HOW GOOD IS A CAMERA REALLY NEED BE?

[S8 Booster]

My experience :idea: : Anything that is reliable and works.

There has been many discussions on this board over which cam is best for this or that etc.

There is certainly an advantage with manual controls and 24 or 25 fps or slo-mo etc but most important of all is still the dude behind the cam.

So, I asked my self: How advanced must MY cam be and I replied: My first cam did everything I still need to make my films be like I want them and that cam was not very advanced. Watching my 20+ years old films I know now that the cam would be good enough even today if it still operated - it does not.

My evaluation of the old cam:
Does it have more jitter (K40 "good") than the higher end ones? - Yes.
Does it produce more grain than the others - Yes, some.
Does it have somewhat lower quality lens than the others - Yes.
Would I be satisfied with this cam today? - Yes.

Owning and admiring some of the higher rated cams I now fancy the handiness of my "new" Canon 310 XL. My next project is to take a "Barry" (Old Unce Barry´s method described elsewhere on this site), that is to get a Russian Quartz wind up cam mated with an anamorph lens.

My intention with this post is to emphasize on the fact that there is not always nessecary to use a lot of money on expensive cams to explore the unique and phantastic world of 8mm FILMshooting. Anything that works will do the most.

At least, this is my opinion.

I am currently examining an Elmo Album focus free S8 camera which I find very interesting. This cam has 2 lenses; one 8.6 - 18mm that can be flipped away to reveal a second Super Wide angle 4.6mm lens. Handy and excellent camera. Impressive to me. Examining for a client to see if it can be modified to run 24fps rather than the original 18 fps.

R

[Guest]

I agree, is no good having a 7008 on nizo 6080 if the plank behind the camera cant use it....All i really want is a reliable camera with 24/25 fps and prime lens,no zoom, thats why i use a leicina special.Not so long ago i would agree that most cameras would give good results,yes most do, the only drawback is the quality of the bottle on the front of the camera.I recently watched about 3hrs of super8,I was told it was of good quality,on projecting this footage thru a decent
projection lens it was clear the cameras lens was pretty poor
good contrast,no biting sharpness.Suppose what i am getting at most cameras yeld good/excellent results, but unless youve been treated to a quality lens,you dont know how super8 can be....

[wahiba]

This is the old argument about the quality of the kit, and the quality of the user.

A famous British photographerm Beaton, once demonstrated his ability as a photographer by taking a series of pictures with a Box Brownie.

However professionals tend to use the best kit because they know that when they set f8 f8 is what they are getting. Not f6.3 or f9.1 such as a cheapo automatic might deliver.

So, if you intend to make money out of your efforts you get the best you can afford to guarrantee the output is what you really want. If you are an amateur, then you have to balance expense versus pleasure.

the choice is yours - but either way, quality will out.