faq

Common Glitches on Films
A lot of people often wonder why film they watch can sometimes pop out of focus momentarily a couple of seconds into a sequence. This fault happens at the time the original footage is shot and is explained by examining the construction of the Super 8 cartridge. Note how the film is required to take some very sharp turns. If film is left for any amount of time, the part taking the sharpest turns develops a kink, when the film is transported and the part with the kink get to the 'gate' the bend on the film may temporarily move it away from the film plane. This is sometimes accompanied by picture unsteadiness and ghost images where the camera's claw mechanism only partly engages or misses the film sprocket hole altogether. By the time the film returns from the lab the kink has vanished.
Single 8 cameras tend not to have this problem, probably due to having a more precise gate mechanism.
Standard/Normal 8 film doesn't suffer this phenomenon but is most prone to flash frames. Most of the time this is caused by the shutter mechanism remaining in the open position at the end of a shot.

Another fault, but this one is exclusive to Standard 8 films, is double exposure of film stock. If you shot any serious amount of Standard 8 film this is a mistake you would eventually make.
The inherent problem with Standard 8, and probably the biggest reason for Super 8 being brought out, was the very awkward process of shooting Standard 8 - loading a reel of film into a camera, then after shooting 25 feet of film, the reel is then turned over and the second side is shot. Loading and unloading is all done in darkness to prevent film fogging.
Now, put the camera away for two weeks and then try to remember if you are on side 1 or 2 of the film reel. Get it wrong and you either get a film back with 25ft of black film or you'll get a film back with 25ft of the film shot twice over (double exposure). If you are ever curious about how many people make this mistake, check inside any cine camera's film chamber - if the spare reel is no longer the camera manufacturer's own branded reel, then it has been sent off, in error, to the Lab. I collect cine cameras and I only have one camera with it's original reel!

Q What will the quality of the film be like?

A The film may appear quite grainy, especially in the case of older footage. Like still film, movie film grain has been reduced by film manufacturers over time but remember that an 8mm film frame size is a tiny fraction of a 35mm still camera negative and so, once blown up significantly, grain may be quite apparent. Providing the film has been well exposed, well focussed and, most importantly, is interesting Grain will be an unimportant factor.

Q What are the different amateur gauges?

A Two gauges vying with each other for the oldest format are 16mm film and 9.5mm film, both have a very similar frame size. 9.5mm achieves this by placing the sprocket in the middle of the film in between the picture frames, this allowed the image to extent across the full width of the film. 16mm however tends to have a row of sprockets running down each side of the film. Amateurs shooting on 16mm film tended to be well-to-do as film stock prices were high. 9.5mm was originated in France by Pathe and was not quite as popular on this side of the channel, it’s heyday was considered to be either side of World War II.
A cheaper gauge was introduced to attract people who could not afford 16mm film and this was standard 8 film. It used a 25foot reel of 16mm film which was run through and exposed over one 8mm width of the film, the reel was then turned over and the remaining 8mm width was exposed and once the 16mm film was processed, this was slit down the middle and the two now 8mm wide strips were joined end to end to make a 50foot film. This gauge proved quite popular, but was still too daunting for the novice as hazards of film fogging when changing over and mistakenly exposing a film twice were quite common.

In the mid 1960s Super 8 film was introduced, this was the same width as standard 8 but came in a special cassette that contained a single 50foot run and therefore did not require to be turned over halfway through. The film manufacturers also reduced the size of the sprocket holes and this allowed the image size to be increased. Other advances such as low light shutters and film stocks, sound film and special 200foot reels, meant that amateurs and some professional found this format very usable. At the same time as super 8, Fuji had developed a format called Single 8, this came in a different shaped cassette, but once processed was all but identical to Super 8.

Q Can I still get film for my old cine camera?

A Strange though it may seem all the above gauges are, as far as I know still available. 16mm is still regarded as a professional format and can be sourced at Widescreen Centre. Standard 8 was phased out by Kodak a number of years ago in this country but Lees http://www.leescameras.co.uk (process included, colour and B/W £25 each) or the Widescreen centre http://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/ and http://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/cine.html#film1 (film only) plus processing (see http://www.andecfilm.de/html/start_english.htm). Super 8 was, until recently quite readily available (Widescreen Centre has black and white stock). The Widescreen Centre also stock Fuji Single 8), but with Kodak's announcement in May 2005 of the discontinuing of K40 super 8, the search for film needs to go further. there seems to be a thriving supply of film in the US - Superb site for films and processing http://www.k14movies.com/ and plus http://www.answers.com/topic/super-8-mm-film To my knowledge sound stock is not available for Super 8.

For all those thinking about shooting in Super 8, I can recommend the following sites:-

Super8wiki a great site for information on all facets of this enthusiast gauge http://www.super8wiki.com/index.php/Main_Page

look at http://super8wiki.com/index.php/Super_8_Cartridge_Notch_Ruler to get a pdf template to see what film types your cine camera can read. Remember to set the document to print actual size.

