16mm OR Super 8 : Which is right for you? 

Me watching at 360p on my mobile phone: "hmm yes, this 2K footage is simply not going to cut it. we need more resolution"

My best friend and his brothers made a cool super-8 movie in the 70s. They sat on the ground and held invisible steering wheels. They would shoot a few frames, scoot ahead a couple feet, and shoot a few frames. Repeating this process, they made a whole race with imaginary race cars. When you see something like that while you are in grade school, it's pure magic.

I definitely love it when an old sitcom is shot on 16mm. Rescanned for modern TVs, they look so much better, that it’s kind of hard to believe they were shot in the 80’s or 90’s.

Dude, this is one of your best videos ever! Feels like you found your style and cadence. Fast paced suits you well! Bravo!

I shot with Super 8 for the first and only time last year while on vacation. It was so fun just to hear the sound of the camera in motion and loved the imperfect results I got back from the lab. I just wish it weren't so prohibitively expensive to get into and I feel bad for my camera that sits in a drawer :(

Thanks Caleb for yet another very informative video!

Nice vid Caleb! I picked up a Minolta XL-400 last year and my wife uses it more than I do, hah. It gives our travel home movies that warm dream like feel. Definitely going to use The Negative Space next time for developing too. Love your channel dude!

Thank you so much for mentioning negative space! That’s the best price I’ve seen in a while, I will definitely use them for next time I send some film out!

Love your motion picture stuff.

Very cool. Love the vintage look of film like this.

Thanks for making this and sharing

I shoot stills and have no intention of shooting motion pictures, but this was very informative and well done. Thank you.

Just as I was looking into this, you decide to post a video, perfect timing!

the caleb upload came out first today, a unexpected but welcome surprise

Film photography project does sell fresh double 8 (regular 8)and double perf 16mm. Both in the kodak stocks and some cool weird stocks.

A bit of feedback. I have a background in (off-on line editing) moved on to non-linear digital editing at the dawn of this transition. We had the first generation of Sony mini DV and DV cameras,. We obviously had pro tool software and hardware to process (AVID). For one of my directors I took his old super 8 films and projected them and used the digital cameras to feed through to the Hard drives. This can achieve very good results and was at the time pretty much how the pro tele-cine xfer companies processed 16 and 35mm prints (but they had a very expensive machine for this). I can only imagine this has gotten easier. Film to digital tape grading used to be done the same way. Basically the film print would get a "one light pass" given a timecode get transferred to tape, we would edit that, the EDL (edit decision list) would get sent to the Tele-cine operators and we would then grade the xfer of the final cut to be used in the post production edit., usually commercials shot on super 16. This was the most efficient way to control film. Probably still done the same but more emphasis on digital light/contrast/saturation manipulation.

Vids have definitely gotten better and better! Meant as a compliment for sure 😊

Great vid! Wasn’t aware that they were so close in cost to operate! And since I’m a masochist and enjoy having no money, I think you swayed me!

Thanks Caleb! That was a fun comparison! I want a K3 so bad but no good reason to have one :P I was curious, have you ever tried to make a projection print (either a daily or a fully edited ready to go one)? I would imagine that's $$ but I did notice Cinelab will do basic ones on 16mm which had me leaning that way next time I have a movie film itch. Related aside, are any of your movies available from distributors (for public showings)?

loved this video your humor is hilarious!

Great video… I want to learn more about the cigar portion of photography😊

Can you do an update of this video and nerd out about the other formats? like ultra 16, 35 and double 8.

I'd really like to see more about motion picture film and get into it myself, but for now I have to settle for log footage shot on a mirrorless camera through vintage glass

First of, I really enjoyed the motion design (coupled with that lovely sound design too) of this episode ! That was really neat! But most of all, I will not tolerate any Eclair slander 😤

I really like the look they got for Red Rocket filming 16mm with anamorphic lenses.

First off, great hair. Second, thank you for this. I’m going to get into Super 8 soon and I’m glad to hear your viewpoint on it.

I have been thinking about doing this for a while, will likely cost me a house worth of money, sure my partner will be particularly pleased. Also --this video is really beautifully shot and produced, great video!

When I decided to get into filming, everyone that I knew went for the middle of the road point and shoot cameras a round $100. Me, oh no. I had to get the best one. The Bolex S155 model around $350 to $400. I like the fact that you had to adjust everything, well almost everything by hand. Besides, you do so much more with this camera. Focus disolves, swipes, even write on a piece of clear plastic for signs to focus thru. Several things that bothered me was the fact that you had to use external light indoors or at night. The other was the fact that the cartridge only lasted about 3 min's. So you had to bring a bunch of them. The last thing was no sound. I tried to matchup the sound with a recorder but it just got too crazy. Then along came video tape. I went with Beta. A "portable" system was VERY cumbersome. All of the stuff had to bring along was worth it at the end. Not only did you get play back right away but sound with it. Still a little light insenstative.

