Help : Super 8 Starter Set

[Aerosyn-Lex Mestrovic]

REGARDS ALL

 

 

Much respect to all those esteemed and knowledgable individuals here who take the time to address the at time obvious questons of new enthusiasts such as myself.

 

 

I am a student in Design and have no formal knowledge of Film;

I would like to press to you this question of how i might be able

to purchase a 8mm set up that would allow me to record

images remeniscent of VIETNAM era frontline footage;

something with a 60's 70's journalistic quality.

 

EBAY has an infinite amount of makes and models,

i've scoured the net, read a good FAQ on 8mmshooting.com

and have asked some flim students what they reccomend.

 

I simply want a solid camera, Mulitple FPS, Single Frame, possibly SOUND

that would allow me to easily jump in and FILM...

 

what might you reccomend . in the area of 100 - 200 dollars ? ? ?

 

Braun Nizo

Cannon

Nikon

Beaulieu

Belle Howell

 

.......

 

again if anyone knows of a resource that describes the AESTHETIC QUALITY

of CERTAIN ERA's film quality please let me know.

I'm extremely interested in recording images

in a way that looks distinctly VINTAGE

 

IS OLD GEAR THE BEST WAY TO DO THAT????

 

 

many thanks in advance

 

aerosyn-lex mestrovic

 

 

HOLLA

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

I'd forget about sound. The only super-8 cameras that recorded sound required a stock which is no longer made, with a magnetic stripe on the side of it. There are workarounds to it, but it really isn't worth it. People sometimes velcro small minidisc recorders to the side of cameras, but that's about it.

 

Most Vietnam-era newsgathering would have been 16mm, anyway.

 

Phil

[Sam Wells]

Most Vietnam-era newsgathering would have been 16mm, anyway.

And on Ektachrome stocks, the direct predecessors of the current VNF - better buy that raw stock pretty SOON !

 

-Sam

[David Mullen ASC]

Even if you shoot with the newest Vision-2 stock, the Super-8 format instantly gives it a "vintage" look -- it's hard NOT to get that look with Super-8, not really being a modern format. But color reversal adds even more to the vintage look, also not being used much these days.

 

Again, if you're talking about matching the look of old 35mm color films, you aren't going to get it with Super-8 anyway -- it has its own look. The earliest 35mm color movie was never as soft & grainy as a Super-8 movie, unless you're matching the look of an old 16mm color print of a 35mm movie duped a few times (you sometimes see these on TV -- only an old 16mm print survives of some old movie and that was transferred to video.)

 

A lot of that old look is design, lighting, framing, camera movement, and editing. Look at "Far From Heaven", shot on modern stocks, slightly older lenses -- people think something special was done to the stocks when all he did was overexpose high-speed film and print down. The older lenses helped though (but he used newer lenses for the night work.)

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Ah, so this Super-8 Ektachrome that I got (actually dug out of Bill Totolo's fridge) is the stuff that's being discontinued due to the heinous, bubbling, toxic goop being even more heinous and bubbling than usual?

 

Bah, and to think I shot it all off on trifles like sunsets, and my cat.

 

Phil

[Aerosyn-Lex Mestrovic]

MANY MANY THANKS

for all of your replies

i would like to ask though:

 

is there any particular camera which might be best suited for a novice,

something that is without sound, but still with Multiple FPS

and a solid lens.

 

thank you for the suggestions in matching vintage stock,

i think for my purposes a good Super 8 set up will work

quite well..

 

should i be looking at

NIZO

BEAULIEU

 

let me know

 

thanks again all

 

aerosyn-lex

[John Pytlak RIP]

Phil Rhodes wrote:

 

the stuff that's being discontinued due to the heinous, bubbling, toxic goop being even more heinous and bubbling than usual?

 

Phil: You have such a way with words! :rolleyes: Do you say the same nice things about the chemicals used in the manufacture of electronic gear?: lead, chromium, chip etchants, etc.?

 

The VNF films used trace amounts of chemicals that Kodak plans to discontinue to further environmental improvement:

 

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/pressRelea...040413-03.shtml

 

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/corp/enviro...PEnvAR_2003.pdf

[David Mullen ASC]

I liked my old Sankyo XL60(???) camera -- 18, 24, 36 fps plus time lapse. Decent lens, good in low light. The Canon's were also good (1014???)

 

Nizo and Beaulieu are top of the line.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

The one I have does 18, 24 and 48fps and the lens goes down to F1.4, which is pretty impressive. There is manual exposure reversion, an internal, selectable 1-stop ND and a daylight filter. More'n that I don't think I need. Viewfinder's a bit crappy though.

 

Phil

[Nate Downes]

Canon 814XL is quite popular. So are the Nizo's and Beauleu(sp?)'s. I happen to run a Chinon 1206SM which is a very solid machine. Don't worry weither it has sound or not, you can't record it on-film anymore anyways. There are inexpensive ways to record sound with an external deck in much the same way you would with those high-end Arriflex's. Keep an eye out for a Flash Sync socket for this capability.

[stijnbarbe]

I own a Sankyo XL40S with 18 and 24fps. it's lightweight and has a fairly good lens.

My other S8 is a heavy Bolex 5120 with an incredible macrozoom lens. It also has a timer, 36fps turbo but can't record 24fps.... only 18.

 

I'd also suggest Nizo and of course Beaulieu, but also top notch are the Leicina's, Leica's Super8-cameras with good optics.

[Nate Downes]

I run a Chinon 1206SM myself, very solid camera. And they're not terribly popular, so you can get them for less money. They also were sold under the brand-name GAF.

[Andrew Gingerich]

I use the spring-wound Krasnogorsk Quarz 1x8S-2, which was actually used as a field camera for TV news pieces due to its rugged design. I just shot my first two rolls and I got back some incredibly good results.

 

I bought this camera on ebay for about $60 (including shipping from the Ukraine).