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Kodak Super 8 Camera?


Gary Lemson

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So...It has been nearly two years since Kodak announced the pending arrival of their new Super 8 camera.

 

Dear Kodak,

 

What happend? We are still waiting. Dont make us go out on Fleabay again to buy another 50+ year old PoC.

Edited by Gary Lemson
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Beyond the basic expected features, I would like to have something with reasonable life expectancy.

 

How about something with an actual viewfinder... the Kodak camera does not have a viewfinder. It has a CCD camera and a monitor that is nowhere near accurate enough for getting critical focus. Once you add that complexity, the life expectancy dwindles tremendously and good luck buying parts 20 years from now, where most super 8 cameras on the market currently are over 20 years old and still work fine.

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"... Once you add that complexity, the life expectancy dwindles tremendously and good luck buying parts 20 years from now, where most super 8 cameras on the market currently are over 20 years old and still work fine. "

 

The assertion that added complexity reduces life expectancy or reliability has merit, and can be quantified. Super 8 cameras can be considered inherently complex; some more than others. To say that most Super 8 cameras on the market still work may be hard to justify. Also, finding parts (analogous to NoS) for the desirable vintage models is certainly challenging.

 

If we had something new, then presumably, we might have a backstop in the form a warranty, and maybe parts supply. So for now, we are at the mercy of the vintage Super 8 camera gods.

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The assertion that added complexity reduces life expectancy or reliability has merit, and can be quantified. Super 8 cameras can be considered inherently complex; some more than others.

Standard super 8 cameras with a beam splitter viewfinder are very simple machines. Adding the complexity of a video camera and LCD display in order to even use it, makes for a much more complex environment than just a tube with some glass in it.

 

To say that most Super 8 cameras on the market still work may be hard to justify.

I own 12 super 8 cameras, most of them bought from yard sales and swap meets. Only one of them didn't work when I got it and honestly, I haven't investigated at all. I've shot with 3 different super 8 cameras in the last year with expected results, all 3 of them bought from random places. If ya buy 3 super 8 cameras, there is a 90% one of them is going to work fine.

 

Also, finding parts (analogous to NoS) for the desirable vintage models is certainly challenging.

Umm, that's the only great thing about super 8. It's super easy to find decent used cameras on ebay and you can even buy 2 or 3 of the same camera you like for cheap. The last 3 super 8 cameras I bought cost me $25/each.

 

There were so many super 8 cameras made and released to the public, there are literally 1000's of them for sale at any given moment in time, PLENTY of cameras to go around for cheap money... working or not. Parts are irrelevant because the cost to buy another one is so cheap!

 

If we had something new, then presumably, we might have a backstop in the form a warranty, and maybe parts supply. So for now, we are at the mercy of the vintage Super 8 camera gods.

If Kodak was making and selling a few thousand cameras and guaranteed 7 years of support (which I believe is a legal thing in the US) then there would be some merit. However, they're going to make a few hundred and the cost is exorbitant for what it is. No fault of Kodak's to be honest, they bought the design and it's simply going to cost more than they expected to manufacture it. Still, once the right owners have them (and kodak runs out/stops selling them), it'll be much more difficult to find them for sale. Furthermore because they are "the last" super 8 camera being made, the pricing will be exorbitant. Even in 7 years after Kodak has stopped support, the cameras will be very expensive to buy and not very many examples out there to steal parts off.

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I suspect the new Kodak Super 8 camera will sell well enough for it to be worthwhile for Kodak. It is just too much of a 'different' anomaly and also 'new' and trendy, and there's growing interest in film. There's just nothing else out there to quite compete with it. And shiny and new smelling too out of the box. Not a grotty old camera from untold ages long ago.

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" Standard super 8 cameras with a beam splitter viewfinder are very simple machines. Adding the complexity of a video camera and LCD display ...makes for a much more..."

 

I'd say Standard Super 8 are relatively simple. As stated, they are still a machine. I do agree that adding a video sensor and display adds to the complexity. I'm not opposed to an optical viewfinder, either.

 

"I own 12 super 8 cameras, most of them bought from yard sales and swap meets..."

 

That's fantastic!

 

"...you can even buy 2 or 3 of the same camera you like for cheap. The last 3 super 8 cameras I bought cost me $25/each."

 

I think I have been living in a Super 8 deprived area. Having checked locally over many years, I've very seldom come across any Super 8 cameras (or projectors). When I did, it was either a fully auto Kodak or other with no flexibility. In online auctions, certain variants of Nizo, Canon, Bauer, Elmo, Nikon, etc., (and Beaulieu, of course) still seem to command much more than $25 (+ shipping). Maybe that's okay. I've had mixed results.

 

 

"If Kodak was making and selling a few thousand cameras and guaranteed 7 years of support (which I believe is a legal thing in the US) then there would be some merit...they're going to make a few hundred and the cost is exorbitant...they bought the design and it's simply going to cost more than they expected to manufacture it...the pricing will be exorbitant. Even in 7 years after Kodak has stopped support, the cameras will be very expensive to buy and not very many examples out there to steal parts off."

 

I'm not sure where your insight comes from. According to Kodak, it's their design, recreated from scratch, using new engineering resources, given the legacy infrastructure has been long gone. Have they posted cost to manufacture, or published expected production quantities?

Edited by Gary Lemson
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I'm not sure where your insight comes from. According to Kodak, it's their design, recreated from scratch, using new engineering resources, given the legacy infrastructure has been long gone. Have they posted cost to manufacture, or published expected production quantities?

Nothing is public. I know who made the camera personally. Kodak bought the design and has found it difficult to manufacture for the price point they initially intended. That's all the information I can post in public.

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And shiny and new smelling too out of the box. Not a grotty old camera from untold ages long ago.

 

You can have a shiny and freshly smelling old camera. As part of my service to serviceable ( ! ) equipment I clean everything up, remove rust and things, and repolish a housing, if desired. All-metal constructions can be upkept for a hundred years, be it a Quarz DS-8, be it an Arriflex 16 St or an Eyemo. Same with lenses, solid designs can be overhauled and used on and on, not so the plastics and electronics conglomerates of “Super”-8. Broken gears, a dead IC, it can get very expensive to replace something there. To say nothing of the bold prices of new Ektachrome and of the unheard new Kodak Super-8 projector :lol:

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Sometimes I brush a part with a bronze wire wheel or grind the corroded mass off, if allowed by the situation. Shims to bring back measures. The best is replacement, of course. Paillard had a lot of chrome-plated steel parts, it can get quite annoying with loop formers and the early viewfinders.

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