[Leica] Old movies

[Robert Meier]

Didn’t Kodak just introduce a new Super-8 camera and film and processing for it?


> On Mar 6, 2016, at 7:23 PM, Jim Shulman <jshulman at judgecrater.com> wrote:
> 
> Under ideal conditions with vintage Kodachrome, 8mm movies can be really
> terrific.  The transfer quality also has some major bearing--many conversion
> services just aim a video camera at the screen as the film is projected.
> 
> I agree wholeheartedly about the magic of old 8mm movies.  A few years ago
> my father's best friend found a ten-minute film shot during a business
> conference in 1958, when my parents had been married for four months.  A
> frame from that film, showing my mother lounging by the pool with white
> sunglasses and ruby red lipstick, is now my cell phone screen image.
> 
> The Bolex D8-LA is my all-time favorite Bolex camera.  Small, precise, with
> the ability to do fades and lap dissolves.  It also had a behind the lens
> selenium meter with a match-needle system, which was far better than most of
> the competition, which used crummy adaptor lenses over a fixed-focus lens
> with a two-blade aperture.  Bolex only did things first class.  I use mine
> from time to time, most recently this past Summer, and get great results.
> Unfortunately, these days Double 8 is only available in black and white, and
> costs about $40-50 for the film plus processing.
> 
> Incidentally, the D8-LA was introduced in 1961, superseding the 1959 D-8L
> (which had a different meter design, no backwind capability, and lacked the
> built-in 5.5mm lens mask).  In 1954 you could have purchased a C-8 (single
> lens) or B-8 (twin lens) camera.  They were the same body size as the later
> D8-LA, but lacked a meter and the variable shutter.
> 
> Best,
> Jim
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: LUG [mailto:lug-bounces+jshulman=judgecrater.com at leica-users.org] On
> Behalf Of Larry Zeitlin via LUG
> Sent: Sunday, March 6, 2016 6:54 PM
> To: lug at leica-users.org
> Subject: [Leica] Old movies
> 
> In 1954, just about the time I bought my first M series Leica, I also bought
> a Bolex D8-LA 8mm movie camera. If any camera could match the Leica in
> precision, it was the little Bolex. My wife and I got married at about the
> same time. While I used the Leica for serious work, I filmed our travels,
> our children, our hobbies, and our misadventures with the Bolex. After we
> viewed the short films a few times I spliced them to the end of a long roll
> and put them in a closet. Recently I bit the bullet and had 2400 feet of 8
> mm film transferred to video discs. Last summer my wife suffered a mild
> stroke that affected her walking ability. This was a serious blow for a
> lifelong dancer and skier. As therapy she walks on a treadmill for an hour
> each day. To keep her from going batty I put some of the old movie discs on
> a TV set visible from the treadmill. And, of course, I watch them with her.
> 
> I’ve got to say that old movies are magic. While it is nice to look at
> vintage still pictures, nothing beats seeing images move, laugh and play.
> Compared with modern videos, old 8 mm films are grainy and have low
> definition. They are only 4.5 mm wide images on aged film. Colors have faded
> and autofocus and auto exposure was a dream of the futire. But the pictures
> move. It’s almost like being there.
> 
> Larry Z
> 
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