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oof! 27Euros a roll of B&W neg not counting shipping to and from Europe! Thanks for the info.

Is there or has there ever been Super 8 black & white negative stock? What's the story?

Hey Kodak, When you say K40 is going to be discontinued in August, could you be more specific so I can make my final purchase? I'm almost done running tests of K40 and Vision2 neg so I can decide which I want to use for my next film. It would be helpful if you gave more details. Also, 16mm K40 isn't going away too, is it? Thanks!

Well, the best way to confirm this is to contact Flying Spot and ask them and they will give you the facts. You can ask for Jeff. I'm getting my footage back this week. Chris

Hi Jason - Flying Spot in Seattle, WA has a Super 8 gate for their Thomson Shadow (which is part of the Spirit family) and they can scan at 2k or at HD. Their rate is $300 an hour with a half hour minimum. These guys are very passionate about Super 8 and got the gate for the Spirit for their own use as well as a service for the rest of us. They are going to be able to answer all of your questions as I have asked them too. The short answer is that HD is good enough and not immediately noticable compared to SD. A 2k scan is excessive and a single frame of Super 8 at a 2k scan is 13MB. This means ten minutes would require 182.82GB of storage. In addition, it will be expensive to find a FireWire or SATA drive that can handle 312MB per second. What Flying Spot recommends is xfering to HD, then to down-res the transfer to SD, make an EDL from your cut, then do the color corection using their DiVinci and the HD master. Check out their website and give them a call. Honestly, their really knowledgeable and generous with sharing info. Flying Spot Film Transfer, Seattle Chris

Hi John, what is the final date that K40 will be available to order? I have a production coming up and we need to know when the latest we can make our film purchasing choice by. Thanks! Chris

Simon, I've got a 6080 I need fixed. Where did you get your camera repaired and how much did it cost? Any info would be helpful. Thanks!

May 31, 2005 'Kodak, Don't Take My Kodachrome' By SPENCER MORGAN Paul Simon sang about it. Film students shot on it. Now, advocates are signing up to save Kodachrome, or at least its Super 8 motion-picture version, a 1965 technology that the Eastman Kodak Company would very much like to do without. Earlier this month, Kodak, based in Rochester, N.Y., delivered a shock to experimental, underground and just plain old-fashioned filmmakers when - one day after a May 8 celebration called Global Super 8 Day - it announced plans to discontinue its low-speed, fine-grained Kodachrome Super 8 film in favor of a new Ektachrome Super 8 product. For those caught up on the digital revolution, the announcement was easily missed. But to film geeks around the world, Kodak might as well have declared the death of color. "Kodachrome is larger than life," said Andrew Lampert, a filmmaker and film archivist at the Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan. "Its colors are brighter than your imagination's. And what's amazing is, the film simply does not fade. It's irreplaceable." Message boards hummed. An online petition materialized. Then, at the Cannes Film Festival, a Kodak executive, Robert Mayson, agreed to a meeting with Pip Chodorov, a principal member of Paris's thriving Super 8 filmmaking scene - the city is home to several Super 8 film festivals - and the administrator of frameworks.com, one of a number of online message boards dedicated to experimental film. Mr. Chodorov, who also owns a video distribution company specializing in experimental and independent film, said the company blinked, at least a little. By his account, Mr. Mayson agreed that Kodak might produce more Super 8 Kodachrome, if the format's enthusiasts can find a way to process it. At present, the film is largely processed on a money-losing basis at the Kodak laboratory in Switzerland - where Super 8 Kodachrome processing is scheduled to cease in December 2007. Mr. Chodorov, in an telephone interview from Paris on Friday, said he now plans to petition the French government for a grant to help with processing. He said he thought Mr. Mayson was "getting a lot of hate mail right now," adding, "I see it as my job to help find a solution, not send hate mail." Kodachrome Super 8 became a favorite thanks to the film's complex emulsion, the gelatinous solution that helps capture an image. It requires an elaborate developing process but produces striking, unique colors and unparalleled archival virtues, making it a favorite with Super 8 artists. Kodachrome was the film of choice for avant-garde filmmakers like Kenneth Anger and Jonas Mekas, who were renowned in the film world though largely unknown outside it. A much larger population has most likely seen the film's fine-grain quality and lurid pigments in the form of old home movies. Indeed, the most famous image caught on Kodachrome film was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, caught by Abraham Zapruder, a Dallas dressmaker who happened to be wielding an 8-millimeter camera that day. In the last 20 years, video has all but eclipsed Super 8's practical use for amateur filmmakers and doting parents, who can now record images on a high-definition digital video camera, feed the footage directly onto a computer, edit it and e-mail it to a prospective producer or the grandparents in Michigan. Super 8 cameras and projectors are now the stuff of specialty shops, eBay and flea markets, and Kodak alone continues to produce Super 8 film. The company continues to produce Kodachrome in 16 millimeter and 35 millimeter formats, but it is discontinuing the Super 8 version largely because a steadily declining market has made processing unprofitable. While the market may be small and shrinking, its constituents are passionate about their art. Small theaters in cities around the country, including Anthology Film Archives Millennium Film Workshop in New York, still regularly play Super 8 films. And when a theater isn't available, a white wall and a projector will suffice. "I just showed one of my films at a small gallery out in Williamsburg," said Stephanie Gray, a 33-year-old filmmaker from Queens. "It was actually the backroom of someone's apartment." Ms. Gray, who bought her Super 8 camera for $25 at a flea market, said the medium lends itself to a poetic, personal kind of filmmaking that cannot be achieved with digital filmmaking. Judy Doherty, director of communications at Kodak's entertainment imaging division, argued that such poetry is well within reach of contemporary technology. If people are partial to shooting Super 8, she said, they can simply transfer the film onto digital and "achieve any kind of effect they want." But enthusiasts contend that it simply isn't the same. "When people started using synthesizers, we didn't throw out our pianos," Ms. Gray said. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

