Regular 8mm?

[Louis]

For my recent birthday, a friend of mine gave me an old Brownie 8mm home movie camera, and I have no idea how to use it. Does anyone still shoot regular 8mm? Are there any advantages to shooting regular 8, or is just a completely obsolete format, especially if super 8 is also an option? Any information would be helpful.

[A.Oliver]

Hi, the format is still very much alive, here's where you buy your film from

http://members.aol.com/Super8mm/JohnSchwind.html

[Louis]

Hi, the format is still very much alive, here's where you buy your film from

http://members.aol.com/Super8mm/JohnSchwind.html

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Have you ever shot with it before? Is it difficult to take the film out of the camera and flip it in the dark, or can this be done in the light (Probably not). Any other special circumstances to be aware of?

[A.Oliver]

Hi, yeh still use double 8 as well as double super 8, practise loading and unloading the camera with a roll of outdated film. Run the outdated film all the way thru the camera making sure the footage counter and film transport are all working ok. When you come to expose your fresh film stock, load/flip/unload in the shade, not bright sunlite, the darker the better. If you are using cinechrome 40 make sure you have the correct filter on the lens ( filter required is a 85, which converts tungsten film to daylite), if you can get hold of cinechrome 25, no filter is required. Not familiar with your camera, guess there is no auto exposure, so you will have to manually adjust the iris to obtain correct exposure. Hopefully someone with knowledge of your camera can advise on how to adjust the exposure.

[G. Stephen Bruno]

will super8 fit in a regular 8mm camera?

[Mike Lary]

will super8 fit in a regular 8mm camera?

No! Regular8 uses larger film than Super8 (even though the aspect ratio is smaller).

 

To answer your previous question, 8mm is no more difficult to load than other films. The level of difficulty really depends on the camera. The longer it takes you to load the camera, the better chance that whatever light is present will start to fog the film. So it's a great idea to practice loading with a dummy roll so you can load in the dark. If you're using daylight spools, you can load in partial light. You can turn a small light on in an adjacent room and keep the loading room dark. You might load the film in a closet or bathroom and let the hall light come in under the door. Don't use more light that you need to barely distinguish the spool and transport mechanism and you should be fine. Remember that 8mm runs through the camera once and then you flip it over and run it through again. This is because regular 8mm cameras use double perf 16mm size film and expose only one half of the film at a time.

 

Have fun!

[G. Stephen Bruno]

I just bought a reg8mm cam, it will be my first attempt at film, and hopfully thru trial and error, prob mostly error, i will learn how to properly light and bring my concepts to life

 

i'm glad to see that the stock is available, although i noticed only reversal, with very low ASA (50-100) for all stocks, will this limit my creative control?

 

any lighting tips?

[John Pytlak RIP]

Regular-8 camera films are only available from resellers, who repackage it to that format.

 

Kodak still offers print film (2283) perforated with Regular-8mm perforations, 1R-1500.