Cine Film Types

There are 4 main types of common cine film, 95% of the public will own one or more of these types. These are: Standard 8, Super 8, 16 mm and 9.5 mm

8 mm, Standard 8 or Regular 8, also Single 8

The standard 8 mm film format was developed by the Eastman Kodak company during the Great Depression and released on the market in 1932 to create a home movie format that was less expensive than 16 mm. About 40% of the film we receive is Standard 8 usually dating from 1945 to 1980. The picture quality is not as good as the later Super 8. Here is a picture of some standard 8 film and it’s reel. The spindle hole on the reel is smaller than the Super 8 film.

8 mm, Super 8

Super 8 mm film, also simply called Super 8 was released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older standard 8 mm format. Super 8 makes up the remaining 60% of the 8 mm film we transfer, typically dating from 1967 to 1985, but it is still in use today..

The film is 8 mm wide, exactly the same as the older standard 8 mm film, and also has perforations on only one side. However, the dimensions of the perforations are smaller than those on older 8 mm film, which allowed the exposed area to be made larger. The Super-8 standard also specifically allocates the rebate opposite the perforations for an oxide stripe upon which sound can be magnetically recorded. The pictures here show the 3 inch reel which is very similar to the standard 8 reel but notice the larger spindle hole. The upper picture is Super 8 without the sound stripe and the lower picture shows the sound stripe enhanced yellow for clarity, it normally looks copper coloured.

16 mm Cine

16 mm cine film was introduced as early as 1923 by Eastman Kodak as an alternative to the expensive professional 35 mm film of the time. By the 1930s the addition of an optical sound track boosted the sales of 16 mm cine film and it found it’s way into the professional market place due to it’s high quality image and sound. Much use was made of this format during world war II. The reel on the right is a 4 inch 100 foot 16 mm reel, the spindle hole has a single keyway. The photos of the film on the left show, top double perforation silent film and bottom, single perforation with optical sound track. There was also a magnetic oxide sound track available in later years. At Timeless Moments we are one of the few companies in the world able to transfer both optical and magnetic sound for 16 mm cine film.

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