determining if film is standard 8 or super 8mm

[john59]

I am trying to date a film uploaded to you tube and the guy thinks it was filmed in the late 60s. Is there anyway apart from the fogging when the reel is turned to say it was std 8mm.

[BAC]

This web sit should help, Super 8 has smaller holes and they are located in the middle of the image frame where Regular 8mm has them between the image frames. Super 8 came out in 1965.

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Super-8-Adapter ... 684/g.html

If it's Kodachrome you can date the film with a code on the edge of the film. Along the sprocket edge it will say "Kodachrome" with a gap then it will say"Safety Film". The code is up to three images that will be small squares, triangles, circles, crosses, etc. This code can be repeated every ten years so you have to make a judgement based on things like fashion, automobiles, and other clues in the images. The date code is the date the film was made so the date it was shot could be up to several years later. Sometimes you get lucky and will find the date it was processed along that same edge but not all labs did that. You will likely need a magnifying glass to read the writing along the edge of the film, it's very small. If it's not Kodachrome you will have a difficult time dating it that way. None of this will help much if the guy who has the film doesn't check it for you.

Here are the date codes:
http://www.filmforever.org/Edgecodes.pdf

[john59]

Cheers for that. The guy does still have the films and I suggested to him to have a look at the film itself and basicly told him the same as you have suggested, I have sent him the link as well showing the diagram of the different film formats.

Thanks.............................