What's the difference?

[slackerjack]

I'm giving up making movies on video. I am transferring over to... well... that's my problem. I need to know the difference between Super 8 and 8mm. I was going to buy a super 8 camera but was then told I couldn't use my 8mm editor to edit super 8 film. What gives?

Thanks for any reply or help you may provide!

[AlexGfromUK]

super is different because the size of the perforations at the edge of the film is a lot smaller than on standard 8mm (often just called "8mm") this means the image size is the biggest you could possibly fit on 8mm wide filmstock. Unfortuanately though, it does mean that 8mm (older and inferior) equipment is not compatible with super 8, and vice versa, because the sprockets used to transport the film only work with either super 8 perfs or standard 8. This is unless the piece of gear concerned specifically says it is dual format.

[slackerjack]

Thank you for that information. I am now a wiser man.