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I have had a camera for as long as I can remember. My first camera was a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. I guess I was about twelve years old or so when I got it; and soon after I got my first darkroom outfit. I have been taking & processing pictures ever since. I would have been twelve years old in 1954. My Aunt and Uncle had the first home movie outfit I ever saw (around 1950). My folks bought their first movie camera, a Revere Model 50, in 1953. I still have the films they took. In 1957, when I was 15 years old, I bought my first movie outfit. It was a Kodak Brownie outfit. It wasn’t very expensive, but took quite respectable pictures. A farm boy back in the 1950’s couldn’t afford anything very fancy. About 1960, my Grandfather bought a movie outfit. It was a DeJur brand camera that had three lenses mounted on a turret (normal, wide angle & telephoto). It was a top of the line, state of the art camera of its day. He also had a quality DeJur projector. I still have this camera & projector, along with my folk’s movie camera and my first movie camera. They all still operate perfectly! At that time, the 8 m/m film that was available was called Regular-8 or Double-8. Equipment manufactured for Regular-8 film was manufactured from 1932 to 1963. The double run principle means that the film is run through the camera twice. Each run exposes a row of images down one side of the film and then the other. After the film has been processed, it is slit lengthwise and the two ends are joined together. In this way, a film that starts out as 16 m/m wide and 25 feet long becomes 8 m/m wide and 50 feet long. Super 8-film and equipment was introduced in 1964. Most Super-8 cameras are battery operated. (Regular-8 had clockwork wind-up motors.) Super-8 film starts out 8 m/m wide and 50 feet long. It is loaded in a special cartridge and is run through the camera only once. The Super-8 sprocket holes are different from Regular-8 and the picture area is considerably larger giving a brighter, sharper image. In the late 1960’s, I bought a Super-8 camera. It was an Anscomatic with a 6 to 1 zoom lens and automatic exposure control. Around 1980 I bought a Minolta Super-8 with an intervolumeter for taking time lapse pictures. I have some great time lapse films of flowers opening and clouds moving by at super fast speed. They are quite dramatic. About 1990 I bought a used sound Super-8 camera and projector & started collecting movie cameras, projectors & films. Most manufacturers discontinued making home movie equipment around 1985. About that time video was coming on the market in a big way and home movie equipment became unwanted and could be picked up cheap, & still can be. Most of the cameras and projectors in my collection I paid between $2.00 & $15.00. The sound equipment is worth more ($50.00 to $200.00 or more). In the late 1960’s, I bought my first 35 m/m Single Lens Reflex (SLR) still camera. It was an Astraflex 1000 LM, made by Edixa in West Germany. In the 1970’s, I bought a Minolta SRT series SLR. About 1990, I bought a Minolta 700X program SLR. In the meantime I bought another Minolta SRT. I purchased all of these new. I do a lot of close up and copy work, so I needed a SLR. I had three cameras so I could have a different kind of film in each one (black & white, color print & slide). My Mother gave me my Grandfather’s old Conley Junior, 4 x 5 glass plate camera that he used around 1915. I bought a couple of 4 x 5 cut film holders and was lucky that they fit the camera, so I could use 4 x 5 sheet film which is readily available. I took a few pictures with this old camera and processed them myself. They turned out great! I am what I call a very serious amateur photographer. Everywhere I go, I carry a camera. Over the last few years, my wife, Helen, has been taking most of our stills and I carry my trusty movie camera. I still take movie film because it will last and video tape won’t. Kodachrome color movie film and black & white film have a life expectancy of 100+ years. Kodak Ektachrome color film has a life expectancy of 75+ years, and then only a 10% change in color & image. Video tape, if stored properly, will last 10 years, 20 years tops. So film should be used if you want it around for the next generation to see. The old Kodachromes that my folks took over 50 years ago are still as good as the day they came back from the processor. Those old films have pictures of my folks, grandparents, and Aunts & Uncles most of which passed away many years ago. It’s great to get those old films out and see all of those family members, as I remember them when I was a kid, in moving pictures! Of course my sister and I were in those old movies too, as kids. With the video craze going on now, fewer and fewer people are using their old home movie camera. I am afraid that the demand for movie film will get so low that manufacturers will discontinue it. Kodak has already discontinued Super-8 sound film. I am doing my part to keep it going! I take about 15 to 20 rolls (50 foot rolls