Fashion vignette made with 80 years old camera and 8mm film (Foma R100 8mm 24fps)

Ok, maybe it is just 70 years old. This camera was in production from 1930s to late 1950s, so it is hard to tell exactly.
But anyway, it is Bell & Howell 134 sportster and it still works.

Previously I shot with 16mm and now wanted to try 8mm film to see the difference. My idea was to decide if this camera can be used as a B cam of sorts to Arri 16s for some additional or hand-held footage. Hence this project.

Good news that BH134 is capable of maintaining somewhat stable 24fps and has full manual exposure controls.

But unfortunately they are very inconvenient to change. Lens has fixed focus and aperture markings are tiny, travel distance from f3.5 to f16 is about 5mm. And viewfinder is not reflex type, so you just looking through the hole in camera body.

It is manageable, and I guess the idea for this camera was to shoot Sunny16 pointed in the general direction of interest without thinking about composition too much.

Overall this was a very fun and enjoyable experience and I probably will use this camera again but for some specific and stylised shoots.

After all 8mm is very different in look and feel from 16mm, even at 24 fps, and not that cheaper do develop and scan.

With Arri it was much easier to get exposure and composition that I want and avoid lensflares if necessary. But the camera is much bigger and requires a battery. Probably there are some higher level and more professional 8mm camereas out there, but I think that sharper optics wouldn't make that much of a difference.

tldr - 8mm has cool looks and portable but 16mm is much sharper and more versitale although bigger.

Film used - Foma R100 double 8mm, developed as reversal by Andec Cinegrell Lab in Germany.

Camera - Bell&Howell Sportster 134 with Anate 12.5mm (1/2") F3.5 lens.