The 801 and the 6080 are both 80mm lens, but the 6080 has a larger thread. As for sound, there was a blimp made for the 801 and Professional that deadened the whirring sound, but one wasn't made for the 6080, 4080, etc. cameras.

Thanks for the input. I always thought the Nizo to be a kind of workhorse because they put so much care into their design and aren't as fussy as the Beaulieu. Anyway, GK-Film offers a 6 month guarantee, so I'm okay. Thanks for the input...I still can't imagine how using 1.5 volt AA batteries could really kill the electronics...

Just for the record, I started this thread not as an advocate of the K40 stock, but because I thought it was great that someone was able to get as far as they did on our special gauge film. I don't know of any other Super 8 films that have ever gotten to Cannes and I thought it was inspiring. So congrats to Ben and I hope we get to see it soon.

I recently acquired a Nizo 6080 that was serviced by GK-Film in Germany. Halfway through the first roll of film, the automatic light meter stopped reading. When I told the person from whom I purchased the camera, he told me it was because I was using 1.5 volt AA batteries and not rechargable 1.2 volt AA batteries. I have used the same 1.5 volt AA batteries on a 6056 and an 801 macro without any problems. Is it at all likely that 9 volts used for a few minutes on this 6080 could have damaged the light meter??? I kind of suspect that GK-Film did not do a good job at servicing the camera. And anyway, the manual does not specify voltage anywhere. Hope you can help before I have to ship this back to Germany! Thanks! Chris

It's true that this year there is a Super 8 film (shot on K40, no less) from the UK, called "The Man Who Met Himself," that was selected to play in the shorts category at Cannes this year. The film has gotten press coverage by the BBC and The Guardian. Unfortunately, none of the articles mentioned that it was shot on Kodachrome...Here is their website: the man who met himself It was shot with the Canon 1014XLS. Here is a good interview with filmmaker Ben Crowe, plus a photo of him with the camera: Ben Crowe interview

So users of this new stock are not going to be able to trust our automatic light meters as much plus now we have to use a different filter other than what's built in? Gee, that's creating unnecessary work, i'n't?

