Is Super 8 Green Enough?
In the great green debate, most people I talk to assume that digital video is much greener than film. Recently, we were asked to make a donation to THE GOING GREEN FILM FESTIVAL www.GoingGreenFilmFest.com which is being held here in Los Angeles, and the filmmaker was telling me that the festival director wanted a spot shot on Super 8 film, but was not sure how the idea would be received. Was super 8 green enough? Simply stated, we believe that film is greener than digital video. Here are a few of our reasons, and we encourage you to please add your own to this short list as you discuss this with friends and other filmmakers!
1. All super 8 cameras are at least 30 years old. At Pro8mm we buy back cameras from people, on eBay, Craig’s list, Thrift Shops, etc. which reduces waste.
2. We rebuild the cameras in house to be modern filming tools (no out sourcing).
3. This gives the cameras new purpose as they can now shoot 16 x 9 widescreen, and can read modern film stocks due to correct notching of the cartridges and recalibration of the exposure system.
4. These cameras do not end up as “e waste”.
5. We recycle the film cartridges and the sides that we cut off when we cut down the 35mm film to make Super 8 film out of it.
6.We do silver recovery from the processing of the film which is then used in other industrial applications.
7. Our lab adheres to strict standards including quarterly testing of the water by the City of Burbank to make sure there is no run off and proper pick up and disposing of the chemicals we use in the lab.
8. The cameras can run off AA batteries, so a battery pack is optional. We also provide rechargeable nicad batteries with the cameras we sell.
9. Unlike video that requires the use external lighting equipment, Super 8 film is predominately shot with available light. The images are gorgeous, and the range of ASA’s from 50-500 are powerful to capture these images, even indoors without an external lighting source.
10. While video digital cameras are constantly changing and creating enormous amount of e-waste, Super 8 film has been using the same cartridges and cameras for over 40 years, and the cameras themselves can be repurposed repeatedly. At Pro8mm we focus on adapting modern applications and technology to the format so it remains a viable tool within the many options for image capture.
(c) Pro8mm ™ – Rhonda Vigeant 2009 www.pro8mm.com
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