double 8mm
double 8mm- special effects and filmmaking
what is the advantage of double 8mm opposed to super 8mm. can u use a super8 camera with double 8 film. and does anyone know anything about super 8 sound putting 16mm film into super 8 cartridges
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"what is the advantage of double 8mm opposed to super 8mm."
With double 8mm you expose one side of the film, then reverse the film and expose the other side. By "side" I mean the area between the center of the film and the edge. The film is 16mm wide. When the lab processes it they cut the film down the center and splice the two ends together. Thus a 100 foot shooting reel becomes 200 feet of processed film. The advantages are that you can load a 100 foot reel and shoot twice as long as super8 without reloading, plus there is some savings in cost. Also with super8 the pressure plate is part of the cartridge and is plastic. With double 8 the pressure plate is part of the camera and is metal, i.e., more substantial.
"can u use a super8 camera with double 8 film."
No! You need a double 8 camera. By the way, there are two double 8 formats: Double Super8 and Double Regular8. Only three models of Double Super 8 camera were ever marketed: the Bolex H8 (DS8 version), the Canon DS8 and the Elmo DS8. The Elmo had three backs available so you could shoot DR8, DS8 or super8 by selecting the correct back. If you buy a Bolex or a Canon be sure of what you are getting as each of these came in both DS8 and DR8 models.
"does anyone know anything about super 8 sound putting 16mm film into super 8 cartridges"
What they are actually doing is buying 35mm stock (not 16mm) from Kodak, cutting it into 8mm wide strips, perfing it for super8 and packaging it into super8 cartridges. The advantage of this is that they are able to offer emulsions (like negative stock) that Kodak is not currently marketing in super8. I suggest you look at their site at http://www.super8sound.com
For me the big disadvantage of DS8 is that negative stock is not available, although Cameras Pro has been promising to market it in the future. Also the ability to shoot longer that 2.5 minutes is of limited value if you do not need a shot that is longer than 2.5 minutes. The ability to pop out a super8 cartridge and pop in a fresh one takes a lot less time than changing or reversing the spool of the DS8 camera. Plus there is more risk of accidentally ruining your film when handling a daylight load spool.
[This message has been edited by Actor (edited 05-26-2000).]
There are also Bolex H16s that have been converted to run DS8. Almost got one a while back. Then decided to put film on hold and sell off most of my stuff and go video.
Really wish video hadn't killed the celluloid star...
Browsing thru eBay I've come across DS8 cameras made by Pathe and Zeiss. From the looks of it the Pathe may be the Elmo with another name.
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