These sections outline some of the basic principles associated with shooting 8mm film. A lot of people reading will already be familiar with a lot of the following information, but it is intended as a primer to the format, and specific topics will be explained in more detail in subsequent articles.

Formats

The 8mm formats are:

• Standard 8 (also known as Double 8 or Regular 8),

• Super 8

• Single 8

Standard 8

Standard 8mm film was invented in 1932 by the Kodak Eastman Company, and was intended to provide a cheap alternative to 16mm for home filmmakers. This system used 16mm film on 25-foot reels. As the film passed through the camera, it would only become exposed on one half of the frame, and when the reel was finished it would be turned over and the second half of the film could be shot. (Hence the name Double 8 ) This roll of double exposed 16mm film was then split in half during processing to give you two separate 25-foot 8mm reels.

Although this format is still in use today, Super 8 is by far the more popular format, and Standard 8 film stock can be hard to get hold of, and to process.

The differences between standard and super 8 are something to be aware of when trawling car boot sales for an 8mm camera. If, when you look inside the film chamber the camera looks like it takes a spool of film rather than a cartridge, it is Standard 8 rather than Super 8, and is therefore hard to get film for, and basically unusable. Every Super 8 camera is cartridge-loading, so no matter how much the stallholder tells you that this camera is Super 8, it isn’t - and you are probably spending your hard earned on a retro paperweight!

Super 8

Super 8 was introduced in 1965 as an improvement to the Standard 8mm format. Smaller sprocket holes allowed for the frame size (and resolution) to be increased by 25%, and the cartridge design meant that film could be easily loaded in daylight conditions.

Super 8 has become the format standard for shooting in 8mm.

Single 8

Introduced in 1966 as Fuji’s answer to Kodak’s Super 8, it used a slightly different cartridge design. Single 8 cameras were never as popular in Europe as they were in Japan, and cameras and film stocks are rare and hard to find here.

Film Guages

I hope you found this article useful, please feel free to leave your comments below or ask any questions.

Matt

This article was written by Matt Kemp who is a Super 8 filmmaker, inventor and a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the technical side of photography. I hope you enjoy his series which was written for the beginner and those who would like to understand some of the technical fundamentals. Steve

The next article in the series will look at film speeds/sensitivity and film type.

Top image by bury-osiol

Film Guage Image: Source Unknown

From 'Harrachov' Copyright Matt Hulse

Devoted Super 8 filmmaker Matt Hulse is a wee bit of a legend in our part of the world and beyond. Check out his article for Lux Online.

You can find more information about Matt at his website, Idlevice.com