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Home > 8mm Film > Super 8mm Film

Super 8 Film History

Released by Kodak in 1965, super8 film was a modification of regular 8mm film. 8mm film had enjoyed immense popularity for over 30 years. Manufacturers were interested in retaining both the spirit and the low cost of 8mm, while improving it's quality. Super8 film (often spelled super-8, super 8 film or super 8mm film) proved to be an improvement over it's predecessor in two key ways.

First was the introduction of the Kodak super8 film cartridge. The film itself was contained inside a black plastic cartridge making it far more easy to load. In addition to it's ease of use it also removed the danger of getting light on the undeveloped film.

Another improvement was to the film itself. While keeping the width of the film identical, the sprocket holes were reduced in size on super 8 film. This allowed for over a 25% increase in visible frame size compared to regular 8. Following in Kodak's footsteps, Fujifilm also released an improvement over regular 8 in 1966. Fuji's film, called single8, was very similar to Super 8mm film. The main difference was that it was housed in a better cartridge. Fuji's design allowed for easier rewinding which allowed the film maker greater freedom with in-camera effects. Single8 film was identical in dimension to super8, which meant that after processing, single8 film could be viewed on the same projectors as super8. Of course it is important to note that an 8mm projector could not project super8 film. This was resolved by the introduction of the dual 8 projector which served as an 8mm projector or super8 projector with two sets of sprockets and film gates included on a single projector.

Another important development was the addition of sound to super8 in 1973. These new developments allowed Super8 to enjoy much of the same popularity that regular 8mm film had. In fact super8 was the single most popular format for home movie making. It wasn't until the mid 80's when camcorders began to take the market away from film. Today super8 is still used, although not nearly as widely as it was in the 1970's.. There are numerous super8 clubs that continue to shoot on super8 film. Most have forums that discuss aspects of film making. Some have even written petitions to companies to express their desire to keep super8 film alive. For a list of clubs and other resources visit our resources page.

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