The wonder of Ebay

[kittyunicorn]

I've been aching to make films for years. And then it dawned on me, ebay should have a cheap camcorder. And it did. MANY cheap camcorders. But more importantly, in my search I found extremely cheap Super 8 cameras. That's when I started looking up whatever I could on film (Super 8, regular 8 mm, etc.). Now I'm bidding on projectors, a tripod, a projector screen, film, editors, viewers, and more. It's all on ebay! If the search is thorough, you should be able to find what you need. So far I have bought 3 cameras, 1 for $2.00, 1 for $3.00, and 1 for about $10. They're beautiful! Type in "movie camera" or "movie cameras" in "search" to find the cameras. Type in "VHS camcorder" for cheap camcorders. Several variations of film combined with Super 8 or 8mm will provide you with the film options. People are selling both old film and the new film kodak is producing. Once in awhile they have sound film, which kodak is no longer producing, and 16mm film, etc. Just remember, shipping and handling can be steep.
Good luck!

[ulrichsd]

Just a suggestion from experience, decide what you plan to do and what to buy before buying on Ebay. I bought 3 cameras before I had the one that best fit my project. A few questions:

Are you shooting sound? Many cameras can be very loud, if you are recording sound while filming, the Nizo 6080, 4080, or 6056 are the quietest cameras made

Are you editing on film or transfering to video?

Do you need functions such as slow-motion, time-lapse, long zoom, manual exposure, removable lens, etc.?

Like I said, just a suggestion,
Good luck,
Scott

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[kittyunicorn]

Thanks for the suggestion!

Honestly, I'm in my very beginning stages here. I want to do claymation. I don't want sound and I don't need color. In fact, the cheaper everything is the better. Since I'm still in the experimental stages, I'm happy with whatever camera comes my way.

The thing I like about ebay is that the cameras I've won have all been very cheap and sometimes they come with film. Maybe once I find out what differs between them I'll be able to narrow down my search and bidding.


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[Pro-Vision Studio's]

Hey if you good shoot all your sound stuff wild and fix it in post ! Most S-8 cameras make noise no matter what people say keep the sentances and rerecord the sound later using the location wild sound as a template doing a sudo adr it can be done with great results I've seen the results ! Or shoot it all silent and make up the track later its called by the seat of your pantys baby its an adventure !..Dwight Pro-Vision Studios S.F. / Calif. 1-415-552-5356

[Matt Pacini]

Yeah, well that's a nightmare of a way to make a film!
It doubles your work, at best.
And there is one Super 8 camera that is dead quiet, and that's the Nizo 6080.

Matt Pacini

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