If you’re of a certain age, there’s a good chance that there’s home video of you shot on a Super 8. With the Super 8 to Digital Video Converter those priceless memories can finally be shared all across the internet.
Super 8 was the precursor to VHS so in technology terms it’s basically a dinosaur. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any more films out there captured with the technology waiting to be shared. I’m using the term film loosely here to describe home movies and childhood soirees into “serious” cinematography.
This converter takes the massive Super 8 film and runs it like a projector against a white LED giving it the best illumination possible. The converter moves frame by frame, not simply a recording of the video as it plays. The converter saves the resulting file as AVI video and which can be viewed on a Mac or PC. You can then edit or just enjoy the movies as is.
This converter is quite pricy at $1800 a pop but the ability to save childhood memories from falling to the ravages of time is priceless.
There are much cheaper ways to capture 8mm film to video, but a scanner like this will yield much better quality. There is a small renaissance of 8mm film for wedding and event video, and this would likely be a great tool.
I actually shot 8mm film for school back the the late 70’s. It was the end of an era, and I think it’s sort of a shame that (most) young people today will not know that experience.