What's your PET PEEVE regarding super 8?

[Steve Klare]

This is probably as much a gripe with myself as with Super-8, but I've been doing a lot of splicing with 16mm lately: 16mm much more commonly shows up without adequate (or any) leader and to make things right I need to sit down with a splicer and give it a proper beginning.

The other night I discovered a S8 Three Stooges print in a similar state and I had it give it the Treatment.

-I looked at it and thought: "Jeeze, it's tiny!"

-but as I said: this is as much about me as it is about The Gauge. When I first started messing around with S8 I was a teenager and could pick up a piece of film and could see what was happening in the frames. I got my very first print before I had any equipment to watch it on, and having the patience of a teenager this is how I "viewed" it the first day I had it.

It's not that S8 is smaller than when I still hadn't gotten a driver's license, it's just maybe my powers of observation have...changed in the meantime!

(I'm sure having 16mm as a reference doesn't help at all!)

[Jim Seaburg]

My pet peeve with both Super 8 and Standard 8mm features is the reel never ends at a proper place to end a reel and start the next one. It’s inevitable that they end and start in the middle of a scene.

In my younger days I was the projectionist for 2 local drive ins for 5 years. 35mm is no better at reel changeovers. The worst ever for me was The French Connection. One changeover occurred in the middle of the big car chase scene in the city. Cars going in all directions all at a fast pace. I missed the cue marks several times because the action on screen blew my concentration on the upper right corner of the screen. Many a night the audience was treated to the countdown leader much to their delight by the much appreciative honking of the car horns. Like I didn’t know.

[Steve Klare]

An old friend reported that he hated watching a feature on TV he also owned on film because every time a reel change was supposed to happen it made him feel restless!

[Brian Harrington]

- The dearth of manually-threaded projectors.
- The manufacturers during the heyday in the 70s focused so much on sound improvements that they mostly neglected light output.
- As that decade marched on, the ratio of plastic to metal increased.
- There was no standard for lenses so they could fit all machines.
- Many more 100 watt EFP than 150 watt EFR machines, and rarely higher wattage except for examples like the Elmo GS-1200.
- Every machine needs 2 sprockets!!! They shouldn't have skimped down to 1 or even 0!
- Change for the sake of change instead of for improvements, although the slick-talking salesmen told everyone they were improvements.
- Dual-8 projectors should have never been a "thing."

[Osi Osgood]

Huh?! I guess a pet peeve is the assinine prices super 8 prints get on ebay these days. Of course, that also leads me to saying, "Boy! Glad I bought that years ago!" 😜

[Brian Harrington]

Well it depends what you are in the market for. I've gotten a lot of bargains over the last year or so -- but I'm an old B&W classics fan. I've also paid top dollar for some rare ones, though.

Re projectors:
It wasn't 'til I recently procured a copy of the Lenny Lipton SUPER 8 BOOK that I realized how important all those sound features were for amateur film-makers. I suppose there are those who still need them today -- but I have an old Super 8 sound camera that was given to me awhile ago, but I never used, and it has a microphone mounted on it to record right on the film's track. (At least I think it works that way.) I thought that was the norm, and didn't realize people had to sync sound in "post-production" with tape recorders hooked up to projectors.

Back in the 70s we were only interested in packaged films. We had already realized nobody cared to watch films of our vacations. All people did was wave at the camera. With sound, what would they do besides say "Hello"??? And this was before Tiktok!

Re lenses:
I have several Yamawa machines, and the lenses are swappable except for the one branded Fujicascope, which has a narrower diameter barrel. Too bad, since it is a prime 19mm lens that is excellent and I wanted to use it in the other machines.

Eumig had at least 3 differnt types of lenses -- screw-ins, the one with the indent driven by a pin on the focus knob, and a different mechanism altogether for those 900 series machines. Perhaps more. I do know you can get a screw-in type to work with a later 800 series machine with the focus knob, though, if you really want. Another swing-and-a-miss by Eumig! But we all know the reason -- the almighty dollar! (Or in this case, the almight schilling back then!) Those polyester suits the slick-talking salesman had to wear weren't cheap!

