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Super 8 cameras with interchangeable lenses


David Owen James

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Then there are Leicina Special. :) It has Leica-M bayonet and takes these M-lenses. Also there a few adapters to use other brands lenses. Very much a system camera which is easy to operate from a tripod. For run and gun you might need the original extra grip.

 

The Mekel Super-8 250fps with C-mount is there but is very very hard to find.

A Mekel 300 (fps) for Polaroid cartridges.

 

And there is also the SIngle-8 Fujica ZC-1000 with C-mount. But single-8 film has fewer sources.

 

What particular lens do you want to put on it?

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I was thinking of buying a higher quality zoom lens to use with the camera. I also have a nice vintage 25mm Canon I use on my SLR. I may be wrong to suspect that the standard lenses with most Super 8 cameras are low in quality.

 

I will be using a tripod mostly, but I may try using some kind of handheld mount. Though it may be Super 8, I will still try for the look of classic cinematography.

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The Leicina Special usually comes with its own, arguably, higher quality zoom - the Optivaron 6-66mm.

 

The Japanese-made Nalcom FTL 1000 is an interesting camera with zoom lens and that could have a 35mm SLR lens fitted with an adaptor. There was one for £300-ish on eBay not so long back (with handgrip but no adaptor).

 

 

http://www.super8data.com/database/cameras_list/cameras_nalcom/cameras_nalcom.htm

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I was thinking of buying a higher quality zoom lens to use with the camera. I also have a nice vintage 25mm Canon I use on my SLR. I may be wrong to suspect that the standard lenses with most Super 8 cameras are low in quality.

 

I will be using a tripod mostly, but I may try using some kind of handheld mount. Though it may be Super 8, I will still try for the look of classic cinematography.

 

When properly focused and when shooting from tripod the standard lens on a Beaulieu will not disappoint you. And you need really short focal lengths to let it not be too much telephoto. I.e. 10mm makes already a bit long standard lens.

Althoug DSLR lenses have a tendency towards shorter focal lengths. But often these lack proper aperture and distance adjustment.

 

Otherwise you would need to use a DOF adapter with standard SLR lenses

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The Nalcom FTL 1000 uses an M42 adapter and thus there are literally thousands of good quality, cheap and easily available lenses to use.

 

They can still be picked up for far less than £300 GB Pounds.


I've personally bought quite a few between £35 and £75 and sold them all on for just £100 to £150 and that's with the M42 adapter, standard grip and timer grip.

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The Nalcom FTL 1000 uses an M42 adapter and thus there are literally thousands of good quality, cheap and easily available lenses to use.

 

They can still be picked up for far less than £300 GB Pounds.

 

 

Bill - I think the one I was watching on eBay at around £300 didn't actually sell.

Edited by Simon Lucas
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The Nalcom FTL 1000 uses an M42 adapter and thus there are literally thousands of good quality, cheap and easily available lenses to use.

If you can find that adapter that is...the native mount is proprietary. Good camera with a unique design. You probably would never need anything more than the stock lens on it however as it is very good.

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It's a fine lens for all-round filming. Not quite as sharp as the 1014 XL-S's lens but it has a smoother zoom and the camera as a whole is one of the best for Super 8 productions. It's also very quiet during operation, which can be really handy.

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