of Black & White, Color, and Regular-8 & Super-8) of movie film every year and plan to continue. When I was a kid, I would save my money and when we would go shopping in Beloit, which was about once a year, I would buy a Hollywood film or two. Hoppalong Cassidy was my favorite cowboy. Abbot & Costello were my favorite comedy team. (Who’s on 1st is a classic!) I would buy 50 ft. Abbot & Costello and 200 ft. Hoppy movies. Of course they were all silent back then. I still have those old films, but they are in rough shape as I about ran them to death, and didn’t take care of them when I was a kid. The 50 ft. films cost about $1.50 and the 200 ft. films cost $5.00 or $6.00. This was a small fortune for a kid in the mid 1950’s. Most of the films I have been buying over the past few years are used films. I have a dozen or so full length sound features. The feature films I have cost anywhere from $50.00 to $100.00. Most of the films I have are cartoons and 200 ft. & 400 ft. digests. I collect both silent & sound. I have some old Charlie Chaplin & Harold Lloyd films that were released about 1915—1930. Of course these films I have aren’t originals as they didn’t have 8 m/m back then. Most were put on 8 m/m during the 1950’s, 1960’s & 1970’s. There are two companies in England that are still releasing new Super-8 films on a regular basis, but new feature films are quite expensive, costing $300.00 to $500.00. Cartoons and other 200 ft. “shorts” run about $40.00, which is not bad. New features are too pricey for me, but I do purchase a new 200 ft. film now & then. Trailers are also fun to collect. A trailer is what you see when you go to the movies, which is the “Coming Attraction” of an upcoming film. They only run about 3 or 4 minutes and cost about $10.00 for a used one and $20.00+ for new ones. Used 200 ft. cartoons and 400 ft. digests run from $10.00 to $30.00. Of course some of the used films have had hard use and aren’t perfect. They may have scratch lines, or the color may be faded as Kodachrome film wasn’t used most of the time for these films. Film collecting is a lot more popular in Europe than in the United States. There aren’t many companies dealing in films in this country anymore. I have been buying a lot of my used films from England. I use my credit card to make the purchases. The Pounds Sterling are converted to U.S. dollars automatically. It works out great. If I place an order by e-mail, the order will arrive in about a week. Right now (2003) £60 (Pounds) equals about $100.00 U.S. The exchange rate does go up and down some, but not much. I purchase new films that are now being released in England from the U.S. distributor, “The Reel Image” in Kettering, Ohio. Steve Osborne, the owner, also has very reasonably priced used films and equipment. He also publishes a very nice magazine three times a year called “The Reel Image.” It has movie reviews of all the latest releases and very interesting articles on filming and collecting. He is a nice, honest man to deal with. This is a great hobby! There is nothing like pulling down my 70-inch “silver screen” and watching Hoppy, Gene or Roy ride across my living room and into the sunset! There is just something about threading up your projector and watching a movie just like in the theater. It’s just not the same watching a video or DVD on the TV screen!! I also have an anamorphic lens that is used to project wide screen “Cinemascope” films. The model I have is a 35 m/m model made by Bausch & Lomb to be used with a 35 m/m movie projector, but can also be used with 8 m/m and 16 m/m projectors. I made a wooden stand to mount my lens on. The lens sets in front of the projector and the Cinemascope films are shown through it. My next project is to make a Cinemascope screen. The image projected is approximately 4 ½ ft. high and 10 ft. wide. What a picture! I am probably going to have to set it up in my basement, or out in my shed! Of course the farther back you move the projector, the bigger the image. I have wanted one of these lenses for a long time. They are kind of hard to find, so when I saw this one advertised in “The Reel Image,” I jumped at the chance to buy it. Some Hollywood films and trailers are only available in scope. It is truly amazing what can be done with this little Super-8 film! I have written this article in hopes it will stir interest in the hobby. Get those old cameras out of the closet and buy some film. Film is still available for both Regular-8 and Super-8. Or if you are a youngster, or teenager, and the filming bug has bitten you like it did me, start looking for a camera or projector and get started. Right now there is still a good supply of good, used cameras and projectors out there, and they are cheap to reasonable in price. Look in antique stores, at rummage sales, in thrift stores, on E-Bay (lots listed there, but sometimes are a little high priced), or place a want ad in the newspaper. There is a lot of old movie equipment out there in someone’s closet or attic. You just have to find it! If we don’t create new interest in our hobby, especially the younger