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Dylan Gonzalez

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I just started getting into super-8 last year. I had an old Canon 514 XLS. Late last year, I started experimenting with Ektachrome 100D for outdoor use. As someone with no experience working with actual film, it seemed like the easiest, most affordable film stock to use for outdoor filming. I had to take a break for a bit, but now that I'm coming back, it seems like this stock has been discontinued.

 

I've been trying to figure out what some other good film stocks would be. Does anyone have any suggestions or even a list of different super-8 film stocks? Since I don't know much about film stock, I've been having trouble even figuring out what I should get next and what I should experiment with. I see Wittnerchrome being mentioned a lot on forums, but, besides being unable to make sense of their website, it seems like their cartridges are going for upwards of $30, which is a pretty big jump over what I paid for Ektachrome.

 

Right now, I'm just looking to experiment and figure super-8 filmmaking out, preferably affordably as possible.

 

 

 

 

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Hello Dylan,

 

at the moment there are following color reversal films available for super-8:

 

Fuji Velvia 50

Fuji Velvia 100

Fuji Astia 100

Agfa Aviphot Chrome 200

 

The first one is available from these sellers:

 

http://www.spectrafilmandvideo.com (US)

http://www.cinevia.eu/ (DE)

 

The whole list is available from

 

http://www.wittner-kinotechnik.de/ (DE)

 

 

The most affordable option is shooting on Agfa stock (Wittnerchrome 200D). One cartridge costs 22.90 EUR. For even more cost savings buy it as "meterware" and use refillable cartridges: http://www.wittner-kinotechnik.de/katalog/04_filmm/s8_meter.php

One cartridge (not adding the price of a refillable cartridge) of Wittnerchrome 200D costs then only about 10.30 EUR.

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Hey Dylan,

 

Where are you located? If you are in the US, your best and most economical option is the Velvia 50D from Spectra. Although the Cinevia version appears cheaper to start, once you have it shipped and processed it's about the same cost.

 

Do you have to shoot reversal? Are you not scanning your films at all? If you are looking to scan your films, Vision3 50D is by far the best stock to shoot outdoors. It's amazingly fine grained and has mind numbing exposure latitude. You could be off by 2 full stops in either direction and hardly notice. And, if exposed correctly, you will see more details in the shadows and bright highlights than you would with your own eyes. (This assumes a good transfer, of course.) No reversal is going to give you that.

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Hello Dylan,

 

at the moment there are following color reversal films available for super-8:

 

Fuji Velvia 50

Fuji Velvia 100

Fuji Astia 100

Agfa Aviphot Chrome 200

 

The first one is available from these sellers:

 

http://www.spectrafilmandvideo.com (US)

http://www.cinevia.eu/ (DE)

 

The whole list is available from

 

http://www.wittner-kinotechnik.de/ (DE)

 

 

The most affordable option is shooting on Agfa stock (Wittnerchrome 200D). One cartridge costs 22.90 EUR. For even more cost savings buy it as "meterware" and use refillable cartridges: http://www.wittner-kinotechnik.de/katalog/04_filmm/s8_meter.php

One cartridge (not adding the price of a refillable cartridge) of Wittnerchrome 200D costs then only about 10.30 EUR.

 

Thanks, Heikki. 22.90 euros isn't as much as I thought I saw on that site before, especially since the euro is probably down a lot now. I'd still have to pay shipping. However, I didn't know you could use refillable cartridges. That might be the best option for me - I'll have to look into it. Thanks a lot for the suggestion!

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Hey Dylan,

 

Where are you located? If you are in the US, your best and most economical option is the Velvia 50D from Spectra. Although the Cinevia version appears cheaper to start, once you have it shipped and processed it's about the same cost.

 

Do you have to shoot reversal? Are you not scanning your films at all? If you are looking to scan your films, Vision3 50D is by far the best stock to shoot outdoors. It's amazingly fine grained and has mind numbing exposure latitude. You could be off by 2 full stops in either direction and hardly notice. And, if exposed correctly, you will see more details in the shadows and bright highlights than you would with your own eyes. (This assumes a good transfer, of course.) No reversal is going to give you that.

 

Thanks for the help, David. That list is exactly what I was looking for.

 

I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. There's actually some processing options I have here in the city, so, unless it worked out cheaper, I wouldn't have to ship it back to be processed.

 

I'm new to super-8 and have a very basic understanding of film stocks. I don't have to shoot reversal. I started with reversal because - after reading about super-8 cameras - I thought it seemed like a good starting point. The reason I wanted to continue too was because I already shot a couple cartridges on reversal and they turned out, so I'm kind of comfortable using them. I also dislike the white grain flecks on some of the negative film stocks I used I've seen footage from, although this isn't a huge concern at the end of the day. Maybe it does make a lot more sense to switch to a negative, like Vision3 50D.

Edited by Dylan Gonzalez
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