Have any of you ever thought of leaving the hobby?

[Alan Myers]

I thought I would ask this question as from what I read, so many things have changed in the hobby over the past few years. The main one being, the affordability of good titles and, as I have found out, the lack of repair specialists for the equipment we all use as well as good second hand machines. The later appears to be showing in how many projectors there are for sale, and the prices of many of these are now a lot lower than they use to be.

I cant say I'm ready to leave the hobby but I am definatly not buying anywhere near as much any more as I am quite bemused by the ridiculous prices.

I did read that the limited new releases has apparently bought new younger blood into the hobby by way of new users of super 8 thanks to the new releases!!
I find that very hard to believe but if it is true, are any of the new collectors who came to the hobby solely because of the new releases on here?

My only reason for finding it difficult to understand is simply, todays youngsters would not, (IMO) spend £130 on reel of trailers or clips of films, hardened collectors would though as they have.

I asked my nephew for his opinion on this when he questioned why I have films that are faded, edited/abridged, grainy and worn.
When I showed him some of the threads about the new releases he thought I was crazy even contemplating it, then he showed me some of the new projectors for 4K discs in a home cinema magazine. You can beat projecting a real film and this is my hobby, but I read a recent thread where a collector said he was leaving the hobby as he didnt like the direction the hobby is going. (words to that effect),

So that, in brief, was the reason for my question to you.

[Paul Adsett]

You don't have to buy new films to stay in the hobby. Presumably you have a collection of films that you really enjoy projecting, and you may also derive great satisfaction from the projectors themselves and possibly doing minor maintainance on them. Then there's the interest of sharing the film collecting experience with all the people on this forum, Why give all that up?

[Phillip Campey]

I left the hobby selling my film collection to David Guest. I kept hold of my projectors and a great print of Pinocchio. Years later I really regretted selling them as some of the prints were quite rare. I started collecting again 3 years ago and now have quite a few films. Now I just sell films to fund buying other prints.

[Alan Myers]

Paul, thank you, yes you are spot on, I do occasionally buy the odd film to add to the collection but I do think I have a very good collection. I wont ever leave the hobby all together, but I no longer look as much as I use to for additional titles simply because of how insane it's all gone. I can see there is an ebay seller on there now selling a whole bunch of films, goodness knows where they all came from but looking at the state of some of them, (one in particular, An American werewolf in London), it beggars belief that this film, with a mostly red colour has a start price of £500. I did note that Jurassic Park went from 999, down to 799 then 600. People are not stupid.

Phil, yes I would imagine if I sold everything except a projector and a few films, I too would probably regret it. Selling to buy is the best idea.
The very new releases I've seen out there seem to be advertised on here as 130 yet on ebay, they start at 140. If they are available new at 130, why are they £10 more for the same thing on ebay? It just doesn't add up.
Thank you for your replies.

[Lee Mannering]

Alan I can confirm looking at my order book that at least 30% of my non profit making new prints have gone to younger new blood and the enthusiasm vib I get back is so refreshing.

Although some prefer social media to keep in contact I do talk to most by phone and you can feel the enthusiasm. The list of titles they would like to see on 8 is pretty big some of which will come to pass.

Leaving the film movement? Never! It's a magical thing, so much fun to be had and its not compulsory to own what are beleived to be the 'top titles'.
Cut your cloth according to your pocket.

Many of the 40+ year old pink films are reaching dizzy heights money as people are willing to pay it, so there will always be those out there waiting to sell something you want to buy.

I started film making and collecting in the later 60's and loved every minute since.

[Alan Myers]

Thats very good to hear, I guess these youngsters must come from very well off families

As it's non profit making, why are the ones on ebay more expensive? Personally, I would have absolutely no issue of anyone making some profit, it has to be funded somehow.

I understand red films are ok for some collectors, but why on earth would anyone pay this stupid money for one? A 4K disc is next to nothing, I know it isn't the same, but enjoy the real films with good colour, and buy the discs for those that cant be found aside a red print. I guess it's each to their own.

It would be interesting to get a few new collectors on here, they dont have to give up their social media, forums are all a part of todays media. Perhaps you could get them to join here and tell us what makes the young mind tick with wanting to pay out for ten minute films when indeed, they can download and project for free.

"Cut your cloth according to your pocket" is an interesting fraise Lee. Here in the UK, if your on benefits then the world is your oyster, those are the ones with the cash as well as the time, not the working man of which I am one.

[Lee Mannering]

I usually put one of my own on fleabay to raise awareness new films are available.
I loose nearly £40 on every new print and that's not taking into account the free hours of labour and equipment I put into making the magic happen. Box design, packaging you name it.
What we do for 8 is for REEL love to see it continue and you can't buy that at any price.

[Mike Newell]

I usually put one of my own on fleabay to raise awareness new films are available.
I loose nearly £40 on every new print and that's not taking into account the free hours of labour and equipment I put into making the magic happen. Box design, packaging you name it.
What we do for 8 is for REEL love to see it continue and you can't buy that at any price.

