What would want from a new super8 camera?

[Richard Rivera]

I was giving it some thought and I was wondering what would I want for my brand new super eight camera if it we were on the market today.

not the Kodak one because that one’s out of e everyone’s price range it’s pretty ludicrous.

Here’s what I would want out of a brand new super eight camera on the market :

1. Crystal speed at 18/24/25/29.9
2. C mount lens (fixed lens if cheaper)
3. Footage counter
4.manual f-stop (no auto)
5. Body only no lens (see item 2)
6. Reflex viewer (or guillotine shutter without increase in price if possible).
7. Maximum price $700

So a slimmed down pro8 camera without all the bells and whistles that come with most cameras.

you would need to use a hand held meter without an auto with this proposed mythical model.

anyone else have a list and price cut off?

Rich

[Brian Fretwell]

You could always have an exposure meter on the camera, but not linked to the exposure system as on some early 35mm still cameras. That would be my choice as you wouldn't be able to forget it or have to store it.

[Maurice Leakey]

Agree with Brian.
Also suggest no batteries, a good old wind up motor never let you down.

Maurice

[Melvin England]

I am not sure if this could be technically possible but.....

The improvement I would like to see (or in this case hear) is the sound quality and a totally different approach to recording onto film. Yes, the film would retain its sound stripe (no doubt far improved quality from today's technology...… a bit like the quality of cassette tape.....they got it right JUST as cassettes went out of production) but instead of an analogue sound head, it would adopt the same technology as video recorders and use a (micro) rolling barrel, I think they call it linear, recording the sound across the strip instead of down it, at high speed. This barrel could produce hi-quality stereo on the main stripe on its own.
Naturally this would mean a whole new range of projectors,too, to deal with the new sound technology. They could, perhaps, have TWO barrels, one for main stripe and one for the balance thus being able to produce surround sound from a super 8 print! Think of that !

I know this is a bit pie in the sky but maybe our engineering members could comment on its feasibility?

[Stuart Reid]

Melvin, what you're suggesting is similar to DAT which was an awfully complicated bit of engineering, it was basically a miniaturized Betamax recorder. I worked with them for many years and they were hopelessly complex. There are simpler solutions these days for recording digitally, utilizing SD cards or similar, and using the balance stripe to store timecode to sync back the card. The data required for timecode is much less than that needed for the digital audio itself so I could see the system working quite well. It would also be simple to add a 'reader' to a stereo projector, enabling playback of the audio, even using a system where the device can 'fall back' on to the main stripe audio if anything were to go wrong. This could even theoretically be used to make any projector a dual-sync system for playback of package movies with digital sound.

[Melvin England]

There we are, Stuart, technology even f u r t h e r advanced from even the system I was advocating. Your system would, I think, have been far more practical than mine.

By the way, it's nice to hear from you again. I notice you haven't been posting recently, even in the last days of the GOF " good old forum." I hope you intend to stick around.

.

[Osi Osgood]

Magnetic sound and optional scope lense fittings!

[Richard Rivera]

Guys:

I should stress that I’m only considering picture quality or the ability to shoot on film.

if the camera was a crystal sync the audio portion is secondary and can be recorded on any type of media of your choice.

So let’s get back to what you would like to see a film camera outside of the audio portion.

Rich

[Daniel Macarone]

Richard,
You list great features that might be pretty satisfying for a basic camera without bells and whistles, but if it's a basic camera, I would add auto exposure. It should be user friendly for a hobbyist who shoots home movies and doesn't know how to expose. They can find an f-stop with auto, then fix it.

[Maurice Leakey]

For many years a photographer used a hand-held exposure meter. This could also be used for cine. We all learnt the hard way. There's no need for a built-in exposure meter.

Maurice