Regular, Double & Standard 8mm Film | EVERYTHING You Need To Know

Years before Kodak started putting film in those Super 8 cartridges there was Standard 8 film...or was it Double 8? Regular 8? This little format with a bunch of names has a lot to offer!

- - - Film Photography Project has 8mm! - - -

- - - 8mm Film Slitter Info - - -

- - - SUPPORT ANALOG RESURGENCE - - -

- - - For New Analog Content Every Week - - -

- - - Super 8 & 16mm Camera, Film & Services Available at Pro8mm - - -

————————————————————————
SOCIAL MEDIA STUFF
————————————————————————
You can send me stuff for the videos!
Noah Henderson
PO BOX 99900 YG 434 149
RPO ELLERBECK
TORONTO, ON
M4K 0A2

[NickG]

The Film Photography Project MAKES MAGAZINE FILM NOW!!! 16mm and 8mm!

[MrVideovibes]

An excellent lecture on the differences between the formats. I cut my teeth on Reg. 8mm in the 1960's finally winning an Honorable Mention in the 1968 Kodak Teenage Movie Awards for my 22 minute science fiction film, full of animation, miniature sets, slow-motion, etc. So many things could be done with Reg. 8mm in special effects than couldn't be accomplished with Super 8, double exposure being an important one. By DE you could mix miniatures with people by masking off a part of the frame, then backwinding and running through a 2nd time. I stubbornly stuck with Reg. 8mm till 1971 when I finally got my first Super 8 camera. In the transition period from Reg. to Super, there were some fantastic Reg.8mm cameras sold (brand new) for huge discounts and you could get exceptional ones for half-price or less. As you stated the Reg. 8mm cameras were far better built than most Super 8 cams and some of the standard lenses were among the finest in the world, a German-built Bauer I had was a magnificent piece of machinery, sadly stolen in Mexico City while on a vacation. Decades later, still having all my editing equipment and some projectors, I transferred both Reg. & Super to VHS and later DVD for customers. I ended up doing literally over 1, 000, 000 feet of film and found the picture quality invariably always better with Reg. 8mm. These were other peoples' films, remember but the Standard 8 looked head and shoulders better than the Super, almost like Kodak had cheapened or degraded the film stock. I still have all my equipment, the nicest piece being a Bolex Reg. 8mm camera with 3-lens turret, slow-motion (64 fps), single-frame, backwind capability with frame counter, and more. Nobody now will ever understand the thrill of many hours of work animating miniatures, then sending the film off to be processed, and anticipating seeing your stop-motion work come to life when you got the processed film back and projected it for the first time. Heady days.

[uriellopez]

I recommend loading it in the darkness after practice so you get a few extra seconds for a title card or something

[shadelz]

Finally! An 8mm video! I have a bell & Howell with an automatic exposure and a turret lense (very similar to the middle camera at 10:08), and despite having only shot one successful roll with it, mainly because of the prize, I absolutely love it!

[eroc]

This video is amazing. Just out of the blue I was watching Pumping Iron, and noticed one of the guys using an old camera to video Arnold. For some reason I was interested in old film video at that point. Been getting that warm feeling in the gut when you get excited about using things of old. Found your video and now feel empowered to take on this hobby. Thanks man

[jimshulman]

This is one of the best summaries of Double 8 I've seen. Thank you for producing it! One important point you missed, though: the exposure guides on most Double 8mm cameras are calibrated for the original Kodachrome, produced from 1936-61, ISO 10. The slowest film made today (offered by Film Photography Project) is ISO 40, which means that if you use the exposure guide on the camera your film will be severely overexposed. Instead use a phone app such as Lightmeter to get the correct exposure reading (16fps is about equal to 1/30 of a second). If your camera has a built-in meter, make sure it has a manual override. Use the override and set the aperture yourself. Meters of that era usually don't age well over time and often give unreliable results.

[thomasroche]

Suddenly got curious about 8mm film reel filming, because of being a fan of old doctor who and its missing episodes and I found film fascinating.

[ar]

Cine Kodak is a beautiful piece of art. I use it regularly and I absolutely love it!

[gdavisloop]

In the late 1960s, I had a late-model 8mm camera which had electric drive, auto exposure, and a zoom lens with reflex viewing... made by Ansco. (The same company that brought us ASA (ISO) 500 color slide Anscochrome, and a $2 chemical kit for home processing). I "won" the camera from a camera store because Super-8 had made it already obsolete! I also figured you could put the batteries in backwards and it would run backwards for special effects!

[TorontoJon]

Ha! I have that same Bell & Howell 8mm camera that I bought cheaply on eBay two or three years ago and I also have that same or similar Minolta Super 8mm camera that my father bought in the early 80's to make home movies of family trips. Ah, nostalgia...and I'm glad film is still available for shooting and processing. :)

[davidpearce]

Brilliant video. I learned more from watching this than from hours of web research. Well planned produced, presented. That's great work. Thanks big time.

[areallyrealisticguyd]

I can confirm that the Bolex P1 is probably of the highest quality 8mm cameras you can get. Been running FPP 8mm film on it for awhile now and the lens is sharp enough to rival most super 8 cameras.

[joelh]

I have 3 Revere 8mm cameras that my Grandfather had in the !950s. They still seem to function mechanically. One is a Revere Eye-Matic. The second is a Revere Brownie. The third is a Revere Model Seventy (takes a magazine cartridge).

[LookitsTook]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. This video just changed my life.

[jocknarn]

Discovered Bolex double-run 8mm movie cameras almost accidentally. Gottan H8REX. Was my late Pop’s. After getting it CLA’d, I’m having fun accessorising it. Found out the REX is picky 4 lenses so hadta source the RX primes Stateside. Now looking 4 tripod 2 mount on dolly. Thinking of experimenting with animation. I like the betta film economy of 8 over 16mm. Unsure if spring-wound 8mm is catching on here🇦🇺.

[gemista]

I love my Ciné-Kodak Eight Model 20 from 1932! It is he size of two slices of bread. I look forward to shooting on it in the future.

[ioandavies]

If you’re in the UK there’s a company called the Old Film Company that seem to supply standard 8mm film. I haven’t used them myself yet but plan to in the future.

[spotsill]

One of the bigger unmentioned benefits of 8mm film is that the splicing is easier and the final edits are much cleaner . Kodak made projectors that you could overdub magnetically striped film on after development.

[alexlandherr]

I might be close to getting my maternal grandfather’s Bolex B8L camera which is a “Double 8” one. Will try to calibrate it with a stroboscope to find the sweet spot for true 24 fps.

[MIKIZAZPIKI]

I'm using my old grandparents 8 mm Bolex for years now. Prefer it over my other Super8 stuff