I commend you for your dedication to the hobby Lee and it is your choice but if you are losing £1000 plus with every release (I assume a batch of 30) never mind the time. You are releasing what seems to be 5-10 releases per year which equates to 5k to 10k which is realistically is unsustainable for a business unless you have one hell of a bank balance / are a millionaire.

There is REEL love but don’t mistake it for REAL love which doesn’t come from a box of celluloid.

[Alan Myers]

Well, your doing very well if your losing 40 minimum on a sale, that means, (i assume) that the true price to break even is £170 per 20ft reel, (almost 600 for a 600ft release?). I only hope they all sell for you.
I have seen your latest announcement of the ABC trailer reel and trailers now 150, probably not wise to loose too much but as said, I hope you sell them ok, but looking at this, with the cost of living crisis here at the present time, my guess is, it will only be a few who will be able to keep buying these, I myself would love them but not at this price.

I'm waiting to see what price Phil at CHC will be selling his new releases at soon, as I understand it, he is also releasing new titles, quite amazing being that we are in 2023.

But the point of my thread is, "Have any of you ever thought of leaving the hobby", but with the current prices of new and used, i personally havnt thought of leaving, but it will price itself out sooner or later and at some point, prices will sink.
It is quite sad to hear from two dealers who have told me how many people have sadly left the hobby either because they are unable to manage it any more due to illness, and worse, the loss in the last 12 months of many long term collectors, we are seeing this on ebay now, sadly, it looks as though the advantage is being taken to a new level with the start prices, so I will stick to what I have and wait to pounce on the next bargain. I cannot justify to my family £130-150 for new films copied off digital formats but I do wish you well with your sales and also others who release new titles, very brave.

Out of interest Lee, if your in work full time, how on earth do you manage it?

[Osi Osgood]

Like many, I left the hobby some years ago, for Laserdisc .... Haha! I got back into it about 2003, and never looked back. I, like many, have an enormous collection now and thank my lucky stars that I got back into right during the late "lull" when prices were incredibly low, picked up a lot of lonely Kempski prints for pennies on the dollars, that would go hundreds now, and, of course, we've had this really unexpected surge in new releases, which ironically, look cheap compared to what even tired old printsgo for these days! I do worry about the number of people who can service these projectors dwindling, but I couldn't be happier to be a collector, and would probably hold onto the film collection a lot longer after any projectors are long gone, but then, it's never been about convenience or price.

[Alan Myers]

Our hobby is definatly NOT about money or profit, it has always been an expensive hobby.
You made the same point I did, if theres no one to fix projectors and spare parts to replace, as David Guest once said, you can have all the films in the world but without a projector to show them on,they are useless.of course we are a very long way off that happening but that time will come and looming at some of the utter crap machines on ebay, I would rather not take a gamble, theres enough films with scratches out there already.
Im not too sure how you think the new releases look cheap! Compared to what? These are 10 minute reels at the best part of 130 to 150 pounds. You can buy decent full features on 16mm for that or just a bit more.The old prints were taken from real film negatives,not copied from discs,limited in their colours, look at any LPP, fuji or Agfa print and see the difference, and these have stood the test of time.The new releases do not have any branding stamped on them, that makes me suspicious.You cant just take someones word for it that these new ones are all low fade kodak .
Hence, I wont leave the hobby, but i will stick with my good old proven releases.
hooefully, i'll put up some screen shots on the thread what you viewed last night. No lines and all good vivid colour,most over 20/30 years old.

[Graham Ritchie]

I have never thought of leaving the hobby Alan, but the days of buying new prints of digests are well and truly gone, well out of my price range. When I first started there was nothing else if you wanted to watch a movie at home on a larger screen, rather than a small B/W TV in the corner, so it was quite a thrill back then. Video projection over the years has really changed all that, in particular DVD then blu-ray. It then became affordable to watch your favorite movie at home. I do enjoy running films as well, so don't get me wrong, but these days screening full length films for myself and others is mostly down to our Epson VP and the huge range of blu-ray titles.

I would also like to know the age of those so called youngsters mentioned above? I myself at 71, so I guess I could look to youngsters being in there 50s or 60s As for the price of films these days both second hand or new, then I am at a loss to figure out how people can afford it, the prices for films are really in La La land, its to much money for most but each to there own.

As to the future of film collecting I think there will always be an interest in it, but for me buying films, well that's a thing of the past, but my advice is to keep your "good" prints dump the faded in the bin and enjoy screening them along with Video projection enjoy the best of both worlds

PS. Regarding the future projectors, well folk really need to be able, to at least try to fix your own these days, most projectors will continue to work fine for many years to come, as there is always some way of keeping them going somehow, but they do need some work, in particular on film guides if you are a Elmo owner

[Phil Moors]

You lose £40 per print despite not having to purchase a film master?? and the print is taken from available Blu Ray or 4k discs?
Mmmm . . . . . 🤔

[Alan Myers]

Phil, you beat me to it.

BTW, is dorun films anything to do with Derann films? Ive just realised how similar they are, I wondered if it may be a partnership with Adrian Simmonds. It would be very good if he were getting back into 8mm and helping out with all those connections he must have.

[Phil Moors]

It doesn't seem worth the effort to lose money even when using cheaper digital masters. Why don’t you increase your
costs to make a small profit instead of a loss.