8mm Forum: Has 8mm Film Been Filmed?

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Topic: Has 8mm Film Been Filmed?

Scott Belt
Junior
Posts: 3
From: Detroit, MI, USA
Registered: Dec 2014

posted December 10, 2014 12:23 PM

I apologize since this is such a basic question to all you pros.
I found several 8mm film cartridges when going through my parents things and have no idea how to tell if these have any film footage on them. Any tips?

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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted December 10, 2014 12:27 PM

They may well have footage, but these days, you would have to send them to what film labs are still available to process your film. Unfortunately, I can't give you advice on where to send your cartridges, as I don't know what film labs would process them. In some cases, depending on the film stock/cartridges, there are no labs still existing that can process it for you ...

Hopefully, there is. Someone who's more of a professional in this regard should take over now ... [Smile]

Thank you for posting concerning this and welcome!

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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

posted December 10, 2014 12:34 PM

Usually the word "Exposed" appears on the film at the end and the film notches down to tell the camera to signal end of film, so this roll is probably still a virgin.

This roll is from the 80s, so it probably doesn't really matter anyway. Even if there was an image it is a couple of decades post expiration.

Focal Color Movie Film EM-25

Spectra says they will process it for $95 with no guarantees:

Spectra Film and Video

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Adrian Winchester
Film God

Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004

posted December 10, 2014 01:52 PM

Super 8 leader can be expensive nowadays so at least the cartridges can potentially be used in this way.

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Adrian Winchester

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Scott Belt
Junior
Posts: 3
From: Detroit, MI, USA
Registered: Dec 2014

posted December 10, 2014 03:03 PM

Thanks. I kind of figured these might be un used films. I have 4 of them.

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted December 10, 2014 09:50 PM

What's kind of strange about it is that the film is out of the packaging. Most people leave them sealed up until the moment they need them.

-usually at about 5 feet left I ask my wife to open a new one up for me so I can do a quick swap and not miss anything good!

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Dominique De Bast
Film God

Posts: 4486
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jun 2013

posted December 10, 2014 10:54 PM

As Steve said, the word "exposed" should appear on the film. This is not the case of the film shown on the picture so it has not been exposed or at least not until the end. If one of your four films has the exposed word on it you can try to have it process but of course no lab will give you any garantee of the result. The rule is that once a film has been exposed it should be process as soon as possible. You may have good surprises with well outdated exposed film but you may also get an unwatchable film back from the lab. As the process is not cheap, you have to make the balance between what is resonnable in term of costs and what could be unvaluable in term of familly document. I don't know the make of the films you have (it's probably American), maybe someone can tell you if Focal is reputed for good quality or not. You can always contact labs to have more infos This one is not too expensive : http://www.super8.nl/english/e_index.htm

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Dominique

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Timothy Duncan
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 150
From: Russellville, KY, USA
Registered: Sep 2014

posted December 11, 2014 06:15 AM

The Focal brand was manufactured for the K-mart Corporation to be sold exclusively in the retail chain back in the day. My guess would be that it was a substandard product as compared to a brand such as Kodak. Back in the early 80's, I bought a package of their blank audio cassettes and they were of acceptable quality, but not one of the best.

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Winbert Hutahaean
Film God

Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted December 11, 2014 06:50 AM

It is so funny, the picture above has serial numbers 57022 while the one appears at super 8 database has s/n 57026.....THEY ARE SIBLINGS!! [Big Grin]

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Winbert

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Scott Belt
Junior
Posts: 3
From: Detroit, MI, USA
Registered: Dec 2014

posted December 11, 2014 09:35 AM

Yes KMart film makes sense. It was down the street from our house. The others are Kodak brand. I'm guessing since my dad was an early adapter of Camcorders (like 1984) that he may have not used these films.

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Dominique De Bast
Film God

Posts: 4486
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jun 2013

posted December 11, 2014 01:29 PM

Whar remains a mystery is, as Steve pointed it out, is that the cartridges are no longer sealed. Why would you open the package if not to use it. You can imagine that one film was put in a camera and then forgotten there but if four films are unsealed, that's less understandable.

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Dominique

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Joe Balitzki
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 529
From: Charleston, SC, USA
Registered: Aug 2005

posted December 11, 2014 08:49 PM

Focal movie film I believe was manufactured by 3M/Ferrania for Kmart and its a polyester base film instead of acetate base.

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Movie Lovers Do It in the Dark

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