Finally!

Oh, sweet mystery of life at last I've found you!

I finally was able to buy the missing battery for my Bell & Howell super 8 camera! It only took me, what, half a year to get it. I stopped by my local camera store yesterday and the guy just hands it to me off the shelf. If he only knew what I went through to get this tiny little battery! I know it would have been much simpler to just buy it online, but I can now happily say that my local camera shop worked for me.

So now I have a battery, some film stock and the camera. Hopefully it will all come together and I will have about two and a half minutes worth of test . . . keep your fingers crossed!

Dead End

Well, not quite a dead end, but I have hit a stumbling block on my road to getting my little Bell & Howell Autoload 309 up and running.

In addition to 4 AA batteries, the camera requires a battery to power the electric eye - a 1.38-volt mercury battery. Yes, MERCURY. (I guess I should have paid more attention when I first got the camera and chucked the old battery in the trash . . . oops.)


In any case, they do sell replacements for this type of battery online but, being the responsible citizen I am, I wanted to at least try to get the battery from a local establishment. Like with four walls and real people. I have been in twice and the batteries are supposedly being ordered but have not come in yet.


Maybe someday soon I will finally put the pieces together.

Checking in

Things have been busy lately, what with a work trip to Vegas, a baby shower, Easter, and a first birthday party. Now I am sick on top of all that. However, my project of getting my Bell & Howell Autoload 309 up and running is still in on-going. The husband surprised me with a single cartridge of Kodak Tri-X Reversal Film. Now we need to figure out the battery situation and see if this thing can work at all.

Super 8 Film Stock

Trying to wade through the world of super 8 film is not an easy task.  The first thing that I wanted to learn was more about film stock.  Doing some initial research I found that the reels are usually sold in 50 foot lengths.  Ok, so 50 feet, but how much is that in the finished run time?  I was talking it over with my husband and we calculated it ourselves...

50 feet means that the total length of the reel in mm is 15,240

If each frame is 4mm tall then there are 3,810 frames in the total reel

3,810 total frames @ 24 fps means each reel lasts 158 seconds or a little over 2.5 minutes

wait, that can't be right.

We recalculated it, and sure enough, we came back with the same result. I always knew that film was expensive to shoot but... WOW! $16 for 2.5 minutes. And that is just for the film itself, no processing or transferring.

Allow me a slight tangent.

We aren't used to the world of film anymore where EVERY frame is important, something to be savored.  Digital is cheap, both in expense and, if you don't mind me being a bit elitist for a second here, in quality.  I say that because with digital, now everyone everyone can be a photographer or a videographer.  Don't get me wrong, I think that this change has done many many amazing things, but there is a small part of me that loathes the digital age.

I say as I blog. Just kidding, love you computers. Don't turn against me!

In any case I think I have decided to go ahead with the project, at least as a test. Amazon is usually the first place that I look at least to compare prices while shopping, but it appears that they only sell one type, and it is black and white.  I really wanted color so I kept going.  Just by doing a search on google I came across the always dependable B&H website.  They have many different options, but I think that the one that I would like to try is the Ektachrome 100D Super 8 Silent Film (50'). It is $15.96 plus shipping per reel.  Hopefully 100 feet will be enough for a solid test!

Ektachrome 100D Super 8 Silent Film (50')

Meet my Cameras - part 1

I have never in my life used real film to make a movie, but it has always been one of those things I wanted try. Call me nostalgic if you want to, but there is something so enchanting about real film. So a couple of years ago I finally gave in to the urge and picked up this little gem at a thrift store. I had seen cameras in the past, but nothing like this. This camera came in the original case and with all the original manuals. It even came with a warranty from J.C. Penny. I just couldn't pass it by.

Then it sat in my closet for a few years.

I'm finally feeling brave enough to give it a try. So now I'm beginning to try to figure out this whole world of film making via my Bell & Howell Super 8mm camera. Stay tuned. I hope it works!