Heavy Arts

Super 8 was introduced in 1965 by Kodak as a new home-movie format. You can see my in depth examination of a Super-8 cartridge [here], achieved with a knife and some curious determination. It was of course superseded by Video technology, as people moved from the movie projector to the VHS. Super-8 is a variant of the standard 8mm format, which sits along side double-8, 16mm and 35mm movie film stocks. There are a few variants of the small-gauge film stock, but Super-8 is one of the most popular today.

Super-8 cameras can be picked up at a reasonable price on eBay these days, and most are still in good nick. If they take PX625 batteries, like mine, [check out my previous post]. Most film processing services will transfer them to DVD as well, so the cost of a projector is negated a bit, but considering how cheap they are it’s worth getting one.
At 18 frames a second, about standard, a 50ft cartridge (the only size) will get you 3:20 of movie. At 24 frames a second, 2:47 of movie.

There’s a remarkable number of film stocks still available for Super-8, not least for the efforts of a few specialists putting still film like Velvia 50 into Super-8 cartridges. Very very cool.

These are readily available in Australia
Colour:
-Kodak Ektachrome 64T
-Velvia 50D
-Ektachrome 100D
Black and white:
-Plus-X (7265)
-Tri-X (7266)

Kodak Vision2, the 35mm standard movie stock is also available from overseas too.

If you want to get into Super-8, acquaint yourself with [Nano Lab]. They sell film, they process film, they can scan and output digitally. $35 per 50ft, fixed price for processing. $20 per 50ft for scanning. Film is $24-$32. So to buy, shoot, process and scan a 50ft roll, or a few minutes of super 8, you’re looking at around $80. You can cut down on your expenses by buying film from overseas, and Dwaynes lab is cheaper so far as processing but takes longer.

Outside of Australia, [Dwaynes Photo] also have your back here, as they will process the now uncommon Kodachrome 40 Super-8 stock, as well as Ektachrome 64T.
They too sell film, but only the Ektachrome 64T at $15USD.
Processing is $10USD, transfer is $10USD for the first 50ft to DVD, $5 for every extra 50 feet.
So to buy film at Dwaynes, shoot, process and get it scanned, you’re looking at $35USD, plus shipping back and forth, all at whatever the exchange rate. So I think the lowest you’ll get it anywhere is about $50 for 50ft of film, purchased, shot processed and scanned.

[Freestyle Photo] will sell you [Plus-x] and [Tri-x].
[Spectra Film and Video] also sell a lot and are one of the original sources of Velvia 50D. [Pro8mm] also sell and process film.

Something to mention here; despite a multitude of super-8 cameras with audio capabilities, there are no film stocks currently manufactured with the required magnetic strip for sound. All super-8 stock today is silent…but that doesn’t stop you adding sound in post-production. Super-8 is popular for music videos.

So that’s the state of Super-8 in Australia today. So why not grab a $20 super 8 camera and have some fun?