super 8 problems

[baby2billy]

I am new to the Super 8 world so bare with me. I have a Canon 310XL camera and a Kodak Brownie 500 movie projector 8 mm. The projector came with a number of rolls of film from the 60's that work great but a roll that I took(Kodachrome 40 movie film for super 8 cartridge cameras) and got developed does not project as well as the originals. It's more chippy and doesn't flow at all. I have noticed that the film size recently developed is much smaller than the older film that I have. What do you think?

[BolexPlusx]

I think what you are doing is trying to project Super-8 film on a regular 8 projector. I believe Kodak had given up the Brownie name by the time Super-8 came along and was calling everything "Instamatic" and so on.

(What do Brownies have to do with filmmaking anyway?)

Super-8 came along later than 8mm (often called "Regular 8" these days) and has much smaller sprocket holes to allow a larger image area.

Do the old films have much larger sprocket holes than the one you took? Compare your two kinds of films to the pictures in this home page:

http://littlefilm.org/


The only thing I'm really baffled about here is how a Super-8 reel could fit on a Regular-8 projector. The Regular 8mm spindle is much smaller that the hole in a Super-8 reel. It shouldn't be possible to lock a reel onto the spindle, it should just fall off.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ March 30, 2004 06:40 PM: Message edited by: BolexPlusx ]</font>

[baby2billy]

Damn, you are good. That's exactly the problem. My roll did fall of the projector. I manually kept it on. So I need to buy a new super 8 projector or is there something I can do to the 8mm projector I have? If a new one is needed, any suggestions of where to get one cheap?

[BolexPlusx]

Thanks!, but it's kind of a mixed blessing to know a lot about something most people don't care about!

I'm afraid your Brownie can't be modified for Super-8. (Well, given enough time and money they could fix the Titanic, but you know...)

There are many many projectors available on E-bay. There are two problems 1) Projectors are heavy and expensive to ship (and fairly easy to damage in the process.) and 2) A lot of people have projectors that may or may not work and they can't tell (hint: If they say they can't check it because they don't have any "tapes" to play on it, walk away!) I bought one used projector on E-bay and have been really happy with it, but I've heard stories about spending a lot of money and then getting something as dead as a stone! I guess the moral is to ask a lot of questions, deal with somebody reputable and maybe even get a warrantee.

My local camera store has used Super-8 gear and found me a really nice sound projector last fall. I think I paid a little more than I may have on E-bay but I got to try it out first, and I didn't have to pay shipping.

[bigmasi]

you can always ask your neighbours.. This is not a joke! I mean that lot of the cameras, projectors etc come to the market when somebody finds them on a yardsale. (I think everybody knew that allready) So, what I'm saying is that you can first start looking on old things -shops and camerashops and antique -shops and yardsales. Personally I don't have any experience on ebay, but the prices on ebay are enormous on everything because the people there usually know what they have and what it's worth. I mean that you can find lot of the things somewhere else with only fraction of the cost. If your not lucky in few weeks or a month (unless you'r in a hurry)... take your chances on EBay... I myself like more buying things that I can see and touch before giving my money away. but like BolexPlusX said there is a lot of projectors out there, it shouldn't be a problem.

[baby2billy]

Thanks people. It turns out my step-dad has one that apparently works. Best regards.