History of Super 8 Kodak Film Stocks

[Tscan]

I'm trying to think of all the color films that have been available in S8 by Kodak over the years. I can come up with a total of 17 variations... Can anyone think of more that i missed?

Kodachrome II (ASA 40)
Kodachrome 40
Ektachrome 40 (T?)
Ektachrome 160T
Ektachrome 160G
Ektachrome VNF 125T
Ektachrome 64T
Ektachrome 100D
Vision 1/2/3 200T
Vision 2/3 500T
Plus X 50ASA
Plus X 100ASA
Tri X (100ASA?)
Tri X 200ASA

[Muckymuck]

Kodak 4-X, a 400 ASA black and white film was once available in Super 8.

[rlorenz2]

here's a good link:

http://www.super8data.com/database/film ... _kodak.htm

[Tscan]

That's a great link! It seems the 400ASA B&W was some kind of survelance film that used a special Kodak camera?

But it's apparent that the stocks available have been pretty constant throughout the formats existance. In it's heyday there have always been 2 color reversals (K40 and E160) and 2 B&W (PlusX and TriX).

Today you have 1 color reversal, 1 B&W reversal, and 2 color negs. Still 4 basic stocks. With the mild exception of leaving TriX over PlusX, things are still on par with the heyday... just a different erra with Neg stocks, digital post and audio.

[super8man]

Made all the more amazing by the fact a new super 8 camera has not been built since the 1980s. Think about that one...it's funny to think about.

[Will2]

That's a great link! It seems the 400ASA B&W was some kind of survelance film that used a special Kodak camera?

The awesome Analyst Super 8 camera. Was just using one to do a time lapse of my son putting together a giant lego set. It just does time lapses. I bought mine for $15 in perfect shape.

I believe that 4-x stock may have been on a thinner base and was 125 feet in one standard 8 cartridge. These were meant to be looked at once or never even developed unless there was a robbery or something.

Unfortunately not a very wide lens though.

[Tscan]

That's right, I remember hearing that the surveillance film was thinner for at least twice the length. There was also a surveillance 200 negative listed on that link that goes way back before neg stock was common to the format.

That's a sweet little compact camera Will! What interval can it go up to?

[Will2]

Intervals start at 1.25 seconds and infinitely variable up to 90 seconds.

It's the same basic body as another regular Super 8 camera from Kodak and it has plastic gears so it they aren't the most reliable things after all these years but I'm on my 2nd one and it has held up great.

My only complaint is the lens isn't very wide.

[Angus]

I am no sure if 4X was sold as surveillance film. Somebody who's been into film making longer than me can answer that.

When I started in the 80's you could get 200ASA colour neg as "surveillance film" because that was expected to be its main use. At that point in time super 8 usage was 95% reversal and there was little interest in neg films. However prior to the advent of cheap and reasonable quality CCTV cameras, time-lapse super 8 neg was the best option.

But 4X was very grainy, not really suitable as a surveillance/security film. I've seen some material shot on 4X and you could never identify bank robbers on it!

Surveillance 200 neg was the older Kodak Vision product. With V2 they dropped the "surveillance" tag as CCTV had taken over and super 8 colour neg was gaining some popularity with film-makers and TV productions.

[Muckymuck]

Wow! So there were actually Super 8 CCTV cameras available? They must have been incredibly expensive to run, even if shot at a rate of 1 fps or less.

I always thought "Surveillance" film meant for use by police (pre-video) when on a stakeout due to the high speed and wide latitude of neg stock, or perhaps used as a still film, firing off several frames in quick succession (and with 3600 still frames per 50 ft cartridge removing the necessity for time-consuming reloads).

[woods01]

The way it worked in those days was that they had 16mm or S8mm timelapse cameras that would activate only when the alarm was sounded. The most famous example of this was the Patty Hearst robbery film. Later on cheap B&W video cameras took over and would record a continuous timelapse to video tape.

[Angus]

It wasn't CCTV as such, because it was not closed-circuit television. But it was used for security recording before video was viable. And yes, it WAS expensive...mostly banks used it and only when alarms rang or motion detectors (themselves costly back then) were activated.

For historical reasons, Vision 200T colour neg was sold as surveillance film in the super 8 format. When it was replaced with Vision 2, the 'surveillance' tag was dropped.

Was 4x sold as surveillance film? I never bought a roll but I have seen it projected. Its a nice stock in its way, but totally unsuitable for security/surveillance.