What can you tell me about my Kodak Brownie?

December 28, 2007 2:55 PM

Total novice ahead! What do I do with this Kodak Brownie 8mm?

I've searched online and I've found out that I'm holding a Brownie 8mm II (Turret Model). I understand very little about old cameras and film type and all the pages and boards I've found jump straight to talking in acronyms and numbers, which all make my head spin a little.

So, what film do I use? Where do I get it developed? What do all these switches and buttons and wheels do?

Any and all help or links to pages that talk to me like I'm an idiot are welcome.

posted by nadawi to media & arts (10 comments total)

Google
posted by rhizome at 3:01 PM on December 28, 2007

rhizome: thanks for showing me this wonderful new invention, what do you call it, google?

as you can see from the first 10 links or so people are asking/talking about a variety of things and sort of talking over themselves in a way that gets confusing. I can see how someone who has the slimmest knowledge of what's being discussed can discern what's happening in all those links, but as i pointed out a few times in my question - that person isn't me.
posted by nadawi at 3:06 PM on December 28, 2007

I believe you want some sort of film like this. I'm not really sure where you can it developed nowadays. You'll probably have to send it out to a lab you find online.
posted by backseatpilot at 3:22 PM on December 28, 2007

8mm developing
Misc. 8mm resources
Purchase 8mm film
How to use a Brownie Turret
posted by rhizome at 3:44 PM on December 28, 2007

P.S. I had never heard of a Brownie Turret before your question was posted, so consider me to have less than the slimmest knowledge of what's being discussed.
posted by rhizome at 3:46 PM on December 28, 2007

You'll probably find 8mm film and developing hard to find and expensive. My dad had that camera, or one closely related, which was used for all our old home movies.. You don't want super-8 film, it won't work in that camera. It's spring driven. You wind it up and then press the button to shoot. I believe exposure is handled by a photocell. Film came in 50-foot rolls which needed to be flipped over after the first half was exposed.
posted by DarkForest at 4:51 PM on December 28, 2007

Well, for starters, this is an 8mm movie camera. It's important to distinguish the plain-old 8mm format from the different, incompatible "Super 8" format. Sometimes it's called "standard 8", "double 8", or "double run 8". It's actually 16mm wide; the 'double' comes from the fact that you actually expose the film twice, once in each direction, exposing one side and then the other. During processing, the film is slit down the middle and then spliced together.

It's perhaps telling that this format was developed during the Depression: it's stingy of materials but labor-intensive, relative to Super 8 or 16mm, because of the slit-and-splice step. I suspect Rocky Mountain Color is going to be one of the only places that does development ... although there may still be a few others, particularly in LA and NYC. (Depending on whether any film-school kids still use it, but Super 8 seems to be far more popular for amateur cinematographic use.)

The 8mmfilmstock.com place suggested by rhizome is selling "Cinechrome 40" color reversal film in 8mm double for $225 for 10 rolls, and claims that you can get it processed at Walmart if you write "Kodachrome K-14 movie film" very explicitly on the envelope. If that's true, it's pretty fantastic -- almost unbelievably so. I'd try it out with some test rolls before you send in anything you care about...

The other thing to think about is how you're going to project the finished product. I'm not sure whether Double 8 will project in a Super 8 projector, but you might want to see about finding a projector before you spend a couple of bills on film.

The other thing that would concern me would be loading. I'm not familiar enough with the model to know whether it was one of the cartridge or spool-loading ones. I think it's one of the spool ones (which is good -- finding a Double 8 cartridge is going to be hard/impossible now), but I'm not sure. You may end up having to sacrifice a few feet of unexposed, unslit film stock in order to learn how to thread the spool, which you may have to do in a blackout bag or in total darkness.

Anyway, I think it's definitely possible to use the camera, if you want to. But you need to think about what you want to get out of it.
posted by Kadin2048 at 5:38 PM on December 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Oh, and after a little more searching, I found a site that has some internal photos of (what I think is) the camera in question. Definitely spool loaded.
posted by Kadin2048 at 5:58 PM on December 28, 2007

Like Kadin said, 8mm film is basically 16mm film that has been slit down the middle, and with twice the number of sprocket holes. You get the film in small containers (I think about 3 minutes per side), put the 8mm cartridge in, film your movie, then take the cartridge out again in a dark room, flip it, and put it back in for the next go on the other side. The lab then processes it, slits it down the middle and there you go. Another difference is Super 8 film also has a larger frame, and smaller sprocket holes. backseatpilot's link is to Super 8mm film, by the way. Definitely would not work with your camera.

And, while there were *many* dual-8 (able to project both super and standard 8mm film) projectors produced, if the model you find doesn't explicitly say "Dual 8" or something to that effect, 8mm projectors, will not project both super- and standard-8mm film, and vice-versa.

This site may be of help when you know where you'd like to go film-making wise.

Another thing (someone correct me if I'm wrong) - I'm pretty sure Kodachrome processing is only available from Dwayne's in Kansas, as Kodak no longer produces the stock (where it would go if you were to give it to your local Walmart) - [I've heard *great* things about Dwayne's quality of work, by the way!].

Hope this helps. 8mm is a very beautiful and under-appreciated medium. Good luck!
posted by ethel at 1:55 AM on December 29, 2007

meant to say - ...8mm projectors, will not project Super 8mm film, and vice-versa.
posted by ethel at 1:59 AM on December 29, 2007