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Topic: Why do you prefer Super 8?
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Tom Photiou
Film God
Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003
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posted November 06, 2013 04:13 PM
lets all remeber that super 8mm is the gauge for home movies,i.e. amatures and enthusiats like all of us, i also have a very small collection of 16mm and of course the quality is going to be better in many cases,its a larger gauge and its use was semi-proffesionals and TV, many features were also shot on this gauge but the costs prohibit most people of an average wage. Super 8mm ,as ive said, is designed for the home use but quality wise its wrong to trash it, some titles are so good its hard to belive they are 8mm and not 16. If you want to project onto very large screens in big halls then obviously 16mm is better for you but i cant sit back and see 8mm critised like this, thats just ridiculous. As for the question asked, my choice of gauge is 8mm, for cost,size and its more than ideal for the home use, if you watch films on 8mm like Mickeys xmas carol, the fog, infact most of the films released by Derann,Walton and other top 8mm dealers the quality is generally outstanding. Most people have homes with rooms that are perfectly matched for the projection of 8mm, we all have an opinion but go easy on our gauge
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Michael O'Regan
Film God
Posts: 3085
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted November 06, 2013 04:58 PM
Of course, there's one thing that's been overlooked in this.
It does depend on what titles one likes to collect.
My main interest is the silent era and pre-code stuff. There's little of much interest or in good quality on Super 8 from that era in the feature length dept. For my purposes 16mm is invaluable.
There are some who collect Super 8 for it's own sake, by which I mean collecting digests, cut-downs, etc. I have no interest in this, but, as I said above there are some two reel comedies by certain distributors which, to me, are more than adequate on Super 8. I'm very much a fan of Charley Chase and I see no need to spend up to £100 in some cases on a Chase two-reeler on 16mm when I can have much the same on Super 8 for £10 - £20.
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Winbert Hutahaean
Film God
Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted November 06, 2013 09:12 PM
This type of question had been discussed on several threads in this forum.
To me collecting small gauges film does really mean "small". Going to larger format means that you are no longer on small gauge league.
When we are in a VW buggy forum, there is no point to ask why you don't go to VW Karmann Ghia which is more comfortable and faster. We know that of course.
I am collecting super 8mm for the sake of loving the film format (i.e celluloid). If I want to get easier and unfaded film, simply watch DVD with a Pany LCD projector.
But I love real film, and since I am projecting inside the house, I chose super 8mm only with the below reasons:
1. Space (I want to have films as many as possible, but my life CANNOT be surrounded by can of can films. I have to have another side of my life. My family needs my attention too)
2. Price (I already set my self to spend around max. $30 for a digest or $100 for a feature. I have more money in my banks but my life is not only for films. I need to enjoy the other sides of this world)
3. Time with film (8mm has more digest, 2 or 3 parters while 16mm is mostly full feature. I can enjoy one title through a digest/three parter and doing something worth after that. With 16mm, I have to sit 2 hours to enjoy one title. My kids will not be able to do this, while I want my kids also to get involved in this hobby too. A digest or 2/3 parters is the only option to attract them).
4. Stereo (8mm has stereo sound while 16mm is only mono. I cannot say mono is better than stereo unless I only have one ear )
5. Art works (8mm is mostly with nice artwork, while 16mm comes only with can or plain box. It is so boring to see can by can on my library self compared to blue Marketing Film box which I always proud as the best super 8mm art work)
8mm is grainier.... sure...this is only 8mm format. Will I try to upgrade to 16mm..... ?
Do you think it will solve the problem? ...Why then not to go to 35mm which is obviously sharper than 16mm?
...But then how about 70mm?
Out human life will never get satisfied to anything, that is why after VHS we have LD then DVD and now BluRay. This will only cost you more money eventually.
my 2 cents,
-------------------- Winbert
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Graham Ritchie
Film God
Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted November 06, 2013 10:33 PM
One of the things I have found with Super8 is that there is less chance of finding films with damaged sprocket holes compared with 16mm.
A lot of 16mm prints I have come across, have had a hard time over the years "sprocket wise" simply, because you have a claw pulling the film down, and its a much wider frame area being dragged down through the gate than with Super8.
Once the perforations on 16mm get damaged like that, the film will get jumpy in the gate. I am not saying you wont find damaged perforations in Super8.....I just have not come across it as much, actually, very seldom on Super8.
Another point, and Winbert has just made it, is the cut down 3/400ft films like "Airplane" and the like, they do make the movie far more enjoyable to watch, time and time again simply because they were well edited "padding removed" and have a running time of only around 50 minutes.
Derann also released heaps of interesting stuff on 8mm over the years "Look at Life" etc and a lot of the colour is still fine.
I have put on Super8 film shows in the past where people comment afterwards, how good 8mm can actually look. But like any film projecting, its down to the quality of the print, the projector itself eg two bladed, the lens, the screen...has it got generous amount of black and so on.
As far as film gauges...I really would like an "IMAX" projector and platter as they have now gone down the digital yellow brick road.....I do need a bigger garage
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Winbert Hutahaean
Film God
Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted November 07, 2013 08:16 AM
quote: The other curiosity was as I sold some years ago my 16mm original LPP scope print of Return of the Jedi on Ebay. I got something around of 500 Euro for my print, the buyer sold few days later his Super 8 print and he got the same price for his Super 8 print. And I must say, the 16mm print was definitely better.
Oemer, that is to show tha basic principle of economic, i.e supply and demand.
We all know that the supply of ROTJ on 16mm is rather plenty compared to 8mm. There are a lot of ROTJ version on 16mm knowing it was used for certain purposes (TV, librarry, small cinema at rigs/clubs, etc). But 8mm afaik is only available from Derann.
All 8mm collectors who are looking ROTJ will only after this version and that will pump its price up, right?
This happens in any type of collecting hoby that include my initial parallelism that a certain model of VW buggy will sell more than a reguler Karmann Ghia
Cheers,
-------------------- Winbert
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted November 07, 2013 12:11 PM
I'm surprised that I didn't notice this topic earlier ...
It's a matter of cost, but great curiosity. I rarely collect super 8 magnetic anymore, (though Winberts comment about stereo is certainly a valid point, and there's nothing like having that stereo booming on a spectacular print!), I love to collect the optical sound features as, they usually have a sharpness on par with nay good 16MM and the number of extremely rare prints on super 8 optical sound is still quite inviting ...
... though, I'm running out of unexplored continents for finding rare super 8 optical sound. They have popped up in the strangest places, I must say.
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted November 14, 2013 12:40 PM
Yeah, My Croc Dundee still looks great ...
Micheal, I'd strongly urge you to look at Blackhawks catalog of early cinema. In many cases, films weren't actually "resurrected from the dung heap" by Blackhawk's efforts, and while there are some lower quality releases, (for instance, the laurel and Hardy features), the silent shorts tend to be of very high quality, and even better when you see the earlier standard 8mm prints, which are often quite stunning.
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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