If you've decided to shoot in super 8, or are interested in learning more about how to start, then we have the information for you. If you want to shoot and project super 8 films it's not very expensive to start. All you really need to start with is a camera, film and a good projector. " CAMERA: Expect to pay anywhere from $5 to $40 for a decent camera. Try to find one with a zoom lens and a built in light meter will save you from having to go out and buy a handheld one. Handheld meters start at around $150 dollars, new. We advise you to buy a new one because old ones may not function properly and there's no way to be sure of this until you test them. Super 8 cameras can only be found used, because they are no longer manufactured. Either borrow a camera from a friend or get one at a garage sale, flea market or good thrift shop. If anyone trys to sell you a super 8 camera for more than $40, chances are they're trying to rip you off. " PROJECTOR: Now that you've got your camera it's time to find a good projector. The key is to find one with a good bulb. Some bulbs are also more expensive then others and some types are no longer manufactured. Make sure you don't a buy a projector that takes $20 bulbs. You'll be spending money you don't need to. Check the projector lens too, find a sharp one with no cracks or scratches. Expect to pay anywhere from $5 to $50 bucks for a good used projector. " FILM STOCK: The next thing on your list should be FILM. Typically, super 8mm film costs about $28cdn or $20 US for 1 roll or 3.5 min kodachrome with processing. When you buy your camera, buy black and white film stock to test the camera. " EDITTING EQUIPMENT: Finally, you may also need a film edittor for your super 8 films. By far they are the hardest equipment to find. Try Flea markets, as well as garage sales. We've had the best luck finding them there for our companies use. Good luck in your hunt for equipment.

� " VIDEO TRANSFER: If you've shot your 8mm film and now want to transfer it to video or computerized non-linear editing system, then you have a few options to consider. The cheapest way is to project your film onto a screen and record the image using a video camera. To do this you'll need to project the film using a variable speed projector. The variable speed projector helps you eliminate the flicker because film projects at 24 frames per second and video works at 30. You'll also need a screen to project it on as well as a tripod to keep your camera steady during the transfer. " TRANSFER DETAILS: When you setup and get ready to transfer you'll need to do a manual white balence on your camcorder or video camera. You need to do a manual white balence to avoid the camera changing colour balence through the film. Also put your camera focus and exposure features on manual. This will help you get a consistant transfer image from shot to shot. The quality of this type of transfer is not that great but you can use edit the videotaped image and predict what it will look like if you eventually decide to cut and edit the film itself. � " HIGH QUALITY TRANSFER :If you want a much higher quality transfer then you should go to a professional post-production facility and get it transfered there. Remember this procedure is not cheap. It costs about $250-$300 for every hour of transfer. You get to sit with the colourist and decide if the colour of the film is right for you. If you've shot something worthwhile then this type of transfer is definately the way to go. " VIDEO AND NLE EDITING :Now that your film has been transfered, you have to decide if you want to do linear or non-linear editing. If you do simple non-linear editing then you shouldn't have any problems with a normal editing suite. But if you want to do computerized non-linear editing you'll need special equipment. " VIDEO CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY:The cheapest way to capture video onto a non-linear suite is through your pc. You can purchase a good video capture card and download your transfered film from a VCR. A company with a good video card is PINNACLE. They sell all kinds of great products for video capture. I definately recommend going to them. In terms of computer requirements, make sure you have at least 2GB partitioned on a defragmented hard disk for output storage. " VIDEO TO PC STORAGE: Remember that video capture quality also determines the final quality of your project. You can capture your film/video to the computer at varying resolutions. To give you an idea of the memory space required by your computer we're going to give you an example. For a 2min and 20 sec video it took about 175 MB of space for an AVI file at 320 X 240 resolution. To help, you should think about investing in a CD burner as an alternative method of storage. Cds have 650megs of space and JAZZ drives have 1 or 2 gigs of space. But don't buy a jazz drive because they tend to break down quite easily. Instead, CDs and Zip disks are much more durable and reliable. �

SUPER 8MM CAMERAS: The most obvious thing you need in super 8 film-making is the camera. But the problem is that there are only a few super 8 camera manufacturers in production today. There are the medium quality, Russian Kinoflex cameras, as well as the Beaulieu, a French-made Super-8 camera, and the Cadillac of the format. The Beaulieu is the only one considered to be of "professional" quality, like 16mm cameras. You can buy them new or used for about $2000-$10000 dollars. So then where do you get an affordable camera? Well the best place to find good and inexpensive used cameras is at garage sales, flea markets, thrift shops and grandma's attic. If you buy a camera, expect to pay anywhere between 5 and 40 dollars. Find one with a zoom lens and a built in meter. Try to stay away from the cameras that have sound recording because sound film is no longer manufactured. Also remember that since these cameras are no longer in production there are no repair shops to fix them. So use these cameras at your own risk. If you're looking for the best quality used super 8 cameras then you'll have to pay anywhere between 75 and 300 dollars for the top end stuff. Unless of course you decide to buy the Beaulieu. " FILM AND SUPPORT MATERIALS: You can still buy film on daylight loading reels for your camera from kodak and other film manufacturers. But Editing equipment and projectors have to be found elsewhere. If you take super 8 shooting seriously you'll want to get yourself a tripod. Because the film is so tiny, it will be very hard to get a good stable shot. If you don't use a tripod or monopod your image quality will suffer. � " EDITING EQUIPMENT :Editing equipment is the hardest equipment to find in super 8mm. Most consumers of super 8 didn't buy it. People who take home movies don't always intend to edit them. The same is true today when people buy home video cameras. The best place to find editors is usaully at a garage sale. But they won't be as common a find as a camera or projector. " PROJECTORS :Good projectors are always a great find. However, be sure to find one with a good bulb and no scratches on the lens. If you buy a projector that takes expensive light bulbs, your super 8 venture could be more expensive then you thought. Make sure the bulb is still being manufactured and costs a reasonable price. Again you can look for projectors in the same places mentioned above. Good luck in your equipment hunt.

