Jump to content

Finding a vendor who develops and makes reveral of Super 8


Elie Harriett

Recommended Posts

Hey all! For this holiday season, I was thinking of digging out the Super 8 and shooting some home movies. I thought it would be a fun idea to get the multiple cartridges spliced together and watched on our old family projector this year like our family used to do.

 

Only thing is, there will be a lot of film shot in indoor lighting and I'd like to use higher speed film as a result. Only film I know of that can deal with indoor lighting is the Kodak Vision, which is a negative film. I reached out to Spectra, my goto motion picture developer, and they said they can't make a reversal print of what I shoot. Can someone recommend someone that can still make a reversal Super 8 print for me?

 

I know I could just as easily grab some reversal stock, but I'm not sure how good that stuff is going to be for night time indoor lighting in the home.

 

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

AFAIK Andec in Berlin is the only lab advertising Super-8 contact prints from neg. It's a very expensive option, at least €30/roll plus VAT and postage.

They're referred to as "positive" rather than reversal. That term is reserved (!) for films which develop to a positive image, such as Ektachrome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or just shoot reversal and light it old-school: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vint-1950s-Mayfair-Flexmaster-8mm-Home-Movie-Camera-Light-Steam-Punk-Industrial-/112615069059

 

Just make sure everyone in your family has sunglasses on. My dad used to have something like this, and our Christmas home movies consist mostly of us shielding our eyes from the blinding light. But that old kodachrome was exposed nicely!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or just shoot reversal and light it old-school: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vint-1950s-Mayfair-Flexmaster-8mm-Home-Movie-Camera-Light-Steam-Punk-Industrial-/112615069059

 

Just make sure everyone in your family has sunglasses on. My dad used to have something like this, and our Christmas home movies consist mostly of us shielding our eyes from the blinding light. But that old kodachrome was exposed nicely!

 

I was thinking of that, but the only color reversal I found was 100 iso. Not bright enough in there, unfortunately. I do like the idea of a portable light setup though. It is both impractical and will make me look ridiculous. I am quite tempted to go that way

 

Tri-X 16mm worked self processed using only household lights all on.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MeWFzi2Md7Y&t=0s&index=9&list=PLU2eKg3uAYHj1_SmPcoMNjVerjqCCubS6

I’m seriously considering trying b&w: cheaper and more flexible for low light. But I was really hoping to capture that old 70’s-80’s color home movie vibe

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was thinking of that, but the only color reversal I found was 100 iso. Not bright enough in there, unfortunately. I do like the idea of a portable light setup though. It is both impractical and will make me look ridiculous. I am quite tempted to go that way

 

With one of these rigs, you can shoot slower film than that and get a decent image. But you have to point the light right at people and they will likely hate you for it. We transfer a fair number of home movies and believe me, I've seen plenty of Kodachrome II (ISO 40 with a flood light) that's perfectly exposed if the light is close enough to the subject.

 

I'm not really saying you should do this - but it does work. B/W is a bit easier to expose but you're probably still going to need to turn on most of the lights in the room, at minimum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

You could just buy some old stock Ektachrome 160 from ebay.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kodak-Super-8-Film-Ektachrome-K160-85-Boxes-KodachromeK-40-90-Boxes-PRICE-PERBOX/163424578185?hash=item260cdd2a89:g:6goAAOSww3tY4Tgx:rk:1:pf:0

 

Pro 8mm use to process reversal, I'd shoot them a call and see if they still do. If not, a bunch of labs will be coming online soon for the Ektachrome roll out. I know Spectra is one of the labs who have a machine setup.

 

Sure, the old stock will be pretty grainy, but 160 with a key light of some kind, has worked well. Just can't do it in a dark dark room. Gotta have some daylight to help. Just gel whatever tungsten balanced key light you use with a 1/4 CTB and it will be fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could just buy some old stock Ektachrome 160 from ebay.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kodak-Super-8-Film-Ektachrome-K160-85-Boxes-KodachromeK-40-90-Boxes-PRICE-PERBOX/163424578185?hash=item260cdd2a89:g:6goAAOSww3tY4Tgx:rk:1:pf:0

 

Pro 8mm use to process reversal, I'd shoot them a call and see if they still do. If not, a bunch of labs will be coming online soon for the Ektachrome roll out. I know Spectra is one of the labs who have a machine setup.

 

Sure, the old stock will be pretty grainy, but 160 with a key light of some kind, has worked well. Just can't do it in a dark dark room. Gotta have some daylight to help. Just gel whatever tungsten balanced key light you use with a 1/4 CTB and it will be fine.

 

Oh ... WOW! That actually looks like a potential winner. He says he's stored the film in the "Fridge" since the 70's-90's. Not frozen. Any experience with how well that would last if shot today?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ektachrome 160 isn't E6 process. Kodak stopped processing it long before they stopped Kodachrome.

Rocky Mountain claim to process it now but it takes them a year to get enough together for a processing run.

The film on ebay is at least 25 years old. I wouldn't chance $60/roll on it.

Martin Baumgarten may also be able to process it. He's a contributor here.

Edited by Mark Dunn
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ektachrome 160 isn't E6 process. Kodak stopped processing it long before they stopped Kodachrome.

Rocky Mountain claim to process it now but it takes them a year to get enough together for a processing run.

The film on ebay is at least 25 years old. I wouldn't chance $60/roll on it.

Martin Baumgarten may also be able to process it. He's a contributor here.

 

Wait a minute! This can't be processed in E-6? Not even cross-processed in some of the available versions?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

Well it's true that ES-8 is the processing type for Ektachrome 160. I personally don't think it would be a problem to process it in an E-6 machine. With that said, there are numerous labs which can still process that film no problem.

 

https://www.filmrescue.com and http://www.digitalvideolab.ca/ and http://www.pro8mm.com

 

They do small batches, so what you do is call them up and schedule the time as they do a batch every 8 - 10 weeks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ektachrome 160 Type G is process EM-26 and is not compatible with process E-6.

If memory serves, it'll come out clear if run through E-6.

 

1, Film Rescue International is your best bet - they're real experts.

2, Avoid Rocky Mountain Film Lab ..... they have a terrible reputation ( just google it ! )

 

John S :rolleyes:

Edited by John Salim
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ektachrome 160 Type G is process EM-26 and is not compatible with process E-6.

If memory serves, it'll come out clear if run through E-6.

 

1, Film Rescue International is your best bet - they're real experts.

2, Avoid Rocky Mountain Film Lab ..... they have a terrible reputation ( just google it ! )

 

John S :rolleyes:

EM-26 film (the late version Ektachromes 160 in super-8) is best suitable for E-6 , it produces usually very nice images.

The only trouble is getting the black backing off.

 

When it comes out transparent something else went wrong.

Edited by Andries Molenaar
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...