By Andrew Liszewski
While it’s not 100% guaranteed it seems that Swedish manufacturer Ikonoskop is planning to revive the Super 8mm film format… well kind of. Since Super 8 film is not eactly in abundant supply these days the company plans to produce a Super 8 version of their already popular A-Cam SP-16 Super 16 camera.
The new 8mm version which will be called the A-Cam DS8 will have the same features as the 16mm model including swappable C-mount lenses, a parallel viewfinder and a 100 ft. film cartridge. However the DS8 (which stands for Double Super 8 ) will be a hybrid format that uses 16mm film to produce 8mm sized frames by only exposing one half of the film strip at a time. When the 100 ft. are up you simply flip the reels and expose the other side of the film which has an added advantage of giving you 10 minutes of shooting per reel compared to only 2 minutes and 46 seconds with a standard 16mm camera.
At the moment Ikonoskop is waiting for orders of at least 25 units (requiring a deposit of about $1,300) before production becomes financially feasible but if things work out the cameras would eventually become available for about $6,800.
In the same way the Lomo film camera has recently become quite popular amongst photographers who still make their living with digital SLRs I can see the Super 8 format enjoying a similar renaissance even in this age of digital cinema.
[ Ikonoscope A-Cam SP-16 (DS8 not listed on site yet) ] VIA [ Retro Thing ]
