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Topic: What will be the super 8 destiny ?
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Hugh Thompson Scott
Film God
Posts: 3063
From: Gt. Clifton,Cumbria,England
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted September 13, 2012 12:35 PM
I agree with all the above,when I first got involved with this hobby
I was like everyone else,in a minority.The hobby was specialist
and very expensive.Films to buy were limited and hiring them
was not exactly cheap either.One thing it did have, was that it
was different, it was the novelty value of viewing proper feature
films in ones own home and one that other people enjoyed.
It seems a world away now, with large screen TVs, DVDs and
the ability to project huge pictures,it seems that like many other forms of entertainment, we are now a part of history and
will no doubt be eventually forgotten.The upshot is, does it
really matter, in my humble opinion, not a jot.We have enjoyed
the best years of the hobby,the distributors have served up
some fantastic films to view and the manufacturers have on the
whole fashioned some great projectors to watch them on.
So forget about future generations watching film, the time is
now,we have the films, lets enjoy them while we can before we
all succumb to the final fade out.
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted September 13, 2012 01:26 PM
All are correct, but film, whether it is still printed or not, has a certain quality when projected, that will never lose is "allure".
We watched "Spaceballs" two days ago, (as one was up for sale, so I trhought I'd pull out my copy). Now, we watched a super 8 optical sound print, and the color and sharpness of that film were just gorgeous, truly at a 16MM quality standard, and we project at "whole bedsheet" size! Very fine grain.
Then, just for the experience, I projected the the laserdisc mand the VHS of this same title for a little bit (using a sharpvision projector with a very high number of pixels), and the comparison was like night and day.
Yes, the VHS and digital had a little better sound ... and in stereo (when we project these super 8 opticals, I use a Realistic Dolby surround sound processor and set it on Dolby surround and the other switch to simulated stereo, it's remarkable how good and hiss free that optical track sounds with that hooked up!) ...
But the image quality was truly magnificent!
With all the digital, you just do not get that magic.
Wonderful organic film!
Besides that, modern technology is so "transitory", here today and gone tomorrow, as others have said. My old VHS? long obselete. My laserdiscs? Obselete. DVD? Near obselete. My Blur-ray? Well hell, I've only bought a few and they really don't look much better on that sharpvision projection TV than the DVD's.
Film? In truth, it will never really be obselete, until humanity becomes obselete.
Why?
Because, we are both organic! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Steve Klare
Film Guy
Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted September 13, 2012 03:46 PM
When you study Thermodynamics in college, a certain moment comes when the professor says that thermo's laws predict that the Universe will eventually run out of energy and will become a vast, dead, dark, cold, thin soup. A hush always comes over all the bright young guys and gals because they have been confronted with not only their own mortality but the mortality of everything...
(I'll believe it when I see it, which fortunately I never will even if it's true!)
In the 8MM forum we have our own version of this.
Here is "Is Super-8 Doomed?", comin' at'cha from exactly 9 years ago!
The End is Near!
Maybe Doug should make it a sticky!
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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...
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Manuel Tapia
Film Handler
Posts: 47
From: Monterrey, mexico
Registered: Aug 2012
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posted September 13, 2012 03:52 PM
I'm new in this hobby, I'm not looking to but expensive film, i'm o.k. with the 2-3 400' Reel version, and the 200' Disney cartoon. you know less tha 25 USD. i buy the projecto to see my old family film even i already have it in DVD. and the projector could look nice in my office wiht my minolta and olympus 35 Cameras. but i find the B&H that include Starwars iV, V, some cartoon, so i bought it to show my kids how the film works. I also use my VHS, Laserdisc and of course DVD and Bluray, but for some reason my kids love the Laserdisc and films, they ask me to put a movie when you was child, so i think they will continue with this movie hobby the rest of his life to show his kids, his grandfather's movies.
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Christian Bjorgen
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 996
From: Kvinnherad, Norway
Registered: Oct 2009
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posted September 17, 2012 03:58 AM
Paul Adsett: quote:
But lets be realistic. Home projection with 1080p projectors and blu ray source material has now reached an unbelievable level of perfection, where you can get an image very close to the best professional cinema. So I think the days when super 8mm and 16mm can deliver a far better viewing experience than a projected DVD are pretty well over.
I slightly disagree with you there, Paul. Now I have used both BluRay and DVD projection alongside Super 8 and 16mm for the last three years now, and I find that with the right film, right lens and right projector, the difference; even with Super 8 compared to BluRay, isn't all that big. With DVD it's a no-brainer for my part, my Super8 copy of "Airplane!" beats my DVD copy of it any day.
16mm however, still superior in my book, I find that BluRay lacks that "little extra" in terms of colour and depth, which the 16mm projector gives me when projecting a good film.
But like you said, it is easy to just enjoy the best of both worlds ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Well who’s on first? Yeah. Go ahead and tell me. Who. The guy on first. Who. The guy playin’ first base. Who. The guy on first. Who is on first! What are you askin’ me for? I’m askin’ you!
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted September 17, 2012 11:14 AM
Hi Christian,
quote:
With DVD it's a no-brainer for my part, my Super8 copy of "Airplane!" beats my DVD copy of it any day
I too have super 8 films that I prefer to the DVD's. Among them Meet Me in St Louis, Grease and That's Entertainment 3. Its not that these prints are sharper and more resolved than the DVD's, because they are not. But for whatever reason they just look a lot better on super 8 - that intangible film thing. So I do agree with you that if you have a top quality print, and a top quality projector and lens, then super 8 can still give a lot of DVD's a run for their money. Blu Ray I find will inevitably beat super 8, but I do agree that even blu ray can sometimes have a kind of flat look compared to film.
Last night I projected my Super 8 print of High Society , which I have done a stereo re-record. I sat there watching the film and thought "this is really great"!
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Fabrizio Mosca
Master Film Handler
Posts: 346
From: Milano, Italy
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted September 17, 2012 01:58 PM
From my perspective, even if Fuji hadn't announced to cease movie film production, printing of new films is going to arrive to an end in the near future.
As far as I know, the super8 acetate printing material currently used by the lab is no longer in production and the fact that there's no (or very little) possibility to stripe estar material leads to "limited" amount of films that may still be printed today.
If you also consider that Fuji has announced the dismission of its movie section (apart from archival printing material), it means that we may rely only on Kodak for the itermediate stock to be used for printing super8 copies of new titles (I don't know if other color stocks exist).
As far as Kodak goes on with the production of movie film, we should be "safe", considering the limitation of the super8 acetate print film.
But the dismissal by Fuji doesn't imply that the movie/tv production will automatically move to Kodak stock, considering also that Kodak stock is usually more expensive (apart from having a different photographic look).
Due to this, we may have to consider that Kodak may not take advantage of Fuji decision (considering also she filed for Chapter 11).
I do really hope that it will go on for at least another 5 years, but even now (after Fuji announcement) I'm considering whether to buy some film stocks for my cameras (I use both 16mm and super8 for shooting), as I don't want to have film still to shoot and no place where to develop/print them (this mainly for 16mm as not all the labs in Italy print 16mm from negatives).
Unfortunately nobody knows what Kodak plans are for the medium period...
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much better than the dvd. I never get bored watching it "again and again" on Super8, its a brilliant digest.
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