HelPeR - BYU Idaho Special Collections and Family History

O i a K a r me m c e oo
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filmmakers and television shows, such as Sex in the
City and Malcolm in the Middle, but the film type had
many detractions for the non-professional user.
16mm cameras were bulky, heavy, expensive,
and frequently required a tripod for usable footage.
Kodak realized that a simple film and camera
would alleviate many of the technical aspects of
16mm production. As a result, the company developed
the 8mm by splitting a standard 16mm film in
half. They then introduced the boxy art deco Kodak
Cine clockwork camera.
8mm, now known as straight 8 or regular 8, debuted
in 1935 and ushered in the epoch of the home motion
picture by drastically reducing the size of the camera
into a truly hand held object. Kodak slashed user costs
because the new smaller format required 75% percent
less film than 16mm. The company continued its innovations
and in 1936 introduced Kodachrome stock,
which allowed color motion photography. For nearty
30 years regular 8 dominated the scene, until its reign
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was shattered in 1965 by the introduction of Super 8,
a beefed up derivative of the straight 8.
Super 8 reduced the size of the 8mm sprocket holes
cutting user film costs by maximizing the usable size
of the film. The new format was incredibly popular.
Over 100,000 cameras were sold to U.S. servicemen
in Vietnam alone. These, new, spiffy high-tech cameras
incorporated many features like light meters and
magnetic sound printing. To facilitate easy loading,
a new quick-load plastic magazine was also introduced,
but film’s days were numbered.
Despite the great developmental strides made by
Super 8, film remained a complicated medium. Exposures,
apertures, and editing were difficult matters
that befuddled the average user. The introduction
of video camcorders in the 1980s addressed these
problems by greatly simplifying photography, but
there were many unforeseen pitfalls.
The great advantage film has over videotapes,
whether it is 16mm, 8mm, or Super 8, is archival
Ja n ua ry/Fe b r u a r y 2009 Ev e r t o n’s Ge n e a l o g i c a l He l p e r © 25