Love this video!!! I just have one question. Where do you get your super 8 film scanned and developed for 40 bucks?

You should check out the movie Tigerland. It was fully shot on 16mm film. Great military flick too.

The Arri-S is a totally professional camera - it just happens to use 100' rolls and is intended for MOS (no lipsync sound). Some Arri-S's even accept 400' mags. You also left out my favorite camera the CP-16 and my least favorite, the Scoopic!

Does the lab use any print film to develop the footages? Or the footage came out as film log?

WHOA. I like this! Been wanting to shoot some Super 8. I have also been eyeing the Lomography Kino to just mess around a bit with some 35mm. Pitch Black joke was solid tbh HA... 5:56 Baxters Dad for anyone reading this. I just sent some film to Midwest myself, being localish and solid scans! 6k scans were crispy!

GrrrRRRrrreeEEAT video as always man! I friend gave me a gorgeous fully manual old Russian 8mm (not S8) camera last year and I've been dying to try it out... but it's nearly impossible to find film for it and the cost of dev+scan etc is just sad. Which makes me sad. Which makes the internet sad when I spread my sadness. Anyhoo, I also have a Super 8 camera that I got from my granddad, so maybe I should give that a go instead. Thanks for the inspo-boost, I needed that! Cheers

What color Color correction process do you use for super 8

Loved Pitch Black !!!

A year ago I found a deal for a super 8 camera, projector and the white screen thingy (Lerret in native language) $70-80. Restocking chems and buying b&w film for super 8 is around the same ball park. Don't have film for it and chems nor that special soviet tank but all of it works (camera motor spins shutter works) but projector lens sadly has fungus that effects the picture (it looks like someone left like a strand of sewing string on the lens but havent tested sharpness cuz I dont have anything to project.) One of these days I have to bite the bullet and test it fully. Anyway, how's that natura 1600 going along?

Fantastic!

Hi Bad Flashes, I like the 8/16/33 mm look. But is there cheap alternative? Getting the footage developed and digitized is hardly affordable if you want to shoot a full length analog film (and dont want to use pseudo-analog digital filter.)

recently just paid $430 for a canon xl on ebay from japan it runs perfectly and i’ve shot 2 rolls can’t wait to get ‘em developed!

I have both and I like both but I do more Super 8 and Black and White footage due to my budget. I splurged on a REX 5 Bolex and had it repaired and I love it! would you say the REX5 is Prosumer Or the Arriflex? I’m interested in the Eclair NPR or because so many indie films in the 70s were shot on those. BUT the thing is I’m not ready to spend another 3 grand plus on a camera for a good while. As for Super 8, I think I’m ready to buy a Canon 1014 XLS model once my tax return comes.

Bolex is such a good camera... I used to have an Eclair and an Aaton. I couldn't see any benefit of these over the Bolex. The Bolex (no registration pin) has no more weave and chatter than in the Aaton.

Haven't even seen the whole video, but I LOVE AATON 16mm Cameras so much, I dream of playing with one.

Appreciate the breakdown. And then there’s Oppenheimer.

What’s going with the edit of the video- looks great. Don’t know if all your videos look like this or what. Is this shot on vintage glass or just a really cool preset?

The one confusing thing about S8 on some cameras is the Tungsten/Daylight settings. Very unintuitive on some.

Great breakdown, I remember you mentioning super 16 exposes more than 16mm And ultra can crop into both of those format. Would ultra be ideal if u would still like that extra exposure from super 16 since I can crop in when developing? Also , a PL mount ? more user friendly since I would have the ability to use a variety of lenses im assuming. Ultra-16 doesn't have the centring problem and has a more cinematic aspect ratio. However, this comes at the cost of more grain since you'll not be using the entire height of the frame Ultra 16 to avoid centering problem but develop as super 16? Is my final question

You didn't mention the MAX-8 format: An 8mm format that uses the same principle of the Super-16 format to make a wider aspect ration, with a standart Super-8 films. The problem is you have to buy or rent specified cameras made by Pro 8mm company with a special wider gate modified for this format, and that is much more expensive than buying a regular used Super-8 camera.

Awesome video

our guy!

i read that there was aerochrome in 16mm but most likely if you do find it it’ll probably be over 5k for it

@0:21 Is... Is that the ClownC0re van?

I have no interest in moving pictures on film. Nice post, enjoyed it!

