Best deal on Super 8mm film?

Mike Krumlauf

Mike Krumlauf

Award Winning Filmmaker
I bought a super 8 camera today and it works great! I am looking to find the cheapest place for color negative and/or reversal stock film for it. it takes cartages not spools.

Thanks,
Mike
 
Hey,

Congrats on the new "old" super 8 camera. Which one did you get? Also, I do not know how much experenice you have had with super 8 but some of the camera's will not read the film notchs in the cartages to let the camera know which ASA it is. They can only read I believe ASA's 40 and 160.

In terms of cheapest, Buying direct from Kodak is the cheapest from what I've heard. But your only limited to; Ekt 64T, Plus-X, Tri-X, Vision2 200T, and Vision2 500T. I love Plus-X it's a 100asa and great for outdoors. If you want more choices for negitive film consider Pro8mm. You can choose from a lot of stocks that were cut down from 35mm film. But beware because I've heard some horror stories about them not testing the film when they use re-cans. You can also try Spectra Film and Video. This is the lab I use and I am very happy with the transfer they did for me. Check out the link in my sig for Popsicle to see an example of this.
 
If you live near a college with a film production department there's a chance they would sell super 8mm in the school store. If they do, there's a chance that they would be selling it for ridiculously low prices - a school with a film program can buy film stock super cheap from Kodak. I live near a school that sells B&W reversal for $8.50 a roll... you read that right.
Most likely if you were able to find such a place, but they didn't carry the right kind of stock you were looking for, you could make friends with the store manager and they could order you anything your heart desired.
I will not divulge the location of the store except to say it is in New England.
 
If you want to see what a feature movie shot on 8mm looks like, go to Netflix and watch (or rent) "The Dead Next Door". Shot on a budget of $125,000. Awful movie, but it's interesting to see how the 8mm transferred to digital.
 
Welcome to the world of super 8!

What camera did you buy??

If you are unsure of the film type your super 8 takes open the film door and look inside the compartment; it should have the ASA numbers printed there. Most of the cheaper models made in the early 70's are 40/160 ASA, however if your cam has an exposure compensation +/- knob you can notch down the auto exposure a little. A final alternative is where you just shoot in normal 40 ASA and get the lab to pull-process the film.

Good luck!
 
Not so cheap, but check out Pro8mm.com. They've got into deals - processing, prepping, telecine to MiniDV for a good price. They offer stocks like Fuji, and Vision T, and B & W.
 
Matthew W. Phillips said:
I would advice against Pro8mm...besides, Spectra now has Ekta 100D and Fuji Velvia 50D as part of it's arsenal...
Click to expand...

Agreed. I've heard nothing but horror stories regarding Pro8mm. Buy direct from Kodak or Spectra(Ektachrom 100D = nice stuff) or Wittner Cinetec in Germany.

vidwerk.
 
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