� " Kodachrome - The granddaddy of films. Kodachrome offers rich, bright colors in an 40 EI film. This is a very fine grained high contrast color film. Looks real good in the original form but losses quality in the final print. (What doesn't?) but Kodachrome can take the loss of quality and still look good. " Ektachrome: High speed (160 EI) speed color film. It has a lot of grain and lacks the sharpness of Kodachrome but is useful for shooting in low light situations. Below are some different types of Ektachrome: " Ektachrome E/160: This film is balanced for accurate color for indoor/tungsten lighting (3200K) so use a #85 filter when shooting outside. " Ektachrome 160 Type G: This film is for both indoor and outdoor filming without filtration. Therefore it doesn't look good in either. Indoor scenes are orangish and outdoor scenes are blueish. Maybe a good choice if you are shooting in mixed light conditions. " Ektachrome EF7242: This film has a 125 EI but does not have notches in the cartridge so your camera will expose it as 160 EI film. The grain and resolution fall between 40 EI and 160 EI film. It is a type B emulsion balanced for 3200K lights so use a #85 filter when shooting outside. " Ektachrome SM7244: This film was designed to be processed in Kodak's Supermatic 8 processor that can produce ready-to-project 50-foot length film in 15 minutes. It can be processed by normal means as well. It has a moody very luminesent look to it with very bright colors. " Plus-X: Medium speed black and white film stock (Kodak Catalog #502-9087). Very little grain, nice contrast just all around good looking B&W footage. Use Plus-X for most normal daylight shoots. " Tri-X: High speed black and white film stock (Kodak Catalog #502-9046). We definately recommend this particular stock. Really cool and grainy, (sp?) B&W filmstock. We would suggest that if you're shooting in broad daylight use Plus-X or shoot at F/22.

� " SUPER 8MM SOUND: Before you run out and buy a super 8 camera with a sound recorder, remember that sound film is no longer being manufactured. So it's useless to buy a camera with a sound recorder. So then how do you record sound with your films? That's a good question, the answer is down below. " DAT Sound Recorders: The best way to record sound for your super 8 films is using a portable Dat Recorder. Dat stands for digital audio tape and has been used by the sound industry for numerous years now. It runs 48Khz which is better then CD quality, which is 44.1Khz. The reason Dat recorders are great is because they are digital and you get crystal clear sound. Some people would argue that the older Nagra film sound recorders are better because they offer a more organic quality of sound. But we beg to differ. Digital sound offers less hassle because of portability and ease of use. Besides you can record on Dat tapes more times before your level of quality drops signifigantly. Dat tapes tend to be from $8 to $15 depending on length. Complete with taxes, you can purchase a 2 hour tape for $15 dollars Canadian. The major problem you may have with portable Dat recorders is the price. They cost a bit to rent. I've seen them for about $25-50 dollars for rent. But you can buy a good used one from about $300 to $500 dollars Canadian. They take professional quality XLR microphones, so look into these if you're serious about sound for your films. " Diamond Rio and MP3 Recorders : With the recent advent of the Germen based MP3 file format there have been many new portable MP3 recorders. These are great because you can use them time and time again with no audio tapes. You can dump your daily audio recordings onto a computer and filter/edit it anyway you want. These are great because you can get them for around $200 dollars and up. The major drawback is that recording time is short. You get about 1 hour of record time before the memory card is full. You can purchase additional memory cards but that costs even more money. Make sure you have a computer near you to dump your audio onto. If you're shooting more then 1 or 2 hours of super 8 film per day don't bother with these. Their sound quality is also not as great as 16-bit CD quality. But you have to be a professional sound recordist to truly appreciate the difference between the two formats. The reason the sound is a little worse is because of lossy compression. The sound is compressed and uncompressed to be replayed. Overall, these little recorders work great but they can't take standard XLR cables and we've seen very few of them with a line in jack. We don't recommend these recorders/players fully until they become more standardized. " MICROPHONES :You definately need a mic mounted on a boom pole if you plan to do dialogue in your super 8 films. This will give you the clearest sound. The type of microphone you use is up to you.

DEATH OF SUPER 8: There's been a debate in recent years to see if Kodak would actually cancel making stock for the super 8 format. Well there is a rumor going around that says there's only a supply of film left for two to three years. But this is only a rumor as far as we are concerned. However, if the film is discontinued completely, many low-budget independent film-makers may have to go the awful cold format of video. I don't have a problem with video being used for news but if we lose film then we lose one hundred years of tradition.