[Jenny List] has been reverse-engineering and redesigning the Single8 home movie film cartridge for the modern age, to breathe life into abandoned cine cameras.
One of the frustrating things about working with technologies that have been with us for a while is the proliferation of standards and the way that once-popular formats can become obsolete over time. This can leave equipment effectively unusable and unloved.
There is perhaps no greater example of this than in film photography – an industry and hobby that has been with us for over 100 years and that has left many cameras orphaned once the film format they relied on was no longer available (Disc film, anyone?).
Thankfully, Hackaday’s own [Jenny List] has been working hard to bring one particular cine film format back from the dead and has just released the fourth instalment in a video series documenting the process of resurrecting the Single8 format cartridge.
Unlike Super8, which stacks the feeder and take-up reel one atop the other, Single8 adopts the traditional side-by-side approach, giving us a physically wider form-factor while using the same size of film stock (which is still available for Super8) and retaining the removable light-proof cartridge idea.
There are differing opinions on which is the “superior” format, as each has pros and cons, but what is certainly true is that Single8 cameras are readily available at very low costs because of their obsolete status.
We think it’s fascinating to see the development of Jenny’s design and the iterations that take it from being a workable FDM-printed prototype to resin-printed parts that are nearly identical to the original models, including features such as automatic ISO selection through shaped cut-outs in the cartridge shell.
Of course, once you’ve shot the film, you may need to digitize it, or maybe you’d prefer to project it with an LED upgrade to a classic projector?
Re-Inventing The Single 8 Home Movie Format
Source: Manila Flash Report
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