generation, I’m afraid as us older collectors die off, there won’t be anyone to keep it going and the hobby will die. I have had many other hobbies in my lifetime (woodworking, violin making, beekeeping, model railroading, raising parakeets, fishing, hunting, target shooting, reloading ammunition, & more); but none have brought me more enjoyment and been as rewarding as photography in general and specifically taking moving pictures and film collecting. If you are at all interested, start now. Get those cameras and projectors rolling! You will never be sorry you did. I also have a list of manufacturers, suppliers and processors available for the price of $5.00. Click on the link on the front page of our website “Big List 8mm” for complete information. If you would ever want any other information or advice on the hobby, I will be glad to help if I can. ****** Comparing Movie
Film To Video Tape Over the past 15 years or so I have read numerous articles in the film magazines telling about the differences in the “look” of videos and movie film and how most serious professional and serious amateur film makers prefer the film “look” over the video “look”. I hadn’t thought about it too much as I take most of my home movies on film. I do have a camcorder and use it some on several occasions throughout the year. I usually take 10 to 15, 50 ft. rolls of movie film every year on mostly Super-8, but some on Regular-8. As film is quite expensive compared to video tape, I use my camcorder along with film if I see my wallet isn’t fat enough to buy all the film I would need. In 2002 I purchased a VHS-C camcorder and have accumulated about 30, one-half hour tapes in the last seven or eight years. This last Fall I purchased a MINI-DV camcorder and have now been using it. I thought it would be a good idea to transfer all of my tapes to DVD’s as the life of video tape isn’t very many years and the main reason we take home movies is for future generations to see them. I bought a DVD/VHS recording deck to transfer my video tapes to DVD’s and decided to use archival DVD’s even though they cost considerably more than the cheaper run-of-the-mill blank DVD’s that are available. I decided to go with “Archival Gold” by Delkin Devices as they are advertised to last 100 to 300 years! I hadn’t really watched many of my tapes over the years. I just taped them and put them on the shelf for future viewing. As I made the DVD’s I monitored them on a 19” HDTV. As I watched them all, I studied the picture quality and thought about the “look”. I have been watching home movies on film for 60 years, so I have the film “look” imbedded in my brain. For the most part, the VHS-C tapes were quite good, but right away I could see what this video “look” was and I do agree with most everyone else that I much prefer the film look. I really don’t know how to describe it but the video tape is just missing something that film has. The colors on the video tapes were pretty good and most seemed to be in good sharp focus. I guess it just didn’t have the “snap” or contrast that film does. The overall image is kind of drab and lifeless compared to film. The camera I used wasn’t an expensive camera. I guess it cost about $250 to $300, eight years ago. But I know I have read about professionals using expensive professional video cameras that cost thousands of dollars say the same thing even with cameras that have a setting that is supposed to give that film “look”. It still doesn’t measure up to the film image. I guess many amateur and professional movie makers have given up their expensive video cameras and gone back to film. They usually use a negative film stock and then have it transferred to DVD’s for distribution. When transferred to DVD it still retains the film “look”. This last Fall I purchased a MINI-DV camcorder. I believe the picture quality is better than the VHS-C, but it still definitely has that video “look”. I will continue using my camcorder on occasion as the cost of the film will force me to and I am glad I took those video tapes over the past eight years as I wouldn’t have had it all on film. But I am sure glad I have taken all those thousands of feet of 8mm movie film over the past 50 plus years. I have all of my films, my parents films, my grandparents films and my uncles films that date back to 1949. Most are all just as good as the day they came back from the processor. There is a little fungus damage on a few that weren’t stored properly and a scratch now and then, but for the most part they are in great shape and the colors are bright and vivid. Our son has a telecine machine and is in the process of transferring all of my films to DVD’s These old projectors won’t last forever and I guess it’s a good idea to them put on a more modern format for future generations to watch. ****** The High Cost
