8mm Forum: New to s8mm and need some advice please

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Posted by Spike Lanouette (Member # 4739) on March 10, 2015, 10:30 PM:

hello everyone im new to super 8 and just finished my first film on a canon zoom 318. I bought my film from a company in ca but buy the time I buy the film ship it back process it and then they ship it back to me I've spent 90 dollars. There has to be a cheaper way of going about this. any help would be appreciated.thanks

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on March 11, 2015, 08:12 AM:

Good Morning Spike,

You should try Dwayne' Photo, they sell and process film:

Dwaynes

If you like Black and White, you can order Super-8 Tri-X from Kodak:

1-800-621-FILM

I usually get my B&W processed at Yale Film and Video:

Yale

(There are others)

There are more expensive and less expensive ways to do this, but none of them are cheap!

Good Luck!

Posted by Spike Lanouette (Member # 4739) on March 11, 2015, 12:39 PM:

What would be the correct color film to use if I want to project?

Posted by Bryan Chernick (Member # 1998) on March 11, 2015, 01:36 PM:

You want color reversal film. Wittner in Germany has Wittner Chrome 200. Dwayne's sells it on their order form for $33. I use Dwayne's for processing, they do a good job. From Dwayne's you can get a 50' cartridge of Super 8 for $33, processing for $12, shipping in the U.S. at $4.50 each way for a total of $54. Still expensive but better than $90.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on March 11, 2015, 01:43 PM:

Yep!,

It was just about ten years ago when you could buy Kodachrome with a Kodak Mailer for $13.50.

It was a good deal then and we knew it too! I bought them ten at a time and had a great time making films.

Back in the late 1970s, I bought it for about $3.50 a roll with a non-Kodak mailer at a local department store, but this was on a teenager's income!

Posted by Spike Lanouette (Member # 4739) on March 11, 2015, 02:58 PM:

Wow wish it was still that cheap! I think ill go with dwaynes next time and order a couple rolls. Have you guys ever tried developing your own? I think I might try that sometime soon.just dont know what supplies I would need.

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on March 11, 2015, 03:06 PM:

I tried twice to process myself black and white super 8 films but the results were poor. On the (small) sections were there was an acceptable picture, there were many lines. I know that many people make home processing with success but from what they say on the net, more lines have to be expected than with a professionnal processing. At the price of cartridges, you usually shoot valuables things, so does it Worth to take a risk with non Professional manipulations (especially for not gifted people like me) and having more lines ?

Posted by Bryan Chernick (Member # 1998) on March 11, 2015, 03:12 PM:

There is a "bucket" method for processing but that will probably give you the worst results. The other option is one of those Soviet made Lomo developing tanks for 8mm and 16mm film. I'm fine with the price Dwayne's charges so until that ends I will continue to use them.

Posted by Spike Lanouette (Member # 4739) on March 11, 2015, 03:19 PM:

Ya that all makes sense! Ill just let someone else develop.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on March 11, 2015, 03:46 PM:

50 feet of 8mm film is an amazing thing.

Contained on a reel it fits nicely in the palm of your hand: no trouble at all.

-let it loose and it can snake all over the room.

Throw in dealing with this in the dark?....

When I was a teenager I found two rolls of Super-8 Tri-X at a camera shop. I was really excited about it because I'd never seen B&W Super-8 film before. Being a teenager I didn't figure out how to process the film until after I shot it (and became emotionally committed...)

I went to the drug store: they looked at me like I was crazy. I went to Fotomat: they had literally stopped processing B&W movie film the month before.

My friends were still photographers and had a darkroom. We started cooking up this complicated scheme to process in their basement. I seem to recall something about spaghetti strainers, blacked out windows and a moonless night about 3AM. (Let's face it: we had no idea.)

At the same time, I wrote a letter to Kodak, and they recommended several commercial labs in Manhattan.

I'm sure this was for the best. Something's telling me this was a disaster waiting to happen!

Posted by Spike Lanouette (Member # 4739) on March 11, 2015, 03:50 PM:

I still think im gonna give it a go sometime in the near future.

Posted by Bryan Chernick (Member # 1998) on March 11, 2015, 04:43 PM:

I've also heard of doing it in a garden hose. You just need to run a fish line through the hose to pull the film through then pour the developer into the hose.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on March 11, 2015, 07:06 PM:

That sounds like a project in of itself!

I was thinking: "How would you get 50 feet of fishing line through the hose?"

Best I could come up with is have several short hoses (short enough to dangle vertically), attach a small sinker to the line, drop it through a hose, pull it up, do it to another hose, connect them together.

-repeat until you get up to 50 feet.

Without a real processing tank, this may be the best way.

The problem for us, is without the internet, we had no way of knowing 8mm processing tanks even existed!

Posted by Spike Lanouette (Member # 4739) on March 11, 2015, 07:08 PM:

I was thinking a sinker would be best also.I dont mind build in a dark room if I have to though.

Posted by Bryan Chernick (Member # 1998) on March 12, 2015, 10:18 AM:

It's easy to get 50 feet of line through a hose. Tie a piece of tissue paper to the end and suck it through with a vacuum cleaner. Make the line a little more than 50' and tie it off so you don't suck the whole ting into the vacuum. I've seen electricians use this method.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on March 12, 2015, 11:27 AM:

Interesting!

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