Cleaning Super 8

[tim.callaghan]

Are there any machines like a manual reel where you can feed the S8 footage through and it removes dust and gives the footage a good clean?

Or is there another process that I can do myself?

Tim

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[tom hardwick]

My Noris came with add-on attachments that forced the film through an S bend, past little brushes on it's way to the gate. I never much liked the idea and never used them.

What I do is this. I buy "lubricant cleaner" from the Widescreen Centre, London. I then load the film onto my two rewind arms fitted to the ends of my workbench, so the film has to travel about a meter between spools.

Then I apply the cleaning fluid to what I call my "million times washed hankerchief" and away I go. I constsntly re-apply fresh cleaner to a fresh piece of hankie, and I hang the hankie up to dry in a dustfree environment after its millionth-and-one wash.

This way you can be sutre that you're not rubbing the grit down the length of the film. It lubricates it for projection, and it's as well to do the edges of the film as well. Having the rewind arms so far apart allows the film to dry before it's spooled up in the cleaned state.

tom.

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