Zach Merritt

alright well the day has arrived. it came well wrapped in a leather box that included the sylvania sun gun and the camera. it did come with a key, which i have a question about. when i put it in or take it out, nothing seems to change thru the viewfinder? is it supposed to be that way or should i see an orange filter? the film inside is kodak ektachrome 160. but according to the film reader its on 35, so its more than halfway done. but everythign seems to be working really well and looks in good shape, so let me know what you think. it also came with the instruction booklet and some other papers

man, thanks for all the feedback, all of this will definitely help me out. i should be getting the camera

Monday and i will report back here about everything. As Michael said, i really do love the look of the

camera which is somewhat of the reason i felt like it was a good buy. Hopefully everything works

out though.

About the manual exposure, whats going to happen on the film since i dont have it? like what could

happen i guess. wIll the film go completely black or white, or will the exposures just be off somewhat

or a lot?

Thanks again for the help.

Hi Zach, welcome to this place!

 

Sorry if I have to raise some counterquestions, but any kind of precision from your side would help us here to assist you even further, with Matthew having covered the essentials of this great looking piece of design already:

 

- Do you really want this specific camera (because of design, sentiment, whatever) or is it just an opportune purchase as it's on the market?

 

- Who sells it where for what: family, friend, colleague, eBayer on the other side of the planet?

 

- What is your budget?

 

- Are you prepared to invest money into the Yashica should it not work properly (which can be the case as it's a late 1960s, early 1970s design with potentially problematic spare part situation)

 

- Do you have any experience in photography, filmmaking or cinematography before entering the Super 8 sector now?

 

- Would you like to gain such experience with that camera?

 

- Do you just want to fool around with it for a summer, or are you really interested in what Super 8 is the hell all about?

 

- You do know that you need either a projector and editing combi or a transfer to video and non-linear editing to actually see what you shot with your S8 camera?

(sorry if that is an insulting question to you, but I met a guy who shot a cartridge of Super 8 and THEN asked which video recorder (!) could play it?)

 

- What kind of stuff do you think - just off the shot - you might want to shoot with it? Feature films, goofy spoofs, time-lapse, "nouvelle vague" B&W experimentals, skateboard flics, bunjee-jump the camera to death into the ocean, voyeristic high school stuff to impress someone, final year school project, application reel for film school, moody S8 inserts for a Hollywood studio production? A colourful dance sequence for Sha Rukh Khan? Or just start a career at Sundance?

 

(I think that covers everything that earlier "newbies" wanted to do when raising that question)

Hey, thanks for the response. Ive always really been interested in film and im taking film classes now and i always wanted to buy just a simple super 8 to fool around with. To answer your questions:

- complete opportune buy, i got it off ebay (which yes i did buy it already), i felt like it was too good a deal to pass up. i paid 17.50 for the camera which looks to be in amazing shape, and a light gun which is pretty versatile for anything i want to do. the seller said that it was completely functioning and there is a roll of tape in there already that he took test shots with.

- like i said, i kinda just want to fool around for now, experiment a little, but i am definitely interested in Super 8 and when i have more time and more money i would like to learn as much as i can.

- i also did know that you need a projector, which is why im so interested in it, but i need to get one still. Someone was telling me about a place where you can send your film and have it processed and also but on a disk for digital editing? is that true / how much would that cost. i also need to purchase more film, which someone posted earlier i can use any kind? im not looking for the best of film or most crisp images.

- id probably be using this for experimental, and also for skateboard flics haha. Probably just anything the comes to mind.

- so what do you think? waste of money or good purchase?

thanks again for all your help

I think I am getting a Yashica Super 60E Super 8, decent camera or no?

Also, what kind of super 8 film will work with the camera? Any kodak kind or

only certain kinds?