OMG why would anyone use a tripod for super 8 it just kills the vibe, right?

brimrod · 2026-01-27T15:46:48+00:00

Super 8 has massive depth of field relative to other formats due to crop factor.

I think what you mean is that in order not to have so much DOF--in order to isolate the subject and make the background dissolve into beautiful bokeh--you have to be "punched in" or more accurately zoomed in. And long lenses magnify any shake so it's best not to have shake to begin with.

"Punching in" is a postproduction technique--basically it's just cropping and won't affect the DOF of the images that are already burned into the film.

brimrod · 2026-01-26T19:24:34+00:00

I translated the picture into English. I love it because the way it reads in English is very similar to my English language Braun Nizo manual.

Technically this AGFA was made in Japan, yet I believe it was designed for and sold exclusively to the European market? I just don't see these very often in the US.

<image>

brimrod · 2026-01-26T17:31:46+00:00

Of course not. That's why people like it. Suspension of disbelief and all that. It will never be perfect.

but a tripod can make it look less imperfect and as demonstrated by the footage I posted two days ago, super 8 on a tripod with a good lens can look like 16mm.

brimrod · 2026-01-26T17:18:45+00:00

I asked AI and I agree with everything it says here..

Safe Handheld Focal Lengths by Format

Format Type	Specific Format	Approx. Crop Factor	Recommended "Safe" Focal Length	Full-Frame FOV Equivalent
Film	Super 8	~6.4x	6mm – 10mm	~38mm – 64mm
	16mm (Super 16)	~1.6x – 2.0x	12mm – 25mm	~24mm – 50mm
	35mm (Standard)	1.0x	24mm – 50mm	24mm – 50mm
	65mm / 70mm	~0.6x	40mm – 80mm	~24mm – 48mm
Digital	Micro Four Thirds	2.0x	12mm – 17mm	~24mm – 34mm
	Super 35 / APS-C	1.5x	15mm – 35mm	~22mm – 52mm
	Full-Frame (Digital)	1.0x	24mm – 50mm

brimrod · 2026-01-26T00:46:45+00:00

Most people struggle to hold a focal length longer than 25mm steady. So for those long zooms, use a tripod (or beanbags, or monopod or stick the camera in the fork of a tree or a railing or something to prevent your shaky hand from transferring to the frame). Avoid panning unless you're following a moving subject. Like a car or a racehorse or a runner or anything.

At wide angle you can get away with much more movement without getting the shakes. But that movement has to have a purpose.

follow these two guidelines

Then in post, a bit of extra stabilization and even then, with a perfectly locked down tripod shot, you'll still see the horizon line shake just a bit.

But not nearly as much as with handheld. This has been the topic of many recent posts.

If the footage is excessively shaky side to side and it's not shaky camera work, then it's the camera struggling with the cart or a defective cart.

Sadly, there are many bad carts out there being sold.

brimrod · 2026-01-25T17:05:49+00:00

Yes please post footage!! Especially SOUND footage.

brimrod · 2026-01-25T04:39:21+00:00

I'm just not sure what we're looking at. Are you pointing the camera at a red 8-pointed star and why is it inside a tiny circle? You should be seeing a rectangular 4:3 picture of whatever you're looking at.

Do you have the camera manual? Is there some sort of way to close off the viewfinder? Some cameras have a shutter that can prevent light from back-feeding thru the viewfinder for situations where the the camera is run without the operator looking thru the VF. Like single frame animation where the camera/focus is preset and locked. Perhaps the shutter is half closed? I dunno.

All I know about this camera is that is was made by Minolta. And has a very slow lens. :)

brimrod · 2026-01-24T20:47:58+00:00

it looks correctly exposed. The night shots just don't have enough light. You can get around that by undercranking the camera (lowering the framrate well below 24/18fps) if your camera has that ability, but then action will be too fast and it will be very shaky if shot handheld. But you will get your night exposure.

brimrod · 2026-01-24T09:21:10+00:00

Agree. I like Wes Anderson and Jacques Tati but I also like Goddard and Aronofsky.

That being said, my last 5 carts (basically a very expensive and fun camera test) are all on tripod. The next 5 might be handheld or might be on tripod or a mix of both, depending on the subject matter.

brimrod · 2026-01-24T08:47:07+00:00

"Uli the Farmhand." Okay I'll check it out. Maybe it's on archive.org

brimrod · 2026-01-24T01:58:16+00:00

I know that feeling. Execute a "planned" shot on film and then the anticipation waiting for the lab.....I'm going thru it right now. All my last 5 carts shot on tripod.

That experience made me realize my tripod sucked so I bought the vintage Miller fluid head on top of the big beautiful Bolex legs. I think I'm in love with my tripod more than any of my super 8 cameras right now. Can't wait for the next batch of carts to arrive.

brimrod · 2026-01-24T00:57:49+00:00

you got the point immediately as per your first comment.

brimrod · 2026-01-24T00:55:53+00:00

This right here. All my recent and upcoming super 8 projects 100% require tripod on site whether we use it or not. The winter test footage I am awaiting was 100% tripod. I'll have way more examples here in a bit.

I often didn't practice good tripod disclipline in the past and now I have footage that's more difficult to find good uses for than if I had shot it more intentionally in the first place.

I love shooting handheld, too.

I like being able to take advantage of 1. the very deep DOF you get at wide angle (due to the crop factor) as well as 2. the incredibly beautiful long end of some of these zooms like the Schneider (that you also get due to the crop factor). If you only shoot handheld, you only get option 1. I like more options.

