We live in a world where phone cameras are closing the gap between them and professional ones. To make sure the professional cameras still have an edge over the phone one’s companies release new models time by time. Therefore, two years back at the CES 2016, it was revealed that Kodak would be making a comeback with it it’s Super 8 camera. The project was designed by Yves-Behar.
Yet not much was revealed about this project at this year’s CES, but there was a highlight; it’s price tag. The camera would cost you a whopping $2500 to $3000. That sounds ridiculous right, even more, if you had known already that the supposed price of the camera and that too a limited edition was around $400 to $ 750. It was expected to be released in fall 2016 sometime, but couldn’t see the light. What startles, even more, is that even a lesser expensive than the limited edition model was anticipated for 2017.
Steve Parsons, head of the Super 8 camera project at Kodak said their “biggest challenge has been rebuilding the engineering knowledge that’s been lost over the last few decades since the last Super 8 cameras were produced in volume”.
Now that the price tag is known which is a quite hefty one, it was revealed by the company that we should expect the camera to be released in the later part of this year. It’s sad to say though that such a high cost price would leave many nostalgic customers disappointed and the majority of the customers would be rich individuals or nostalgic film-makers. This would all be just for the sake of a revival of one of the best classic cameras; the Super 8.
“It’s going to change the way Super 8 is used,” says Josh Robertson, a film community manager at Kodak.
“Even though you are shooting on analog film, the digital viewfinder allows you to see what is going to be exposed on to it,” says Robertson.
Not only did Kodak announced the expected release time, and it’s available at quite an expensive price, it also showcased a demo reel. The reel contained a footage shot taken on the renew Super 8 camera. It appears to be quite nostalgic and if you are a man who longs for that “authentic film grain” then this updated camera still has that. Sadly this film grain isn’t found in any of the digital cameras, and even if found isn’t really authentic, since that’s just a filter.
About this Robertson added, “ There’s a certain point when we are so bombarded with digital tech that we want to digital detox.”
Now it’s up to you to decide if the camera is worth the $2500-$3000. Moreover, there are bound to be additional film reel and it’s associated development costs. Only if you find yourself really nostalgic about the camera of the 60’s, should you go out there and get your hands on one of these.