Kodak to produce 8mm film camera

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Speaking of "vintage", yesterday Sony announced a record player - vinyl - that subsequently converts its analog signal into digital. I guess it's supposed to combine the inconvenience of a record with a tinny sound of high compression audio (I keed, I keed).
 
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How utterly bizarre.

I love Super 8. Love it. But -- I'm not really grasping the vision here. The "pictures" shown in the previous article aren't pictures, they're digital renderings, but even then... okay, first of all, Kodak never made a "good" Super 8 camera. They made the cheapest, stripped-down, barely-functional models. And it looks like this particular camera they're introducing will probably continue in that vein. Back in the day we used to daydream about getting our hands on something like a Canon 1014XL-S, a Beaulieu 6008 or 7008 or (dare I hope for it) a 9008, or a Chinon Pacific 200/8XL, with that magnificent 200-foot cartridge capability. But Kodak? They were the epitome of the "soccer mom" camera, the most bargain-basement models. Even now, in their specs they list that they're going to have a fixed-focal-length lens, a fixed 6mm, although there's an option for a 6-48 zoom...

So looking through the specs, I see no slow-mo, and a digital LCD panel? No optical viewfinder? Sheesh, an optical viewfinder would be so mandatory... if you've never experienced an optical viewfinder, it's just such a part of the magic of shooting on film, is actually being able to see what the lens really sees, not a digital interpretation of that.

So what is this thing they're making? It sounds to me like it's a conventional video camera that simultaneously records on film? And that when you send in the film for processing, they will give some manner of digital file of it?

I don't know... I'll wait for more details. For $500, I'd way rather buy this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Beaulieu-70...357724?hash=item1a0bc127dc:g:xagAAOSwX~dWiulV

Now, the processing is interesting. Far and away the most expensive aspect of shooting Super 8 is getting it transferred to video. If Kodak is incorporating film scanning to a high-res, high-quality source in their processing, and it's affordable, then that right there would be the revolutionary step necessary to make this a more viable format. Kodak used to offer a PictureCD service, they'd develop your 35mm still film and scan the negatives into a CD full of pictures for you. If they'd do a similar service for Super 8, that might make it vastly more approachable. Somebody mentioned Pro8mm on here; Pro8mm charges $98 per roll for film, processing and transfer to standard-def. If you want them to transfer to HD, it's $128. That's a rate of $50 per minute of footage. That's simply not viable. If Kodak will process a roll and send you back a CD with a properly-transferred high-quality .MOV for, say, $15, then it becomes more interesting. Even then, B&H sells the film stock for $35 each, so even at $15 for process/transfer it'd still $50 per cartridge for film & processing, which is still $20 per minute at 24fps...

From the press release it says:
The company has built a roadmap that includes a range of cameras, film development services, post production tools and more. “It is an ecosystem for film” said Jeff Clarke, Eastman Kodak Chief Executive Officer.
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I'd like to hear more details on that. Cameras, good cameras, are available on ebay for pennies on the dollar. That's never been the problem. It's what you do after the film's shot that is the problem. If they've addressed that in a realistic way, I'd love to play with some Super 8 again...
 
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Mr. Clarke said Kodak has received expressions of support for the new camera by many Hollywood directors, including Steven Spielberg and “Star Wars” director J.J. Abrams, who directed a 2011 film called “Super 8″ and was famously hired by Mr. Spielberg as a 14-year-old to work on the older director’s Super 8 film archive.

The first new Super 8, expected to arrive in a limited-edition version in the fall of 2016, was conceived with help from the industrial designer Yves Behar. It is likely to cost between $400 to $750, Mr. Clarke estimated. Processing the film should cost $50 to $75 a cartridge, he said.

Mr. Clarke expects in 2017 a lower-cost version aimed at a broader audience..
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http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2016/01/05/kodak-goes-retro-with-new-super-8-camera/
 
Processing the film should cost $50 to $75
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That's my big question mark. Is that just processing or does that price include the raw film cart, processing and video transfer? If it's latter, awesome! If it's the former, then the price is about the same as it has been.
 
Very interesting and weird at the same time. Like Mitch said, there is some room where the magnetic stripe would have been to expand the width of the frame a bit. See the first picture at this wikipedia link for the exact frame size and illustration of the sound magnetic stripe area: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_8_film (picture was too large to post here)

Also, another thing to think about is that the frame size is between a 1/3" and 1/2" digital camera chip. Not terrible, but not great for those who like large frame sizes for things like easy shallow depth of field either. Although if you're using shallow depth of field as a proxy for "cinematic" images then perhaps shooting on real film will make it cinematic enough.
 
Barry_Green said:
Cameras, good cameras, are available on ebay for pennies on the dollar. That's never been the problem. It's what you do after the film's shot that is the problem.
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From Kodak's website:

When you purchase film you will be buying the film, processing and digital transfer. The lab will send you your developed film back and email you a password to retrieve your digital scans from the cloud so you can edit and share in any way you choose. . . . You buy it, shoot it, ship it. We process it, scan it, deliver it.
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So the price of the cartridges is unknown, but whatever it is, it will include processing, scanning, and delivery back to you.
 
I may be slightly warming up to this thing depending on what it does... if it uses a rotating mirror shutter to send the light alternately to the film and also to the video chip, then ... that could be quite interesting. Combined with a Max8 frame size and a c-mount lens... if it's quiet... well, too many unknowns at this point. I had a Beaulieu 7008Pro back in the day, wonderful but louder than a coffee grinder. One of the things about the Beaulieu is that it was just about the only camera made that used a rotating mirror shutter, meaning 100% of the light got sent to the film when the shutter was open. Pretty much all other cameras used a beamsplitting prism. If this new Kodak uses a rotating shutter, well, pretty much all the other features on a camera can be forgotten, as we do all that stuff in post nowadays (other than slow-mo). Well, we'll see what Fall 2016 brings.
 
I posted this earlier, but they said the cartridges will be around $50 to $70.

The first new Super 8, expected to arrive in a limited-edition version in the fall of 2016, was conceived with help from the industrial designer Yves Behar. It is likely to cost between $400 to $750, Mr. Clarke estimated. Processing the film should cost $50 to $75 a cartridge, he said.

Mr. Clarke expects in 2017 a lower-cost version aimed at a broader audience..
Click to expand...
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2016/01/05/kodak-goes-retro-with-new-super-8-camera/
 
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Given the physical design of the body I highly doubt that it is a spinning mirror. Pretty positive they'll use a beamsplitter.
 
Mitch Gross said:
Given the physical design of the body I highly doubt that it is a spinning mirror. Pretty positive they'll use a beamsplitter.
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That's what I'm expecting as well. Blech. Well, given that the body is currently what looks to be just a 3D-printed prototype, perhaps there's room for some optimism, somewhere, for... something. Who knows, maybe it'll have a registration pin even (although, for some, that'd probably prove to be a detriment; gate weave is kind of a signature element of the "Super 8 look"...)
 
Happy to hear that price includes the film, processing and transfer. But the whole "The lab will send you your developed film back and email you a password to retrieve your digital scans from the cloud so you can edit and share in any way you choose." makes me a little skeptical of the quality we'll be getting back.
 
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