Scope vs letter box vs flat, which one you like most?

[Rob Young]

I think Paul makes valid points that super 8 ‘scope & stereo really push the limits, but that’s one reason I really enjoy this as a hobby; there’s nothing more satisfying than getting great results when technically the odds are against you.

Looking back, film makers aside, ‘scope really came into its own after the “mass market” super 8 package movie boom in the 60’s & 70s, with Kempski, Derann & Lone Wolf producing fabulous quality ‘scope prints in the 80’s when VHS was king.

I think stereo was less problematic with Kodak pre-stripe, but actually that period was quite short lived, say mid 80’s to early 90’s.

Apparently Derek Simmonds was never a big advocate of stereo as I think he maybe saw it as more hassle than it was worth; but the collectors wanted it and of course he always listened to his market.

Thank goodness Derann persisted with sound striping into the 90’s, but I think it’s fair to say it could cause issues when it came to stereo. That said, I have some stereo tracks that sound amazing and, although maybe not as refined, I swear produce more bass and impact than their digital equivalents.

[Graham Ritchie]

One of the worst release of a non anamorphic scope image onto Super 8 film has to be Prophecy 1979 by Marketing films 3/400ft it looks terrible. If only they had done it properly as a Anamorphic, I am sure it would have looked a lot better. Although not perfect by any means I much prefer using a Scope lens.

[Osi Osgood]

Great screenshots there!

[Paul Adsett]

I think Paul makes valid points that super 8 ‘scope & stereo really push the limits, but that’s one reason I really enjoy this as a hobby; there’s nothing more satisfying than getting great results when technically the odds are against you.

I totally agree with you Rob. Getting a near perfect picture and sound presentation from that tiny Super 8 frame is an extremely rewarding experience. To achieve that requires a high quality projector with a top notch lens, and of course a pin sharp print with the best stripe quality, and preferably a re-recorded sound track. When it all comes together you know it, but nobody said it was easy! If easy is what you want then we would all be streaming movies onto a flat panel TV, but as we all know there is no interest or satisfaction in that.

[Steve Klare]

It's the difference between "seeing a movie" and "showing a movie".

They both have value, it's just one is passive and one is active: maybe like the difference between "watching the game" and "playing the game".

[Douglas Meltzer]

This thread takes me back to my first scope film purchase, which was Derann's 400' cutdown of Dracula, Prince of Darkness. It took a couple of months to get that first scope lens off eBay, a very large & heavy Kowa Prominar Anamorphic (for 35mm) at a cost of $26. I needed to improvise some sort of support to hold it in place, so I took a frying pan cardboard box and cut circular grooves. It wasn't very impressive looking but it worked.




In short order I picked up Ken Locke's brilliantly edited Raise the Titanic digest, then the features First Men in the Moon, Poltergeist 2 and The Fog.

Correction: Come to think of it, my first scope films were actually the two Ken Films Ghidrah 200 footers and their Godzilla vs. the Thing that I got when I was 12. It wasn't until 30 years later that I projected them in scope!

[Steve Klare]

My very, very first 'scope setup started out by piling up books and magazines. I had to remember the titles to get consistent results between shows. (The shelf-thing came a little later. As a kludge, it was a little too good, so it stayed a while!)

Some have reported good results cradling the lens in a bag of rice, and if you use brown rice, once you have an anamorphic bracket it becomes an excellent source of dietary fiber!

(It pays to get on with it: brown rice attracts mice!)

[Douglas Meltzer]

I think my first attempt was using my childhood building blocks!

[Steve Klare]

LEGOs might pan out!

The shelf-thing started out being called a "prototype". Once I had the recipe I was going to build a really nice version with automotive radiator clamps inside thin rubber tubing to hold the lens in place and a nice, stained wood finish. It would have an adjustable front foot to set the altitude on-screen. (Very appealing...)

Instead, it worked well enough that my Kindergartner scrawled all over it in Crayon, and he was in High School before I got real brackets!

(A good prototype needs at least one fatal flaw in order to keep the project moving forward!)

[Kilian Henin]

Great scope lens holder ideas!

I've used the bag of rice before, but I've since discovered the lab stand, which works perfectly.

[Melvin England]

Me too, Kilian. That is my method now.

Previously the lens was balanced on the top of a pile of audio cassette boxes with the back of the scope lens blu tacked onto the original projector lens. It did work but what a messing about .

[Steve Klare]

Somewhere in the World, some Tom Cruise Fan mounts their anamorphic Mission Impossible Style!
(-all well and fine until there's a breeze in the room or a cat runs past!)

[Oliver Feld]

Yes, amazing lens holder ideas…📽️✨

[Brian Fretwell]

My first anamophic was the tiny Henri Cretien cinemascaope lens (only 1.75:1 so gave a slightly distiorted picture on package fims) made for fixed focal length camera use. It fitted my Halina camera and the 18mm lens of my Eumig 501.

[Graham Ritchie]

Considering the cost of film its better that the full frame is used as shown below with the Pod Race and the 400 footer of Pearl Harbor compared with Prophecy with its black bars top and bottom. A few years ago it was cheaper to get a old cinema anamorphic, than buying one for Super8. It was mentioned that it wont focus down to a short throw. I have never had that problem at around 22 feet with both Scope lenses used on Super8 and the Ernemann 2 projector. The downside is, that they are heavy, but if you can make something to secure it the lens works fine.

I still think that having a larger aperture plate "top and bottom" would give us the full image, perhaps making a adjustable aperture would work, however, even being slightly larger the size of the rear element on the projector lens itself may restrict it, anyway food for thought

The Pod Race

Pearl Harbor 2001

Note how much Super 8 film is not being used in a non anamorphic printed scope image, its a waste of expensive film stock not to use the full frame
This is the Marketing 3/400 of Prophecy