I so want to shoot Super 16 ... Which reminds me I'm going to be shooting some stuff with my Beaulieu R16 soon ... :)

I’m thinking you need to do a in depth 16mm video for us camera nerds

Yes! Please talk to Sony about that shutter angle thing cuz they consistently add to fail it to their supposedly hybrid cameras.

owning an aaton is a dream of mine

funny, I ran across a super 8 camera (which I sadly forgot to go back for) and researched how to shoot it and came across Grainydays then you

Niagara Custom Labs in Toronto are the best in the game for developping and scanning super8 film

You don't mention Beaulieu cameras for Super8. They have the best lenses out there, and a ton of features. I know a lot of them have unique batteries, but you can get them replaced fairly simply, even if they aren't all that cheap.

Bro I still can't get over you like Andor

Nolan shot his first movie with 16mm and $6000. Movie is titled Following

I'd say go for 16mm. It's much higher quality for not that much more money. It's a $15 difference between buying a 50ft roll of Super 8 and a 100ft roll of 16mm. Not to mention more versatility.

After watching Oppenheimer... The only the way to go is70mm! As well as with 50 and 80 T1.4 lenses. Nothing else will suffice! Can you imagine shooting negatives the size of a Pentax 67 with 1.4 aperture lenses?

since I'm broke and can't afford either I just experiment with emulation 16mm with my dslr 🤣but I do enjoy shooting regular 35mm film but eventually I want to try super 8

The NPR Eclair is a far better camera. Easier to use, easier to load. This is what the BBC, Granada, Thames, LWT and so many many other television companies use them for news and film.

My pedantic ass would also like to add that double 8 cameras are cheap (for the most part) and if you want more manual control or don’t want to deal with batteries they’re a good option. I like the results I’ve had with double 8 a little better than super8, actually. Got a Bolex double 8 with two lenses for $65 in great condition and FPP has a solid amount of options as far as film goes(they also sell double perf 16mm too in case someone needs it). The downfall is a lot of double 8 cameras are non reflex (like 16mm Bolexes). I just bought a canon double 8 reflex though and am pumped to use it. Nothing quite like the instant nostalgia of motion picture film. Great video as always, but just wanted to add these for people that might not be able to spring for the more expensive options so that they can spend the money on film and processing. I typically only shoot like twice a year and it’s worth it, but as ya mentioned it burns a hole in your wallet faster than still film.

I started shooting 8mm again recently and then I was like yeah.... You know what? It works out at about $150 per 50ft on the cheap for develop/process/scan. Don't get me wrong its a bast, but modern costs are kinda outlandish considering, 50ft is 2:30minutes if you actually want to shoot it at 24fps. Then I was like, if I want low cost highly compressed footage, why don't I use my phone? I mean, an iPhone with a VND, and a fairly basic rig is good, but then you don't get the colours or the look.

It’s too bad super 8 doesn’t come on a reel anymore because I still have a key wound Bolex that I shot a lot of stop motion animation waaaay back in HS

16mm just makes me melt

where's the double 8 love 😩

I haven't won the lottery so no shooting video on film for me.

Would you watch a hour long film shot on super 8? Or would you rather watch a 16mm film

The BOLEX 160 is the only great 24fps Super 8 camera the company ever made and the only one that will last with their name on it, but be careful of two things: 1) the battery compartment clips are fragile and if they break are hard to fix and 2) if batteries have leaked while in the camera, it will ruin the motor in the vast majority of the cases. Otherwise, a great camera. All later models were made by Eumig and tend to break and stay broken. The ECLAIR 16mm cameras are great and you can get some great, cheap 16mm cameras (Stewart Warner, Keystone, CinClox, Bell & Howell) starting at about $30.00 and they perform better than you'd think, even if many/most are 100-ft spools and often only double perf, which is why you may have excluded them. The KEYSTONE NEWPORT does both 16mm perf formats, as does the BELL & HOWELL 240EE, a favorite of Orson Wells. Skip 16mm cartridge cameras, of course.

both because im crazy

I’m baby I’ve never shot motion were do I begin I have a Canon ??? Oh yes Auto Zoom 814 oh yes Photographer since HS 1973 😊

Or you could shoot 8FPS 35mm Full frame on a Nikon F5!

the real question is how do you develop super 8 or 16mm film at home

I prefer 120mm 😤

Unfortunately, none 😢

It costs 200'000 dollars to shoot this camera for 12 seconds

Its me, im the dumb dumb mass public ppl :)

this is the most millennial coded person I have ever witnessed

You are 35mm guy….

Too many jokes.....

Do you have ADHD too ♥

26K baby!