Polavision?

[brightlight]

I'm using a WorkPrinter XP to do 8mm and Super film transfers. I just had a client contact me and he says he has a bunch of Polavision film. Does anyone know anything about this format? I understand it comes in some sort of cartridge? Is the film inside still 8mm or Super 8? Will it run through the WorkPrinter if it's removed from the cartridge? Anyone have any experience with this stuff?

[Joe Lopez]

Polavision was a Polaroid film format that never made it. You exposed the film in a specially made Polaroid camera (it ran at 18 fps), and you then you developed it in the Polavision developer/player. I honestly don't know if it yielded a film that could be projected via anything other than the Polavision player. It didn't last on the market very long at all. Any Polavision film would have to be long out of date. All of this predated VHS and Beta tape, and it was a complete flop on the market. We're talking early to mid-1970's, as I recall.

[cubdukat]

I think Lenny Lipton wrote about Polavision in one of his books. It was possible to project a Polavision film outside of the protective cartridge, but it was highly unadvisable. In fact, I think he went so far as to say that to do so would be the first and only time it could be projected that way because the stock was easily damaged.

Not that the image quality was that good when viewed from the Polavision player. Its poor quality as well as the advent of the video camera were what killed it.

[SKJ]

Polavision is a Super8mm format, and it has and can be transferred to video. The Polavision players used a DNF 150 watt bulb, and was rear projected onto a special screen. The film itself is dense, so it might not be the easiest transfer, but it can be done. Any Warhol had a lot of Polavision in his collection and those were transferred to video by the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, although I'm not sure how.

Lenny Lipton does indeed write about Polavision in his books, but I don't recall anything about it being more fragile than other Super8mm film.

Stephen Kent Jusick

[super8man]

Lenny sold his soul to hype that film "format" back in the day - I guess poor old Warhol bit the hook too? Too bad...if he had of used any other stock in super 8 there would be something to show for it.

[AMAT0R]

Inside Polavision Casette is 38 ft of Super 8 mm film. These cartridges were produced till late 80s. About 1 minute after exposure the film was ready to project (all developing chemicals were in the cartridge). Casette could be vieved with Polavision Land Player. There were also the posibility to destroy the cartridge, remove the film from it, and then splice the film with other film pieces and project it with an ordinary projector. As I know, the picture quality is very poor - pale colours and big grain. See also http://www.kameramuseum.de/filmkameras/ ... -home.html

[Juergen]

I still have some unused Polavision cartridges, best before 1985. I used some one year ago and even 20 years later they could be processed inside the player in 90 seconds. And there was a result! It looks like a movie shortly after the invention of the first color emulsion. But - it still works!

[jaxshooter]

You probably CAN transfer the stuff,taking it out of the cartridge,though you'll more than likely have to seriously play with the image to get anything decent on the screen.It's very grainy and the colors are strange.

Having said that,though,Polavision footage HAS been BLOWN UP to 35mm successfully.The film "Imagine",the documentary about the life of John Lennon had some Polavision footage as well as half inch reel to reel videotape,Betamax,VHS, super 8,regular 8 and 16mm home movie and news/doc footage of various times in the life of the singer.There is an interesting article in a 1980 American Cinematographer issue.I have the issue,I may scan the article at some point and post it if anyone is interested.

[CHAS]

There is an interesting article in a 1980 American Cinematographer issue.I have the issue,I may scan the article at some point and post it if anyone is interested.

Yeah, please do. I'd love to see what AC wrote about it. I always thought it was hilarious how Lipton wrote about this format as if it were the second coming of S8...but then again, maybe it seemed that way with the Polaroid hype-machine going on at the time.

I'll have to check out "Imagine" to see these scenes you speak of. Juergen, did you transfer any? Is there anything online we could look at?

[Juergen]

No, I did not transfer any stuff.

[brightlight]

I spoke with a guy down in California about Polavision, and he had mentioned that the chemicals were inside the cartridge as well. He said that I had to be super careful when opening it up, not to break tje chemical packs, or the film would be ruined.

Also, I'm still wondering if this film would run through my WorkPrinter? I'm more concerned about damage to my own equipment.

[Lunar07]

There is an interesting article in a 1980 American Cinematographer issue.I have the issue,I may scan the article at some point and post it if anyone is interested.

Yeah, please do. I'd love to see what AC wrote about it. I always thought it was hilarious how Lipton wrote about this format as if it were the second coming of S8...but then again, maybe it seemed that way with the Polaroid hype-machine going on at the time.

I'll have to check out "Imagine" to see these scenes you speak of. Juergen, did you transfer any? Is there anything online we could look at?

It WAS the second coming of S8 but many historic factors conspired against it. This was a new technology that was never given a proper chance, directed at a cosumer market already consumed with the potential rise of video. The timing was wrong, but unfair to make fun of it. I am quite sure, had it had the chance, we could have seen advances in film stock for this format.
Incidentally, it was this format that led to the fall of one of Europe's best companies: Eumig. Eumig went bankrupt after refitting its assembly lines to work with this format in order to compete with the emerging new video market. To Eumig it was a risk worth taking. They lost the bet big time. Other companies were reborn in other markets - like Braun, the maker of home appliances. Every time you look at a Braun coffee grinders imagine how risky it is for well established companies to make decisions in a time of changes.

[David M. Leugers]

Wow, didn't know that about Eumig and Polavision! I wondered what happened to them. Way too bad that S-8mm didn't carry on a few more years before the advent of video because some of the last projectors Eumig made were some of the all time best.

I read a lot about Polovision and went to see a demonstration of it at the local photo store in Wayne, Michigan when it came out. It was a huge disappointment in its shortcomings, but it was pretty amazing for what it could do at the time. If the film would have been compatible with other S-8mm filmstocks for projection purposes, it could have made a dent. Amazing that people still have films shot in this extremely limited and short-lived format.


David M. Leugers

[super8man]

Heck, I still have CEDs and two players (redundancy of course).

[BK]

Having said that,though,Polavision footage HAS been BLOWN UP to 35mm successfully.The film "Imagine",the documentary about the life of John Lennon had some Polavision footage as well as half inch reel to reel videotape,Betamax,VHS, super 8,regular 8 and 16mm home movie and news/doc footage of various times in the life of the singer.

Watched the dvd, what a "great" documentary and how they creatively edited John's old audio interviews as though he narrated the film. It was an editor's nightmare though since they had to chop it down to 1 hr 45 mins from 160 hrs worth of various film/video material.

The very brief clips of Polavision ( 10 secs ) of toddler Sean Lennon was very cool, it was very very grainy but they did a good job grading it for the transfer to 35mm.

John Lennon, truly a legend and what a talented man he was!

Bill