Big Film Resurgence

[Paul Adsett]

NBC News reporting tonight of a tripling of camera film and vintage camera sales. To make their report authentic NBC actually filmed it on reel film!

[Douglas Meltzer]

Paul,

I saw that report. While I'm happy that NBC did a story about the increased interest in film & cameras, I was disappointed that they chose to add the fake 8mm film look of scratches and light leaks to their footage.

[Paul Adsett]

Doug, the commentary by the NBC reporter gave the impression that they had actually used film for that report, so I am also disappointed to hear that they faked it !

[Douglas Meltzer]

I'm sure their interviews and B-roll were shot on film, it's just that they also felt the need to add effects in post to give it that stereotypical "8mm look".

[Larry Arpin]

My son was showing me some kind of video for a game, he thought it looked cool enough to show his dad, that was suppose to be shot on film and it had a lot of white dirt and scratches, and the only thing I said was, "what's with all the dirt?" I think the younger generation thinks that film was always dirty which was not the case.

[Steve Klare]

Maybe 10 years ago I did a film show for my son's Cub Scout Pack. They were doing "Hollywood Night" and wanted something movie-ish. I missed the planning meeting and was thus...volun-told! (-never, EVER miss a meeting!)

I got set up with a really nice Blackhawk "Hook and Ladder" and the Scoutmaster gave me this intro: "Yeahhh, It's Super-8: scratchy, faded, jumpy, silent..."

-as insulting as this might sound, I could not fail with an introduction like that!

(-and I put in a new lamp first, too!)

[Paul Adsett]

Hook and Ladder- a really great Blackhawk print.

[Graham Ritchie]

Talking about the look of film, my little Panasonic video camera has a interesting feature, which to date I have never tried under the Menu heading "Creative Control" features one called "8mm movie".

It states, and I quote it straight from the manual.... "You can record motion pictures with a faded retro effect"...well that's what they say in the Panasonic user manual folks not me

[Osi Osgood]

If possible, could someone post on here or YouTube, that NBC report?

[Ken Finch]

Fortunately the BBC got it right with the royal family home movies shot on 16,8 and 9.5. mm.There have also been many other documentaries using amateur footage that is clean. The problem is that many people in the past, never took care of their equipment and films. I have come across so many of them over the years. Never run a film library! Ken Finch.

[Paul Adsett]

Here is the link to the NBC Nightly News for Oct 17 2022. Go to 18.00 mins to view the report on the boost in film and camera sales:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yPYEsyLlw0


I think it's true to say, that along with the highly regarded Bolex's, Elmo's, Eumig's etc, there were a lot of really nasty 8mm/super 8mm cameras and projectors marketed in the day, which were purchased by a huge number of people . And these casual film makers never took the time and effort to expose and focus films correctly or take care of their processed films. Consequently relatively few people of the millions who shot and projected 8mm films ever experienced the true and stunning capability of the bootlace. Most of us here know better of course, but the perception of a lot of people (even some in the film industry) is that 8mm is at best a scratchy, soft focus, and poor definition second class medium.

[Brian Fretwell]

Looks like old, bad, editing techniques for news footage. Don't use editing bins for the negatives just drop and drag them across the floor to pick up dust before printing.

[Graham Ritchie]

Ah! thanks for the link Paul, most of what is reported is about 35mm still cameras. The quality of 35mm slide film has always been very good and affordable, so its of little surprise that people are returning to it more and more. I myself still take Kodak slide film on my Canon FTB and can get it developed here in NZ.

As far as Super8 there are still folk out there using it with excellent results, but they are serious film makers and don't waste any of it due to its high cost etc, not the baby on the lawn types of the past.

Talking about baby on the lawn

This old Giles cartoon does some up what many thought of a evening of home movies.

[Graham Ritchie]

I always think that if you want a photo for the internet then Digital camera is easy the way to go, but if you want to record something to last forever and give much more color detail, then film is certainly the way to go.

This old Canon FTB camera of mine is built like a tank, and have been using the FTB since the 1970s, plus the fact that Canon lenses I think are some of the best .

On the Super 8 side of things I still have a roll of film left, but would like to try taking some Scope footage soon using the 1014 with an anamorphic lens attached. Using a tripod is a must plus in this case also I hope to get the exposure right by using a Weston light meter and setting things manually.

It would be an interesting experiment to shoot Scope on Super 8 so will see how things work in the near future its going to need a lot of pre-thought.

The problem with Super8 cameras these days, is finding ones that still works, many have given up on the electronic side of things. The 512 and the 514 sound, do still seem to work fine as with this Canon 1014. So if you are looking for a Super8 camera the Canon 514 sound might be worth looking out for. Another camera is the Bell and Howell 1230, its a simple camera, with even less electronics that could be a problem.

On the film side of things Ektachrome 64T shown below has been replaced, but will finish up with this roll

My Canon 512 silent, had it now for many years, and is still good

[Ed Gordon]

...This old Canon FTB camera of mine is built like a tank, and have been using the FTB since the 1970s, plus the fact that Canon lenses I think are some of the best .

On the Super 8 side of things I still have a roll of film left, but would like to try taking some Scope footage soon using the 1014 with an anamorphic lens attached. Using a tripod is a must plus in this case also I hope to get the exposure right by using a Weston light meter and setting things manually.

It would be an interesting experiment to shoot Scope on Super 8 so will see how things work in the near future its going to need a lot of pre-thought.

I shot a few Super 8 sound scope films back in the day. If your camera has auto-exposure, you won't need a light meter. If your camera has auto-focus, turn it off. I never found it necessary to use a tripod. Your big problem shooting scope is focusing the scope lens, so I found shooting closeups was a pain. I shot a kid's soccer game in scope and the wide format was definitely a plus since is included so much more of the playing field.