A format that never quite stopped
Kodak introduced Super 8 in 1965: film in a plastic cartridge holding 50 feet, about three minutes of film, that you simply push into the camera. Millions of families filmed with it. The 50-foot silent cartridge is still made today, and Kodak brought back its Ektachrome colour reversal film for Super 8 in 2019. That is why a good camera is wanted again.
Which cameras are looked for
- Canon: the 514XL, 1014XL-S and 310XL, with fast lenses.
- Braun Nizo: the Professional and the 6080 and 4080.
- Beaulieu: the 4008 and 6008, with interchangeable lenses.
- Also: Bauer, Elmo, Sankyo, Chinon and Minolta.
Simple cameras with a fixed lens are worth less, but we buy them too.
What decides the price
- The motor. Does it run when you put in fresh batteries?
- The lens. Clear, without haze or fungus, with a zoom that moves smoothly.
- The light meter. Does the needle or the display react to light?
- The battery compartment. Batteries left inside for years leak and corrode the contacts.
- What comes with it. Case, manual, filters, a remote release.
Sound cameras take the silent cartridges that are made today, so they are just as usable.
Where you can sell it
- A marketplace. Many listings say "untested", which pushes prices down for everyone.
- A specialist shop. They buy, check and resell.
- Unseend. We know these cameras from the inside, and buy a single camera as well as a whole cupboard of cameras, projectors and accessories.
How it works with us
Photograph the camera from both sides and the lens from the front. You get an estimate; within the EU we send a free label, from outside the EU we agree the price first. We test it when it arrives. If it is as described we pay; if not, we talk it through or send it back free.
Before you send it
- Take out the batteries.
- Leave a cartridge in the camera if there is one; do not open it.
- Family films belong with the family. If you want to keep them, have them digitised before you sell the projector.