My boyfriend wants a super-8 camera. what do I need to know before i buy one?

Question

I don't know anything about cameras really so I'm out of my depth! would be happy to buy online but what do I need to look for when choosing one and what is a reasonable price? help!

Answer 1

I thought super 8 was a thing of the past it is a camera that takes film that has to be developed in a photo lab ~~

Answer 2

Tell him to shoot his movie on high def digital. Super 8 is dead. Yeah I'm sure people still using it, but dealing with buying film and then processing it, forget about it.

Better yet, if you really love him go here

http://www.red.com

Get him the 3k scarlet when it comes out, or heck, get the 4k if you feel like spending  a ton of dough. The 3k scarlet will blow away super 8, but it's 3 grand.

Answer 3

If you want a more serious camera you can buy new russian ones from the widescreen centre in London, but they are pricey.

There are loads on ebay, if you want something with a bit of control but nice & compact, go for a Canon, I have a 518SV, cost me very little, works well enough (CLARIFY THIS WITH THE VENDOR, do not buy 'selling for a friend' 'dead relative' 'as seen, don;t know much about them' etc)  there is plenty of choice.

Check if its a manual wind or battery powered, are the batterries easy to get hold of?

Is it metered or unmetered?  Does the meter work?

For the Canon 518SV, battery powered, AA's and it is metered.

Look for frame rates.  If you want to transfer to video something that supports 24 fps is good (they range 18, 24, 36)

Don't count on recording sound, even if the camera has a mic, nobody makes super8 sound film any more, your films will be mute unless you record the audio on a seperate device (mark the audio and synch before editing)

The enthusiast scene is alive and well.  Kodak still produce a range of films, colour and black and white and at different speeds.

It can be an expensive hobby, on top of the film you have processing costs, telecine costs, be picky, if its a fad buy something used and cheap to get a taste.