New to 8mm need some help

[Chewbaccaelnino]

Im a high school film student very interested in film. Everything i work on now is on DV or MiniDV but i wanted to go to actual film. Ive purchased two 8mm cameras off ebay supposebly working, i havent recieved them yet for the bid just ended. Ive done photography and still picture developing but besides that im pretty much clueless. The main questions i have are 1) How can i get my hands on 8mm film, is there any brands i should avoid or stores i should or should not avoid 2) once i have film what is the next step , sorry if thats very very vague but i have no idea what to do... any help at all would be highly appriciated, thanks.

[Jean Poirier]

A good start would be to read the article Little Big Film in the Community link on this site. Good luck.
Jean

[Guest]

Hi, what cameras did you purchase are they super 8 or double 8/standard 8..?
For a super 8 camera I would recommend you shoot kodachrome 40 , this is process paid, available direct from kodak, though I think there is a minimum order.
Also not sure whether its process paid in the states... hopefully someone can advise of the latter.. It is the best super 8 reversal film available....

[Guest]

where abouts are you in the world?
once film has been exposed thru the camera,sent for processing and recieved back,as long as you are using reversal film you will need to view your masterpeice..for this a projector will be required, you will either require a super 8
or standard 8 projector or a dual guage projector.... will advise of a good projector when you know what format you have.....

[Chewbaccaelnino]

Ive been looking for a cheap buy into 8mm so while surfing around ebay i saw 2 piallard bolex cameras both supposelby work. Im not totally sure if its super8 or regular 8mm but im pretty sure its just regualr 8mm. Ill find out when i recieve the cameras. I want to be able to edit the film and was looking on 16mmoviemaking.com at editors and splicers those are both necessary to edit correct? and which ones are good and not good. also im still looking for a good place to purchase a projector and all the other nessecities ill need (film too). i have access to a fairly good darkroom and all the chemicals for regualr film(i was reading and some were the same for 35mm B&W still) how hard and expensive is the process of developing B&W 8mm film in a darkroom? Im in the southern US. sorry if my questions are jumbled up, im very anxious and excited and since i know almost nothing about 8mm filming its hard for me to find direct questions, thanks

[orangefunk]

Post the ebay link to the cameras you bought. That way, readers can offer some direct answers to questions about these cameras.

[Chewbaccaelnino]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 21088&rd=1

theres the ebay links for the cameras , what do you think? reg 8mm right?

[orangefunk]

Definitely not super8 cameras.

I don't mean to be negative or a spoiler, but I think that a Super 8 camera would better serve you in your entry into film. It's readily available and the camera operation is fool proof. Film handling and loading is also a peice of cake.

A Super 8 is also less prone to gather attention if you are shooting in public without the proper permits and such.

Also from a cinematography take, Super 8 is also better than the older Paillard Bolex because Super 8 cameras have reflex viewfinders. This way, what you frame in the viewfinder is what you get on film. Whereas with the Paillard Bolex top mounted optical viewfinder, you have parallax to contend with and all your hard work in framing a scene just perfectly will not transfer onto your film footage as you saw it.

The viewfinder on older cameras are not the greatest either.

I know you have already spent $45 and some shipping on these two cameras, but the learnign curve on these pupster make cost you alot of cashola on film and processing. I would say re-eBay these pupsters and get a super 8 that has all the manual overide controls.

Just two cents on the matter. I do not mean to cause any offense.

[orangefunk]

I ran across this email address of an regular 8mm shooter: lewisr@cyberhost.delete.com

He posted something related to a Keystone 20 8mm camera today. Maybe he can direct you to where best to order reg 8mm film.

[Actor]

Both are 8mm cameras. You can get film from John Schwind :

http://members.aol.com/Super8mm/JohnSchwind.html

The smaller camera takes 25 ft spools; the larger looks like it will handle 100 ft spools. The film is 16mm wide. After developing the processore slits the film down the center and splices the two pieces together giving either a 50 ft or 200 ft reel.

[Chewbaccaelnino]

thanks so much for all the tips, yeh super 8 does seem the way to go but i think ill still try to learn on the regular 8mm while i scout for a decent super8, just to show off to my high school buddies "8mm what the hecks that???", any recommendations on a good well priced Super8 camera? the two billards will serve me well i think for a film im working on now about a group of filmaker kids that use thier dads old 8mm (the whole film will be done digital, except segments of actual footage from the kids movies, so the out of frame might give it that kid like chemistry) wll thanks , if I am going to be using 8mm and Super8 should I get a dual(??) or somthing like that projector than can play both? and what about editors how do those come into play.

[tfunch24]

... if I am going to be using 8mm and Super8 should I get a dual(??) or somthing like that projector than can play both? and what about editors how do those come into play.

Considering that you're going to be using both formats, the purchase of a Dual 8mm projector would be a good investment. There are a lot of Dual 8mm editors--look around. Regular8mm (a poster on this site) has a lot of Dual 8mm equipment for sale. Here's the link:

http://www.16mmoviemaking.com/store.htm

I bought a Baia Dual 8mm motorized editor from him a few months ago and he sells a lot of equipment on eBay.

Good luck.

Tom

[Actor]

get a super 8 that has all the manual overide controls.

You are not likely to find "a super 8 that has all the manual overide controls" without spending some serious money. Automatic is pretty much standard on super8, particularly the lower end models. On the other hand reg8, double 8 if you will, is pretty much manual and more like 16mm. You are more likely to learn something using reg8.

I should have mentioned that in using reg8 you run the film through the camera twice. On the first trip one half of the film is exposed, then the feed and take-up reels are exchanged and the other half is exposed on the return trip.

One area where reg8 beats super8 is in registration. That's because in super8 the pressure plate is plastic and built into the cartridge. In reg8 it's built into the camera and is probably metal.

On balance super8 is superior to reg8 but not to the point where you should be rushing to sell your reg8 cameras.

[Chewbaccaelnino]

awesome yeh my goal with 8mm isn to make all my movies (i can do that with digital for now) I mostly am trying to find a unquie way into learning film ealry for future uses of 16mm and hopefully 35mm My cameras should be here in the nexxt couple days and ill be looking around and get a super8 as soon as i can becaused id like to learn both. bbut from the pictures if this is possible can anyone tell me models of eigther of these Bolex cameras? also from that one link above on the guy that sells the film (very cool) but im clueless to which film is the one to get... ill probably be using the bigger of the 2 cameras for most someone said 100ft film is thatright? i would like color but i kind of am looking for griany classic old looking footage, which film should i get? gtg thanks

[jukkasil]

The smaller one is Bolex B8 model.

The bigger one is Bolex H8 (almost the same as H16), maybe the best regular 8 camera model of Bolex. You could even modify it using double super 8 film.

Note: that camera is missing spring motor handle. You have to find suitable spare part for it, if you want to use that camera.