What if I just want to play 8mm and Super 8 movies?

[stephen]

All the web links I see tend to be about converting the movies to digital format. What if I just wanted to get a projector and play them as is? Any tips, anything I need to be especially careful with playing old film?

[cbelt3]

You can usually pick up a projector at a thrift store. I saw two 8mm projectors at my Goodwill last week. Beyond that, you're dealing with degredation of the film and projectors, and that's a whole different issue. Prepare to become obsessed with cleaning film, maintaining old mechanical works, renewing old rubber parts, and carefully handling projector bulbs.

[DP]

And melting film if something gets stuck!

[Uncle Wig]

There are lots of good 8mm projectors available. I believe there are some that will run both Super 8 and Standard 8 (aka regular 8).

A very good projector to look for is a Bolex 18-5: http://www.bolexcollector.com/projectors/185.html I have one of these and it works very well.

If you plan on showing film, as Cbelt says, it becomes something of a hobby. Projectors need lubrication especially. Film breakage is a definite possibility. On regular 8, rolls often come apart where they were spliced together at the lab. (Regular 8 is actually 16mm film stock that was run through the camera twice, exposing half of the film in each pass. It was slit down the middle and spliced together during processing.) You'll want to invest in a film splicing setup. Some use tape, some use a solvent cement. These are also easily gotten for cheap. I've never melted a film; I wouldn't worry to much about that.

Do you have a lot of home movies?

[mikebw]

If you're going to the trouble of projecting, you might as well point an iPhone at the wall just to have some kind of a digital version that could be saved and shared more easily.

[stephen]

My dad left dozens from the 1960s and 70s. I have converted a few with Vietnam footage but there are many other vacation videos, etc.

My intent is to screen once or twice - to entertain family and to assess which ones should be converted to digital.

[Uncle Wig]

stephen wrote:
My dad left dozens from the 1960s and 70s. I have converted a few with Vietnam footage but there are many other vacation videos, etc.

My intent is to screen once or twice - to entertain family and to assess which ones should be converted to digital.

It's worth doing as an end in itself. Not necessarily instead of digitizing of course. Projectors are fun. Are these Kodachrome, do you know? Most likely.

[NewtonMP2100]

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