[Brian Harrington]

- "complete" editions that aren't complete - and I ain't talking just about Castle
- projectors with "sound" in their name that don't play sound films (some B&H Filmosounds)
- projectors with "super" in their name that only play Standard 8mm films
- projectors with "dual" in their name that only play Standard 8mm (B&H, again. "Dual-Lectric")
- projectors with a label that says "Do not open. No serviceable parts inside. Contact your dealer for repairs."
- co-axial reel mounts onto one spindle!
- projectors with no inching knob
- single-pin claws for single-gauge machines
- user manuals with no pictures (c.f. Chinon)
- service manuals with a toubleshooting table that does not include your problem, yet give "solutions" to some problems as "make sure the projector is plugged in."
- when the manual says the machine is "permanently lubricated." Yea right!

[Brian Harrington]

My pet peeve with both Super 8 and Standard 8mm features is the reel never ends at a proper place to end a reel and start the next one. It’s inevitable that they end and start in the middle of a scene.

That usually only happens on bootlegs, although Mountain did it too. (Not sure how "legit" their releases were.) The better companies (e.g. Blackhawk) had necessary reel changes based on the original 35mm release prints, so you see black dots halfway thru the reel and at the end of the 400 foot reel in the Super 8 version. What I don't like is when a collector mounted on bigger reels, and chose to break up what was originally mounted on one 400 foot reel. What really puzzles me is putting it on 600 foot reels, which will of course require this in most cases.

[Brian Harrington]

I know I'm still stuck in the 80s but having to pay almost $300 for a 20 minute reel film short that 30 years ago was only $50 is a gripe of mine and I understand it is a Ridiculous COLA thing but still.........

(with all due respect to those making these films to fuel the hobby)

I guess my collecing habits are different since I pay much less for a short in 2024 dollars than what they were listed at in 1970s dollars. You must be buying newly made prints.

[Brian Harrington]

Metal or plastic, (predominately) 50ft reels that will only go on one way and have the film wound with the sprockets on the inside.

Unfortunately, most 16mm reels are designed this way, too.

[Brian Harrington]

Oh yes one more gripe from me: Ebay sellers who list a projector and describe it as "plugs in, fires up but have no T A P E to test it with." Now there's a mule stuck in a VHS world......

I hate when they use the term "reel-to-reel" and feel like they're in the know! Or when they say the "wheels" turn. Or when the pic of the projector has only one reel mounted, and it's the feed reel. Or if it's the takeup reel, it is a 50 foot reel! Most of these sellers don't know nuttin' 'bout birthin' babies.

[Shane C. Collins]

- The dearth of manually-threaded projectors.
- The manufacturers during the heyday in the 70s focused so much on sound improvements that they mostly neglected light output.
- As that decade marched on, the ratio of plastic to metal increased.
- There was no standard for lenses so they could fit all machines.
- Many more 100 watt EFP than 150 watt EFR machines, and rarely higher wattage except for examples like the Elmo GS-1200.
- Every machine needs 2 sprockets!!! They shouldn't have skimped down to 1 or even 0!
- Change for the sake of change instead of for improvements, although the slick-talking salesmen told everyone they were improvements.
- Dual-8 projectors should have never been a "thing."

While I generally don't like dual-8 projectors, I must say my Eumig 709 is a gem! Steady Super 8, and Standard 8 prints with no issues! The changeable gates, and sprockets certainly keep this line of projectors in a better category. Plus, with the 709 you get twist-to-focus lenses, and semi auto-loading reliability that works every time!

[Steve Klare]

When I'm showing a film and the shadow of a CAT runs across the screen!



-and sometimes they STOP to bask in the glow!

[Dave Bickford]

When I'm showing a film and the shadow of a CAT runs across the screen!

Aww, kitteh just wants a front row seat!

[Steve Klare]

Yes, and it's very much a "pet" peeve!

I got them back fully once a couple of cats ago. I was projecting my Derann "Gone Nutty" once and one of 'em drifted through and found herself face to face with a 3 foot tall, fanged, prehistoric squirrel:
.

-came pretty close to needing to get the carpet cleaned that night!