Super 8 film
Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The formal name for Super 8 is 8-mm Type S, distinguishing it from the older double-8 format, which is called 8-mm Type R. Unlike Super 35, the film stock used for Super 8 is not compatible with standard 8 mm film cameras.
The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted 8 mm film, but the dimensions of the rectangular sprocket hole perforations along one edge are smaller, which allows for a larger image area. The Super 8 standard also allocates the border opposite the perforations for an oxide stripe upon which sound can be magnetically recorded.
Fujifilm released a competing system named Single-8, also in 1965, which used the same film, image frame, and perforation dimensions, but with a different film base and incompatible cartridge format. The Kodak Super 8 system was adopted by more manufacturers and proved to be the more popular home movie format until it was displaced by video camera and recorder systems.
Super 8 System
Starting in 1963, Kodak privately invited manufacturers of home movie equipment to inform them about a new 8 mm format under development. After Bell & Howell learned about it, they began developing cameras and projectors as the Earlybird project, despite incomplete details about the cartridge and film size.Launched in May 1965 by Eastman Kodak at that year's International Photo Exposition, held simultaneously with the ongoing 1964 New York World's Fair, Super 8 film comes in plastic light-proof cartridges containing coaxial supply and take-up spools loaded with of film, with 72 frames per foot, for a nominal total of frames per film cartridge. This is enough film for minutes at the professional motion picture standard of 24 frames per second, and for minutes of continuous filming at 18 frames per second for amateur use.
In 1973, the system was supplemented with a larger cartridge, containing mag stripe film, which allowed sound cameras to record monaural sync-sound audio on the main strip. In 1975, an even larger cartridge became available, which could be used in specifically designed cameras. The sound and the 200-foot cartridge system are no longer available, but the 50-foot silent cartridge system is still manufactured.
Historically, Super 8 film was a reversal stock for home projection used primarily for the creation of home movies. It became an extremely popular consumer product in the late 1960s through the 1970s, but was largely replaced in the 1980s by the use of video tape.
During the mid-to-late 1980s Super 8 began to re-emerge as an alternative method for movie production, beginning with its use in MTV music videos in 1981. In 1993, the company Super8 Sound, now called Pro8mm, pioneered the use of the color negative in Super 8 by custom perforating and loading a variety of 35 mm film stocks into the Super 8 film cartridge. This included emulsions from Kodak, Fuji and Ilford. Today Super 8 color negative film is the main color stock used. There are also Super 8 reversal films available, including 100D Kodak Ektachrome and 200D Agfa color, as well as black-and-white from Foma, ADOX, ORWO and Kodak.
Design
Super 8 film and frame dimensions are specified by standards published by ANSI/SMPTE and ISO, including ISO 1700 and 3645; and ANSI/SMPTE ST 149 and ANSI/SMPTE ST 157.The standard Super 8 cartridge is a rectangular box approximately and contains 50 feet of film.
The Super 8 plastic cartridge is probably the fastest loading film system ever developed, as it can be loaded into the Super 8 camera in less than two seconds without the need to directly thread or touch the film. In addition, coded notches cut into the Super 8 film cartridge exterior allow the camera to recognize the film speed automatically. Not all cameras can read all the notches correctly, however, and there is some debate about which notches actually deliver the best results. Canon keeps an exhaustive list of their Super 8 cameras with detailed specifications on what film speeds can be used with their cameras. Usually, testing one cartridge of film can help settle any uncertainty a filmmaker may have about how well their Super 8 camera reads different film stocks. Color stocks were originally available only in tungsten Type A, and almost all Super 8 cameras come with a switchable daylight filter built in, allowing for both indoor and outdoor shooting.
The original Super 8 film release was a silent system only, but in 1973, a sound on film version was released. The film with sound had a magnetic soundtrack and came in larger cartridges than the original cartridge in order to accommodate the sound recording head in the film path. Sound film requires a longer film path and a second aperture for the recording head. Sound cameras are compatible with silent cartridges, but not conversely. Sound film is typically filmed at a speed of 18 or 24 frames per second. Kodak discontinued the production of Super 8 sound film in 1997, citing environmental regulations, as the adhesive used to bond the magnetic track to the film is environmentally hazardous.
Kodak introduced a Super 8 cartridge with magnetic sound in 1974; the accompanying Supermatic 200 camera was identical to its existing Ektasound camera, but included a door which allowed the extended reels to extend through the top.
