Question about Conversion Filters

[newguy_1981]

Hi, I recently just bought a super 8mm camera off ebay about a week ago. It's a Nikon Super Zoom 8 and I am looking to shoot a music video with it. It seems like a really nice camera and I am very anxious to get started. I've never shot any super 8 before so i am very new to this genre. I've been doing a lot of research and for the life of me cannot figure out this conversion filter stuff. I've had some experience with 16mm film cameras and their screw on filters but this super 8mm built in filter thing is a little confusing for me for some reason. I read somewhere that all super 8mm camera's have filters built into them but with my camera there is suppose to be a key that turns a filter on and off. Unfortunately my camera is missing that key. Does anyone know where i can find a new key (besides ebay)?? Also the lens on the camera has the ability to have screw on filters, does anyone know if i could just buy a screw on filter? If so which filter would i buy? Also I would appreciate any light on the matter of this whole conversion filter stuff. For example, when the key is not in the camera is the conversion filter set for daylight or at that point is it set for tungeston (indoor lighting). Any help would be appreciated. Thanks again to everyone. I am really glad to see that there are several people still shooting on super 8.

[cameraguy]

When the key is not in the camera it is set for daylight. The key must go in for shooting indoors.

For a no frills key you can take a thin but sturdy piece of cardboard cut to size and that should work. Just stuff it in the top slot. You should be able to look into the front of the lens (put camera at wide angle) and see the filter going out of position as you put the key in.

Lastly if a home made key doesn't seem to work send me a private message as I've got an extra around somewhere.

[newguy_1981]

Thank you for helping me out with this dilemma. I ended up finding a key. I bought a light made by Kodak that had a key with it. So it worked out perfectly. Thanks again for the help. Oh yeah while i am thinking about it. Do you know if you can take a super 8 cartridge out of the camera half way through and put it in another super 8 camera. The reason i am asking is I have two super 8 cameras that i am wanting to test out. I thought maybe instead of buying two cartridges of film, I would just shoot half with one camera and then take it out and put it in the other camera without ruining the film. Do you know if this will work? Thanks again.

[eidde]

yes that will work fine.
You may find you get a flash where a few frames
are overexposed between tests (when you took the cartridge out of the first camera)

You can always do this, some cameras have a footage counter that tells you how much film youve shot/ is left, this gets reset to zero when you open the case, so if you do a lot of juggling cartridges in and out of cameras (which I did recently) then you need to make a note of how much is left on a roll.

Good luck