution than negative films -- however, reversal is more difficult to scan so that resolution is lost). I'd go Vision3 route unless you are certain that E100D is the look you want.

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Considering Kodak will develop and scan your negative film at 4k I can see why the loss of color reversal isn't a big deal for this product launch. The question is... How will the 4k scan be delivered? Completely flat? i would assume so and that means people have to learn how to color correct ion their own.

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Considering Kodak will develop and scan your negative film at 4k I can see why the loss of color reversal isn't a big deal for this product launch. The question is... How will the 4k scan be delivered? Completely flat? i would assume so and that means people have to learn how to color correct ion their own.

 

I would assume the exact opposite. Flat scans will freak out people who don't know why they're getting something that looks like that. My guess is that it'll be the digital equivalent of a one-light workprint. But then, we're all guessing here...

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I think this camera and service is going to take off really well among the masses of people who are already doing serious projects on some amateur or pro level with HD. Some of them shoot the occasional super 8 or want to, but all the things prohibiting them are solved in this promotion. You'll find a camera right away that you can trust, the Max 8 frame will cut in much better, the audio will match up perfectly, and you send it all in to one shop (kind of reminds me of the old K40 prepaid processing mailers). I live in a town that is bursting with media production and there is a lot of excitement over this new camera. Small production outfits, artists and film makers who shoot mostly HD. Some shoot the rare, occasional super 8. When i do scans for one of them, they usually take a RAW image sequence and make it look pretty cool. Vision3 is pretty nice out of the box with just a little contrast.

 

I see more savvy and production people picking up this camera, who will do just fine with RAW files. The cuter, cheaper camera may appeal to more amateurs and hipsters who have only used a smart phone before. But the camera will have a good working light meter, maybe even some tools on the viewer to help with difficult exposure scenes, maybe even a small color test wheel comes in the camera box? Then Kodak will offer some scan menu choices on looks, like "retro", "blue steel" or "color blast" and will apply templates on the scan. Overall I think Kodak will be able to deliver more consistent good results to inexperienced amateurs shooting color negative now, than what people got with reversal film when it was main stream.

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