Current use
In 2005, Kodak announced the discontinuation of their most popular stock Kodachrome due to the decline of facilities equipped with the K-14 developing process. Kodachrome was "replaced" by a new ISO 64 Ektachrome, which uses the simpler E-6 process. The last roll of Kodachrome was processed on January 18, 2011, in Parsons, Kansas, by the sole remaining lab capable of processing it.In December 2012, Kodak discontinued color reversal stock in all formats, including 35 mm and Super 8. However, in Spring of 2019, Kodak introduced Ektachrome 100D in super 8 and 16 mm formats, citing surges in demand.
Today, there are still a variety of Super 8 film stocks. Kodak sells one Super 8 color reversal stock, Ektachrome 100D, and three Super 8 color negative stocks cut from their Vision 3 film series, ISO 50, ISO 200 and ISO 500, which can be used in very low light. Kodak reformulated the emulsions for the B&W reversal stocks and made Tri-X.
Film cut to Super 8 from other manufactured raw stock such as Fuji, Orwo, Adox, Agfa and Foma are also available. Pro8mm offers 7 color negative stocks made from Kodak and Fuji film. Color Reversal film for Super 8 is still available from several Super 8 specialty companies. Wittner Kinotechnik offers Super 8 made from a batch of Agfa Aviphot 200D, which is perforated and slit for Super 8, 8 mm and 16 mm formats. This film is loaded into Super 8 and Single cartridges by several of the specialty companies. Other stocks, such as the new Fuji reversal film, and existing supplies of Kodak 35 mm 100D are often made available in Super 8 by these specialty companies.
The growing popularity and availability of non-linear editing systems has allowed film-makers and any user of film to shoot Super 8 film but edit in digital. This avoids much of the tedium of handling film and the damage to the film, which can occur when editing the actual film. Super 8 films may be transferred to digital and then imported into computer-based editing and correction systems for post production. Today's systems can scan Super 8 to 4K digital in a variety of formats.
Competitors
Fujifilm Single-8 system
of Japan developed an alternative format called Single-8, which was released in 1965 as a different option to the Kodak Super 8 format, using a separate set of standards as 8 mm Type S Model II.Single-8 cartridges are of a different design from a Super 8 cartridge. Where Super 8 uses coaxial supply and take-up reels, Single-8 uses coplanar reels, resembling a cassette-style design where the supply and take-up reels are side by side. In addition, the pressure plate to flatten the Single-8 film is in the camera, rather than the cartridge. Single-8 also uses a stronger polyester base, the thickness of the acetate base of Super 8 film. Therefore, Single-8 film cartridges can only be used in Single-8 cameras. However, since Single-8 film has exactly the same image frame and perforation dimensions as Super 8, it can be viewed in any Super 8 projector after processing. Fuji recommended that only tape splices be used when combining Single-8 footage with Super-8, as standard film cement would not adhere to the Single-8 footage. Also, when jammed, Single-8 footage has a tendency to stretch in the projector, unlike the acetate-based Super-8 film, which simply breaks.
Although never as popular as Super 8, the format existed in parallel. On June 2, 2009, Fuji announced the end of Single-8 motion picture film. Tungsten balanced 200 ASA Fuji RT200N ceased to be manufactured by May 2010. Daylight balanced 25 ASA Fujichrome R25N remained available until March 2012. Fuji's in-house processing service was available until September 2013.
Polaroid Polavision
An instant 8 mm film released in 1977 by Polaroid, Polavision uses the same perforations as Super 8 mm film. It can be projected through a Super 8 mm projector if the film is transferred from the original cartridge to an 8 mm reel. However, because of the additive color process, the picture will be much darker.Super 8 derivative formats
Double Super 8
Double Super 8 film is a 16 mm wide film but has Super 8 size sprockets.;Double Super 8 for amateurs:
In amateur DS8 cameras, the film is used in the same way as standard 8 mm film in that the film is run through the camera twice, exposing one side on each pass. During processing, the film is split down the middle, and the two pieces spliced together to produce a single strip for projection in a Super 8 projector.
The advantages of this system are the possibility of higher frame rates and rewinding film for double exposures or crossfades, which were very difficult or impossible with the super 8 film cartridges but possible with cameras using film spools. Since the film doesn't follow a diagonal path through the stacked spools of the super 8 cassette, the pin-registration of DS8 is considered to be superior to that of Super 8 film, and so picture stability is better.
Also, camera manufacturers could use models already in production for double 8 mm film by enlarging the gate and slightly modifying the advancement mechanism for the use with Double Super 8 film.
;Double Super 8 for film-makers:
DS8 can also be used as an alternative film stock in modified 16 mm cameras and projectors, which allows for larger image sizes due to the narrower super 8 sprockets. Some of the formats taking advantage of this are Max DS8 and Ultra DS8.