Digital super 8 cartridge

[Nicholas_C]

Hi,

I know that this topic has been discussed before in this forum but it looks like it's become one step closer to reality.

Forgive me if this link has already been posted:

http://hayesurban.com/current-projects/ ... per-8.html

It will be interesting to see how this develops....

[Tscan]

I've commented on it elsewhere, but it hasn't been discussed here. Which is good that you posted because this link could use a few more comments from people who actually shoot S8. The site starts off by stating that S8 is dead or almost dead followed by a long string of comments made by fools who believe this will somehow produce the same results S8 film will. Some people are naive enough to ask for a 16mm version!

[kontrabass888]

Some people are naive enough to ask for a 16mm version!

I was almost going to ask about 16mm version
But I think DSLR can do much better job than a digital cartridge.

[Nicholas_C]

I've commented on it elsewhere, but it hasn't been discussed here. Which is good that you posted because this link could use a few more comments from people who actually shoot S8. The site starts off by stating that S8 is dead or almost dead followed by a long string of comments made by fools who believe this will somehow produce the same results S8 film will. Some people are naive enough to ask for a 16mm version!

Yeah it's very strange that he doesn't know that cartridges are still being manufactured....
But it's clear that the project might benefit from input from some members of this forum.

But I think DSLR can do much better job than a digital cartridge.

I wouldn't expect it to compete with a dslr, just give a different feel to dslr imagery.
Although if shooting digital I'm more interested in sticking old lenses on a Blackmagic pocket cinema camera or something like that.
But I would like 4:3 format digital sensor camera so I can use anamorphic lenses without using them on cropped sensors.

[carllooper]

This is what I wrote elsewhere on this:

I think many just don't understand that film cameras are just tools for shooting film (ie. exposing that photochemical material called such). If you replace the film with a digital cart it then defeats the purpose of the film camera. It was only in the early days of digital that retro-fiiting film cameras made any sense but today that no longer holds as there are much better alternatives.

If one wants to shoot digital then one should really just buy a digital camera as it will be a thousand times less cumbersome than using a retro-fitted film camera.

Otherwise all one is doing is suggesting that the cumbersomeness of a film camera is in someway desireable. I've always treated this cumbersomeness as the price one has to pay in order to shoot film, rather than as some desireable attribute of a film camera. So it makes no sense to me if you take the film away because then all you are left with is this cost - this cumbersomeness - but without the actual benefit.

The only caveat might be the lens but the fact that a Super8 digital cart would require additional optics anyway (to clear the gate) would defeat that argument. The benefits of an existing lens would have to be tempered against the degradation provided by the additional optics.

In the end it's an idea without much actual benefit.

[Will2]

Most Super 8 lenses are really bad. If that is the goal, a really bad lens, then there are much easier ways of achieving that.

[granfer]

And there are many low priced HD Digital cameras out there whose lenses are actually much better than Super 8 camera lenses... so what is the point of deliberately setting out to get an inferior result, simply in order to "use" your Super 8 camera lens?
That's the ONLY part of your Super 8 camera that this idea "uses"!

[sciolist]

I think this gadget might be useful for rehearsing challenging shots, avoiding a waste of film and time.

[kontrabass888]

Maybe at least the digital cart could solve the shift problem of rolling shutter which most dslr have.

[Davideo]

I think this gadget might be useful for rehearsing challenging shots, avoiding a waste of film and time.

Kinda like a Polaroid back that's used in shoots to check exposure, you mean?

[Nicholas_C]

I think this gadget might be useful for rehearsing challenging shots, avoiding a waste of film and time.

Agreed, I think this is a good thing for many reasons.
Yes it could be used for rehearsing shots, getting a feel of a sequence and if you were carrying a tablet or something similar you could preview the shots.
Also if you ran out of film as a backup you could use the digital cart to finish a project you were documenting. I'm into experimental films and I'm not averse to editing digital footage with film anyway. As you'd be using the same lens it would probably edit better than mixing dslr with super 8 and its much easier to carry in your film bag.

It could help to get more super 8 cameras in circulation again, being used and promoting the medium of film.
Perhaps someone who has never used film picks up a digital cart and a super 8 camera and maybe he/she will as a result of this digital cartridge buy a couple of packs of film and get hooked...

[sciolist]

I think this gadget might be useful for rehearsing challenging shots, avoiding a waste of film and time.

Kinda like a Polaroid back that's used in shoots to check exposure, you mean?

Not to check exposure but to rehearse camera movements or, in the event the camera is positioned in a way that the operator can't look through the viewfinder, to check composition.

[kuparikettu]

How come this April's Fool joke is still circulating? http://blog.nextfabstudio.com/weekly-st ... ril-1-2012

I mean, the photos of the cartridge are 3D renderings, not actual photos of the product. There is no video, even though on that site it is mentioned. There is no such sensor as the one mentioned (Omni Vision OV5600).

There is absolutely no mention whatsoever of this product elsewhere in Internet (it was published in April 2012). There is no company producing it. The one many (Hayes) is a designer, not an engineer -- and his website is full of other designs for products which do not exist and probably never will.

This whole Nolab thing is only an excellent example of how easily misinformation can spread in Internet and no one bothers to try to contact the author to ask "is this an actual product or just an April's Fools joke?"

[Nicholas_C]

How come this April's Fool joke is still circulating? http://blog.nextfabstudio.com/weekly-st ... ril-1-2012

I mean, the photos of the cartridge are 3D renderings, not actual photos of the product. There is no video, even though on that site it is mentioned. There is no such sensor as the one mentioned (Omni Vision OV5600).

There is absolutely no mention whatsoever of this product elsewhere in Internet (it was published in April 2012). There is no company producing it. The one many (Hayes) is a designer, not an engineer -- and his website is full of other designs for products which do not exist and probably never will.

This whole Nolab thing is only an excellent example of how easily misinformation can spread in Internet and no one bothers to try to contact the author to ask "is this an actual product or just an April's Fools joke?"

Oh that's a shame. I guess if it had been April the 1st I would have questioned it more and only lightly browsed the info! It was probably a industrial design concept project which the designer then released as an April fool.
I still hope someone will be crazy enough to do it one day...

[super8man]

I am still waiting for the vaporware that was a digital 35mm film roll that would fit in the back of classic cameras...I recall being excited about that back in 1999. Still waiting...it's been 14 years...not sure how much longer I can wait for such a thing. ;)