Hi group,
Just came up with an idea - and I am sure I'm not the first one, because it's kind of obvious:
Why not thinking about "Ultra 8mm"? All it needs is a sprocket hole offset so it coincides with the frame line. Since Max 8 (Super Duper 8) is a "camera only" format, there should be no reason not to include the Super 8mm equivalent of "Ultra 16mm": Simply (= when constructing a new camera) expand the film gate to the entire usable width of film with the option for a sprocket hole offset (shifting the pulldown claw mechanism vertically by half a frame)? Sure: the Super 8mm sprocket hole is quite "high" and sandwiching an image between these would leave quite some wasted space. There's also the issue with the film code printed between sprocket holes. But it might be a good idea for shooting something resembling anamorphic widescreen. Sure: cropping needs to be as tight as possible and the film gate needs to be very clean: no headroom.
Has this option been considered already?
I attached a crude line drawing I made over the the Wikipedia image, showing two adjacent frames of the "Ultra 8mm" image.
Just thought I'd share this. Hope it's not redundant.
Thoughts?
Christian