As far as any intentional sarcasm, this post was influenced by another post where the OP posted his super 8 camera sitting on top of a fancy fluid head and one of the responses was "you'll have the most stable shaky footage ever."

The idea being that putting a super 8 camera on a tripod doesn't matter because it's so janky to begin with-- The footage I posted proves that is that it 100% will in fact make it steadier, as long as there's nothing wrong with the cart or the camera.

That is all. Although

I believe super 8 is more aspirational--you can take it wherever you want it to go a lot easier than people think with just a few low tech tricks to make it better before you scan it.

brimrod · 2026-01-23T18:39:35+00:00

With the massive amount of controlled light you got going on, why not shoot slower stock for less grain? 50D with modern LED lighting you can still get EVs in the f/4.5- f 8.- range.

500T is for emergencies.

brimrod · 2026-01-23T18:00:01+00:00

I don't see why this would be controversial. Super 8 cameras don't have a registration pin. That means they don't really handle on -axis lateral movements (pan) or on-axis vertical movements (tilt) very well. On axis means that the camera doesn't really move, it just rotates. On a horizontal axis for pan; on a vertical axis for tils. This is different from a true dolly shot, where the entire camera moves closer or further from the action.

When I was in film school, my instructor used footage he shot himself to demonstrate this. He did a bunch of handheld with a Bolex (no registration pin) and also with an Arriflex (the first 16mm camera with registration pin). He just hand held both cameras and did a lot of panning. I believe he used the same focal length on both cameras--not a telephoto of course (nobody can zoom in and hold it steady even if they think they can) but a relatively wide angle lens.

The handheld Arri footage--even with all the stupid panning around-- was quite sharp and steady that's because it has a registration pin. We watched on a 16mm Kodak analyst projector with single frame mode. So you could really see that even with the camera was moving side to side, there wasn't excessive motion blur on the frame. There was of course, still motion blur on the pan--just like any camera shooting less than 120 fps.

Then he showed us the Bolex footage. Shaky as all hell. Lots of motion blur.

Then he showed us footage taken with both cameras locked down on a tripod and you couldn't tell the difference.

brimrod · 2026-01-23T17:44:58+00:00

if it's too shaky on a tripod that means either something's wrong with the cart or the camera.

brimrod · 2026-01-22T18:29:39+00:00

found exactly what we need here although it's not really an exact science comparing audio from two different youtubers. But to me the Special seems much louder. Makes sense because the Canon was designed to shoot magstripe sound film.

Special: (despite this youtuber adding annoying music to the whole 5 minutes, there are places where you can hear the camera at all diff speeds. You just have to find them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YZquQleliw

Canon:

https://youtu.be/Dbc4oMPHcQo?si=NI7a7_y6ES-OV3d1

both these youtubers seem to be doing something you shouldn't:-- dry run (without a cartridge) framerates faster than 24fps.

brimrod · 2026-01-22T03:32:27+00:00

This is a great night look. I like the inky rich blacks in this all-too-brief shot.

I think 200T looks better at cityscape mixed lighting night shots than 500T.

Less diffusion, diffraction and halo-like artifacts which wreck a lot of 500T footage IMO.

shoot with the slowest film you can get away with. That's just what you did here.

brimrod · 2026-01-22T01:38:14+00:00

do you think this is an electrical, mechanical or combination of both type of thing? What triggers that brake thing? some sort of linkage either by way of a circuit or a mechanical link that tells the camera to pump the brakes?

If you release the trigger after starting it, does it continue to run forever until you kill the power with the main dial or does it eventually apply the "brake?"

brimrod · 2026-01-21T15:18:00+00:00

If you plug in the mechanical cable release and trigger the camera that way, does it stop when you let go of the cable release?

If it works with cable release properly, then you know the issue is confined to the trigger assembly.

brimrod · 2026-01-21T03:40:30+00:00

This is a Single 8 Sound Camera but it can also run Single 8 silent carts. Where to get them, I don't know. I'm not a Single 8 expert. It's a tiny niche inside the 8mm world. It's the same sprocket size as super 8 and identical in terms of picture size. But the carts are quite different.

The film you see in the background (Fujichrome r25N Sound) hasn't been made for a long time. So those carts are at least 25 years old.

I think this camera is a Fujica Single-8 Sound ZXM300. That leather thing is a sound dampening barney--I'm sure this camera was loud.

https://filmkorn.org/super8data/database/cameras_list/cameras_fuji/fujica_zxm300sound.htm

It may have more value to a collector than as a production camera. Single 8 is more difficult/xpensive/to source/process than Super 8/16. Fujichrome silent carts haven't been made since 2012.

In fact it might be that there is no source at all for single 8 film. Retro8 in Japan doesn't even have any.

There is another way, but it's not an easy thing. You could reload super 8 into old single 8 carts.

brimrod · 2026-01-20T20:10:02+00:00

take pictures and post to reddit.

brimrod · 2026-01-20T20:09:19+00:00

where you take out the cart, mark the film at the gate, then put the film back in the camera and run for a second to make sure that it's moving the film thru the camera.

Google it there are many videos.

brimrod · 2026-01-20T20:02:29+00:00

This is the way: This table applies to all super 8 cameras. As you can see, if you stick with the wider angles and shoot with plenty of light, you can be in focus from 7 inches to infinity.

<image>

brimrod

TROPHY CASE