Your Favourite Super 8 camera?

[Jon P]

What is your favourite super 8 camera?
It doesn't need to be the best one in terms of quality but the one you have the fondest memories of.
Is it the first one you owned? Or the one you find yourself looking at when it sits amongst your collection?

[AppleCore24]

My favorite is the Elmo 1012S-XL. My first camera was bought for $1.50 - a Kodak Instamatic M18. The battery container was broken, and the images I got were pretty bad by the standards I am now used to. Then I got a Kobena, which worked for one shoot then stopped - I shot Ektachrome, and it came out better than the M18, but still below standard. Then I got my Keystone camera. My first Reflex camera, and when I was able to see the amazing quality super8 gives you vs. video. I briefly was given a
Canon 814xl-s, which was very nice, but my friend took it back after shooting a DV short and missing the format. I then got my Elmo 1012s-xl and have been in love ever since.

[This message has been edited by AppleCore24 (edited May 10, 2001).]

[Hanthx]

Gosh
This is always a fun subject!

I dont think I have found it yet.
I take such good care of my cameras, and equipment, Im hoping to have a camera that I can not worry about, and have fun shooting with it. I take precaution when handling my Beaulieu Zm2. There is some great craftmanship in that camera, I hate to drop it. Maybe a camera that has a "funky' design to it, like the early Bolex's. If people saw me shooting film with a camera that look like a Ray Gun, and it provoked some strange reaction from them, it would top my list.

Scott

[Mikko]

I don't have it yet. I think it's a Nizo...probably Nizo pro, 801, 561 macro or 6080.

M

[filmsmyth]

I've been shooting Super8 for over 20 years... My first camera was a Canon 1014 XLS purchased from a guy who had bought it for a trip to Europe but just before he left, out came those old 2-piece video camera hooked into a vhs recorder slung around your shoulder...

Beautiful pictures every time from the Canon. One day while shooting an attempted feature, the mike cable somehow got wrapped around a car bumper... the car took off and there went the 1014... BAM! Dragged the poor thing about 100 feet and dented it up pretty bad...

STILL BEAUTIFUL PICTURES! --Ended up selling it a few years ago and got into MiniDV but started missing the format badly. I keep trying to find another 1014 but geez... I have a really hard time paying a grand for one even though it's probably worth it.

Anyway... I'd heard so much about Nizo's that I decided to give them a try since they can still be had pretty cheaply...

Bought a 6080 and I love it... Every bit as good as the old 1014... I have a few Beaulieus 2 6008's and a 5008 but to be honest, I feel the 1014 and the Nizo outperforms the Beaulieus. I really like the fact that you can change lenses though... so I keep them around.

filmy

[Jon P]

I personally can not stop looking at my Canon 814 e. I got it at a bargin and the sound it makes when running is much nicer than my first super 8, a Bell and Howell. Even when you fire off a single frame it has a satisfying "chink" sound. I have yet to see a 1014 close up but everyone talks highly of them.

[Roy Brown]

I have to say the Canon 1014e; My favorite feature is the big bright viewfinder. It blows away looking at the LCD panel of my Digital8.

[Simonthecameraman]

my best shooting camera is canon 814 XL-S I got it complete with the W/A and Tele adaptors a few years back(also have a 1014 XL-S, its in the shop being repaired very very slowly, the variable shutter is not good, have not even fired it in anger yet, alas) my grooveyest camera is the bolex 150, first super 8 camera was a canon 1014 E, (for NZ $20 about 10 US in a junk shop)5 or 6 years ago, cleaned up the battery contacts and away it went. Have also started collecting the canon super 8 range have most but not yet all. Sugest getting your most used/favourite camera serviced/lubricated especially if shooting high speed then it might stop screaming and begin purring.

[souper8]

I love the Nizo 801s and Professionals. They produce sharp and beautiful images.

I just bought a Beaulieu 4008ZMII and can't wait to compare it with my Nizos. I'm getting it cleaned and lubed right now and it is going to cost more to CLA than the price of the camera. I just hope I can see a big improvement in image quality over the Nizos since it uses a guillotine shutter system rather than a prism system. Anyone compared these two brands side by side before?

[Alex]

I have a soft spot for Eumigs.

Canons are a close second.

Elmo and Nizo's third.

-Alex