soft super8 look?

[jean]

Scot's started a thread some days ago, where he asked if anyone could tell which stills are from film, and which from video. In the responses, most people agreed that the soft focus, together with grain, make the typical super8 look.

Hmm, having a look at my super8 films, the first thing i noticed that actually nothing in the image was really sharp. Together with some kind of "breathing" focus and an unsteady image, this is what remember as to be super8 since i first saw it in the 70s.

What's the reason for the soft focus? Considering depth of field, it should be hardly possible to have anything out of focus in super8. Is there a difference between a high-end camera like the beaulieus, and the cheaper consumer cameras, like the bauer i'm using - or is the soft focus inherent to the small format?

Just curious!

jean

[mattias]

Hmm, having a look at my super8 films, the first thing i noticed that actually nothing in the image was really sharp.

really? was this a video transfer? my experience is that the projected original is almost always sharp, while only the higher end ranks can reproduce this on video. some low end cameras aren't very good at registering the fim in the gate though, which can cause focus breathing, but those should simply be consider broken...

Is there a difference between a high-end camera like the beaulieus, and the cheaper consumer cameras, like the bauer i'm using?

yes, the higher end cameras (lenses really) provide better focus and create a sharper image, but the video transfer is still the biggest "problem".

/matt

[jean]

i confess, that's the answer I was hoping for Indeed, up to now I only used fleamarket S8 gear in the 15 euro pricerange, and probably never saw a film done with a decent camera. Good cameras were very expensive in the 70's, I guess! Well, now I'm having a 4008 in my hands, ready to be sent in for a cla. I'm very anxious to see the first results!

thanks,

jean