So John, I don't think you've answered the question about whether our cameras will be able to read the new stock's ASA notching. Will it? Has that been considered?

I'm also interested. I have a Nizo 6080 I need to crystal sync in one month. It's got a flash contact, so can you finalize by then? And can you download some pictures of yout 116 with the modification? This has been asked already, but is it an internal modification also? Will it run on the camera battery? Will it take a while for the film to get to speed, and if so, how long? Chris

Sorry to digress here, but jack, what kind of Super 8 projector are you using that fills a screen that large? I'm looking for a good projector. Thanks!

Exactly, so our cameras with built in filters for indoor use...am I still able to use it with the new stock?

Could you discuss this a little more please? And you also mentioned about how the contrast and gamma can be manipulated in processing. Can you discuss this as well? Also, has anyone answered the question of whether an 85B filter is needed?

John, can you please give us some assurance that this film is going to have similar color saturation and grain as the K40? Any real information is helpful before I spend thousands of dollars stocking up on my favorite stock. I'm guessing that it has higher light sensitivity since the number is slightly higher. But please give us more information than the vague press release. Thanks. And no, this is not a hopeful day unless this stock is as inexpensive to purchase and develop as K40 and rivals its character.

I just contacted Rosemary at Kodak (800.621.FILM) to order CAT No. 505 3335 Kodachrome 40 with the processing mailer and was informed that Kodak discontinued this service. This is an obvious shame because it helped to make Super 8 cheaper and more accessible, plus helped in promoting developing at a competent lab in Switzerland. To learn of this the day after the 40th anniversary celebration (08 May) of Super 8 is highly disconcerting. Additionally, yesterday's "global celebration" as was honored here in Portland, Oregon saw Kodak reps pushing 16mm on those of us who can only afford Super 8. This too does not do much for morale for those of us devoted to this format. Mr. Pytlak, can you confirm that Kodak no longer offers the processing mailer for this stock and why this decision was made?

I've mentioned this recently in another thread...in my opinion, The Nizo 801, 801m and the Professional are perfect for someone who is serious, yet just starting with Super 8. It is such an easy camera with great features, manageable and balanced in the hand, available on eBay regularly and you can get one for about $200. The other camera that has been recently discussed on this board is the Nikon R-8 and R-10 which has a claw mechanism that stablizes the image. Other cameras lack this kind of built in stabilization as Super 8 never used a pressure plate, unlike other "professional" movie cameras.

...I realized I didn't give any tech specs for the GAF 3100S projector. It's got a f/1.3-15 to 30mm lens and a DNE 150-watt, 120-volt tungsten-halogen bulb...and I have no idea what any of this means as far as getting a large and bright image goes. I was just cruising eBay and found an Elmo GS-1200 projector that is selling for $405, but it seems that the price is more about its sound functions. If you know anything about projectors, I do hope you reply. Again, I'm looking for brightness and size. Thanks!

The GAF projector I've been using starts to get dim at about 11 feet from the screen. Can anyone recommend a projector that has a larger throw and remains bright? Was there ever a professional projector? Thanks!

I vote for the Nizo 801 or the Professional camera (which are more or less the same camera). The Canon 1014 was my first camera and once I tried the 801, I sold the Canon because the lens, as good as it is, is comparatively unwieldy. The two Nizo cameras I mentioned are 7-80mm and despite the size of the lens, is perfectly balanced in the hand and is really easy to operate. Plus it has variable shutter speed and goes up to 54fps. Slo-mo is really important for the kind of work you want to do, so that's something to consider. I know that the Beaulieu ZM4 goes up to 80fps, so that's something worth researching too. Also, Nizo makes a nice ultra wide lens which sometimes people sell with the camera on e-bay which in the water will come in handy since adjusting for critical focus won't be possible. These two cameras sell on ebay for about $200 or so. Check out this site for a comparison of Nizo cameras: Nizo Specification Chart I also vote for K40 over neg. It's dreamy.