8mm Forum: Really confused now

This is topic Really confused now in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Vidar Olavesen (Member # 3354) on November 14, 2012, 01:49 PM:

How long is a 400' film? I thought that was about 20 minutes

http://www.cameratim.com/business/film-length-tables

It says 26-30 ... Is Alien a 200' or 400'? It clearly says 17 minutes on the cover ... What am I missing?

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on November 14, 2012, 01:59 PM:

Hi Vidar, don't let the size of the spool confuse you.A reel of film
is generally between 7-10 minutes in length and would be
supplied on a 200' spool, a 2 reel film can be anything between
15-20 minutes in length and is supplied on a 400' spool, and a
3 reeler on a 600'.Features were advertised as 8 & 9 reels in
length and put out on 4x400' spools and ran anything from 60
to 80 minutes in length.Hope this helps a bit.

Posted by Vidar Olavesen (Member # 3354) on November 14, 2012, 02:03 PM:

That was what I thought, but in the link, scroll down to Super 8 and it says 200' 5" is 17 minutes

I saw this on two different pages too ... So, therefore the confusion. I always thought like you said

Thanks, I will wonder why for a while, then forget it (cause I am getting old ;-) )

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on November 14, 2012, 02:13 PM:

Nonsense Vidar,you obviously were being led astray by a misleading ad.A lot of these folk that sell films on Ebay, probably
have no idea what they are selling, and no fault to them because
it is a specialist hobby now.

Posted by Fabrizio Mosca (Member # 142) on November 14, 2012, 02:13 PM:

Vidar, lenght of the film depends also on the frame rate used to project.
The lenghts you see in that page refer mainly to silent running (16 frames per second for double 8 and 18 fps for super8), while sound films run at 24 fps.
So, the same lenght (in meter) of film may result in different lenghts (in time) according to the projection rate.
Despite that, the duration indicated in that website seems strange for the standard 8.

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on November 14, 2012, 02:14 PM:

Vidar, you are reading film shooting pages, so that's why 400 feet is 26 minutes because we normally shoot with 18 fps instead of 24 fps as pre-packed movies.

You can use this film calculator to see the duration for 400 films length at 18 fps:

http://www.kodak.com/US/plugins/flash/en/motion/filmCalculator.swf

As Hugh has said, pre-packed film uses 7 inch reel (also normally called 400 feet reel) but the length of film is not necessarily 400 feet. While in film shooting, a cartridge that is said as 50 feet should have 50 feet length of film, or sometime even more.

Posted by Vidar Olavesen (Member # 3354) on November 14, 2012, 02:21 PM:

Ah, of course, thanks, now unconfused (about this anyway) :-) Thank you all

Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on November 14, 2012, 02:28 PM:

Vidar,
you asked...."How long is a 400' film"?

I'll give you the definitive answer... four hundred feet.
With my tongue firmly in my cheek , of course!
Martin

Posted by Vidar Olavesen (Member # 3354) on November 14, 2012, 02:44 PM:

Ha, ha. In my head it sounded right :-)

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