S8 techguide - lots of information including a 400foot film magazine that can be used in cameras which accepted the original 200foot magazines!
http://www.film.project-consultant.net/index.html

A site certainly worthy of mention is 7dayshop.com http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/default.php?cat=1&type=1150&man=0&filterwords=&go=SEARCH&comp= - not the first place you would expect to find niche items like super 8 film, but credit is due as not only does the site sell the new Kodak 64T super 8 emulsion but these also sell a decent selection of accessories to keep the average film user going, such as reels, splicing stuff (both cement and tape) and even proper editor bulbs.

There are also links to processing sites Even 9.5mm can be obtained, an enthusiastic group of 9.5mm users have periodically slit 16mm stock down to 9.5mm, re-perforated and loaded into special cassettes – see group 9.5

Q what film bases are there and what are their characteristics

A Acetate - used by most film manufacturers and in particular Kodak

Polyester - used by a number of manufacturers notably Fuji and other Japanese manufacturers.

Polyester is considerably more durable than acetate and thinner, meaning in theory a typical Super 8 50ft cassette could actually hold more than 50ft of polyester stock, though I've never heard of this actually happening in practice. Like all things in life when advantages exist there are also downsides: in the case of polyester film the base will not permit the use of cement splices, also although Fuji produced sound film cassettes with a magnetic stripe as far as I'm aware this film stock will not permit 'post striping' - that is, sending an already processed film to have the magnetic stripe applied afterwards.

Q What are the common film Brands?

A This list is by no means exhaustive and I will update, when I discover more

Kodachrome (the yellow packet)

Kodachrome has changed over the years from a nicely coloured but quite grainy film to a stock that became the benchmark by which all other films are judged. Kodachrome II and later K40 have fine grain and true colour rendition (when I shot cine I used Agfachorme - but wish I'd shot on K40!).

Kodachrome 40 (K40) is a type of film (balanced for artificial light) which means in practice the film is rated at 40ASA when used with the camera's filter switched to artificial light (usually a red design with a light bulb). in this situation there is no filter in the light path to the film. When using Type A film outdoors in a daylight situation the camera's filter should be switched to daylight (usually signified by a sun symbol). The daylight setting slides an orange (wratten) filter into the light path, this is to correct the blue cast that type 'A' has. This filter reduces the amount of light reaching the film and the effective ASA rating of the film reduces from 40 to 25ASA.

Ektachrome (E160) - Kodak produced a faster film to enable filming in hitherto impossibly low light conditions - the film appeared in a number of variations and was rated at 160ASA (Artificial light - 100ASA Daylight), although a 160ASA all lighting version was also marketed. The film was considerably grainier than the fine grain images achievable with K40.

Various film stock had pronounced colour and grain characteristics and required a bit of preplanning when used in multiple camera and film situations such as weddings, where it was advisable to shoot using the same film stock and ideally using the same camera model (as even camera have an effect on the film look) this will allow for seamless editing. Incidentally this practice works equally well with video where cameras and tape formats should all ideally match.

Agfa -

German film giant Agfa's merger with Gevaert of Belgium,combined the companies' technologies. Afga's latter Super8 offering was Agfa Moviechrome 40, they had some years earlier discontinued a 160 ASA version (which they claimed had almost identical characteristics to the 40ASA version and therefore allowed intercutting).

The 40 ASA film was a pleasant film with fine grain (though not as fine as Kodak of Fuji). Colour wise it gave a fairly true rendition, sometimes with a slight red cast. It was a badly kept secret that Agfa latterly also made Super8 film for Boots.

Geva -

Belgium film manufacturer, Gevaert were eventually swallowed up in a merger with Agfa, but for many years marketed their own Standard8 film; Geva. I have only had a small number of these films through my fingers, but there is one common characteristic to them; RED! I have never seen any cine film with such a pronounced colour cast.

In some cases the film is so red that there is not means of correcting the cast properly, which is a real shame as the film itself had fine grain.

I know from speaking to slide enthusiasts that Agfa slide film also did not fare too well over the years and slides which had originally been correctly coloured had lost colour elements. Presumably a legacy from sharing technology with Gevaert!

Gratispool

a film dear to my heart for a couple of reasons is Gratispool - this was one of those companies who processed the film, then sent it back with a replacement film. Gratispool operated out of Glasgow and was the stock of choice for my Dad who shot me and my siblings growing up in Gibraltar using it. The film produced neutral colours and had acceptable grain levels.

Maurice Fisher has produced a first class site, which as well as giving a good deal of information on British film making giant, Ilford, also has a rather good history of Gratispool. It's well worth a visit.

http://website.lineone.net/~mauricefisher/Gratispool/Gratispool.html

Perutz - West German stock market in the UK up until the mid 80s. Grain levels were unremarkable but the film was seriously let down by a very green cast (at least in the films which have come my way).

Orwo- Eastern European emulsion. processed in the UK, latterly, by Agfa

Prinzcolor - the 'Prinz' brand was an i nhouse name used by Dixons in the UK and to be honest it was never a byword for quality. The film itself was on polyester stock and had a muted characteristic - slightly autumnal! Grain was quite well controlled.

Dixons also marketed film under the Dixon brand and versions of this were also on polyester stock. Though knowing Dixons stock would have been sourced from different suppliers over the years.

Fujicolor - Only one company came close to the quality of Kodak and that was Fuji film - a lot of people say it surpassed K40 and having seen quite a bit of Fuji film I would have to agree.

Grain is tiny and colours are neutral, although the film look is entirely different to K40.