The short answer: Frame-by-frame scanning means the film never runs: each frame is stopped, lit and captured on its own, and the images are assembled into a film afterwards at…
The short answer: Because a black-and-white image has no dyes to fade. Silver-gelatin black and white lasts a century and more with proper processing (Library of Congress). Colour is three…
The short answer: Because it was shot at 16 or 18 frames per second and is being shown at 24 or 25. Home projectors for 8mm and Super 8 ran…
The short answer: Most audio cassettes and reel tapes that reach us can be saved; identification is half the job. The cassette is a Philips invention from 1963 with 3.81…
The short answer: Digital8 and Hi8 use exactly the same cassette (95×62.5×15 mm), but the signal on it is different: Hi8 is analogue; Digital8, launched by Sony in 1999, is…
The short answer: You can learn a great deal about an unlabelled reel without running it once: the box and tin carry lab stamps and dates, and holding the film…
The short answer: Kodak introduced 16mm in 1923 as a cheaper alternative to 35mm for amateurs; only later did it become the format of schools, television, documentaries and industry. The…
The short answer: A magnetic soundtrack on Super 8 is a thin brown-to-copper stripe bonded along the edge of the film, opposite the perforations, with the sound recorded on it.…
The short answer: A regular 8mm reel of 7.5 cm holds about 4 minutes, 12.5 cm about 14, 18 cm about 28, and the largest 25 cm reel about 56…
The short answer: if the reel you found has a single sprocket hole running down the middle of the film, between one frame and the next, rather than a row…