??? Of Film In the above article, I said a little about the high cost of movie film, and it is expensive, however I can remember back in the 1950’s when I was a kid and my parents were taking movies, they thought it was high back then too and couldn’t afford to take but a few reels each year. I believe the cost of a roll of Kodachrome back then was about $3.50 and maybe up to that much to have it processed. I would guess with our inflated dollars the $25 to $35 it costs now for a film and processing, it isn’t much different than it was back then, maybe even cheaper. Film was cheap not too many years ago, maybe 10 years back or so, when you could buy a roll of Kodachrome with processing for $13 or $14 and we got used to that low price, I guess. Back then I would spend about $150 on movies and another $150 on 35 mm still pictures in a years’ time. Now I have a digital still camera so I don’t have to buy film for my stills any longer, but I still spend about $300 on movie film so my total film expenses is about the same. On occasion I will still use my SLR 35 mm cameras with black and white film as I really enjoy working with black and white film in my dark room. Back in the 1950’s my parents would have spent about $60 for 10 films (films & processing). That was a lot of money back then. It would have bought 200 gallons of gasoline! Gasoline was $.30 a gallon when I started driving in 1958. Gas is about 9 times higher now (2010) than back then and film is only about 5 times higher. I guess film is still a bargain when you look at it that way. I have had people ask me, why would you pay $30 for a little more than three minutes of film when you can get several hours of video tape for just a few dollars? I guess they have never seen the quality difference between film and video tape or just don’t care. And their tapes won’t last over 10 years, 20 tops if properly stored. Of course they can be made to last longer if transferred to DVD’s, but they still won’t have the picture quality of film. Another thing I have noticed with people taking videos is that at an event like a birthday party or school program they will put their camera on a tripod, turn it on and just let it run. I know I even have a problem now and then when taking videos of letting a scene run too long. Where tape is cheap, it is easy to do. Nothing will bore an audience faster than long drawn out scenes. With film, because of the cost, you are forced to keep each scene short and to the point and this keeps each scene moving along at a good pace so you won’t get bored watching it. If I take 10 rolls of film throughout the year at birthday parties, family get-togethers and vacations, I will have about 35 minutes of film for the year. That is usually plenty of time to show what has gone on in your life on these occasions. Sometimes I will take more rolls on our vacation depending on how long we are gone and where we went, but I will then keep my vacation film on a separate reel from the other film. I just wonder how many people ever sit down and watch their long drawn out videos completely through? I know I get out my old home movies every winter and watch several hours of them and never get bored with them no matter how many times I have watched them over the years. I have so many films dating back 60 years that it takes several winters to get through them all. But they are all fast moving and interesting to watch. Of course they are only interesting to our family members because of the family content, but that is the way they were meant to be. The only drawback with film that I now see is that sound film has been discontinued. However your film can be sound striped and sound can be added with your projector as narration. But we have lost an easy way to get “lip sync”. Most home movies don’t need sound anyway. A few titles placed at strategic points throughout the film works great. It’s a shame that we let ourselves be drawn into the video craze the way we did and just forgetting about film altogether. The video manufacturers made us believe this was the wave of the future and film was obsolete and we all bought into it letting amateur filming (on film) fall by the way. However film is starting to make a come back, especially with professional film makers. Of course Hollywood has always used film and realized that even the best HD cameras can’t hold a candle to the image quality of 35 mm movie film. Kodak has recently come out with new Super 8 emulsions and I would hope many of you who have movie cameras setting in your closets, would get them out, dust them off and start taking home movies again the way they were meant to be, on film. You won’t be sorry you did. And if you don’t have a camera or projector, there are plenty of good used ones out there available on the internet, yard sales and goodwill stores at very reasonable prices. Some people think it’s a hassle setting up the projector and screen etc., but I think this is half the fun. It hardly takes five minutes to get set up. If anyone is interested where to get film, processing and supplies, go back to our home page and click on “Big List 8mm” for info on a booklet I have available and if anyone has any questions on filming I will be happy to answer your questions, if I can. Keep those reels turning and happy filming.
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