Kodak Tremendous 8 Digital camera Assessment: Does This Make Any Sense?

If I informed you that Kodak simply launched a brand new digicam that shoots Tremendous 8 movie however has a digital LCD, an SD card slot, and it prices $5,500, you’d most likely be as confused as I used to be. However the Kodak Tremendous 8 Digital camera has arrived and I’m going to attempt to make sense of it.

Kodak has been speaking about this digicam for nearly a decade (it was lastly introduced as accessible final 12 months and we waited over half a 12 months extra to see it) and I’ve to confess, I by no means anticipated it to see the sunshine of day. To place it in perspective, it was first seen at CES in 2016 and was initially anticipated to value $2,000. However lastly, I did get a manufacturing mannequin to check which allowed me to shoot a part of a PetaPixel evaluation episode and a wide range of topics with it over a few weeks (till I ran out of movie) and it’s given me a good suggestion the place this digicam excels and the place it’s straight up baffling.

Kodak Tremendous 8 Digital camera Assessment: Design

The Kodak Tremendous 8 Digital camera takes normal Tremendous 8 movie, which it might probably shoot between 18 and 36 frames per second (FPS). Tremendous 8 movie has a floor space a lot smaller than a mirrorless digicam — it’s extra according to what we see on a contemporary smartphone. This implies the footage is grainy and susceptible to diffraction, nevertheless it actually has a novel look. It additionally makes a really fantastic sound when the digicam is rolling and chopping. The Kodak has an ordinary C-Mount for swapping lenses and comes with fairly a pleasant Ricoh 6mm f/1.2 lens.

The design of the Kodak Tremendous 8 could be very harking back to an previous Bolex digicam, with a report button and customized button on prime, a prime deal with with a second report button, and a detachable base deal with with one other report button. There’s additionally a 2.5mm LANC enter if you wish to set off the digicam remotely. It’s a chonky boy although, weighing in at 1,430 grams with the included lens. There’s a proprietary battery inside which may solely be charged by the flimsy and outdated Micro USB port on the digicam and it takes about three hours to totally cost. That mentioned, battery life is superb. After taking pictures three rolls of movie for our Instax Extensive 400 evaluation, we nonetheless had 70% battery left. Kodak says it’s best to count on to get ten rolls to a cost and that appears very potential.

There are just a few trendy options that set the Kodak digicam other than all the opposite Tremendous 8 cameras you may simply discover on the used market. First, this digicam makes use of a digital LCD that means that you can body and meter your pictures. There’s a small digicam inbuilt by the lens mount that sends an admittedly low-resolution video to the massive four-inch LCD display. The benefit right here is you may shoot above your head and low-angle pictures simply, very like a contemporary digital digicam. Conventional Tremendous 8 cameras require you to maintain your eye on an optical viewfinder or camera-mounted body traces, so Kodak’s new digicam has an enormous benefit.

Kodak Tremendous 8 Digital camera Assessment: Usability

Whereas the show is sort of sharp (although I couldn’t get precise decision particulars from Kodak) the video feed is such low high quality, particularly whereas rolling, that it’s powerful to verify focus. I had loads of out-of-focus pictures, even with the deep depth of area Tremendous 8 provides, and located myself largely utilizing hyperfocal strategies to get strong outcomes. Additionally, the publicity you see on the display doesn’t symbolize what is definitely being captured. For that, there’s a built-in spot meter with an publicity meter on the facet of the body. It takes a little bit of follow to recollect to examine this, however practically all my pictures had been adequately uncovered when trusting this meter.

I used to be excited that the digicam provides an HDMI output, much less so after I realized that it’s by a fragile micro HDMI port. The odd factor about this connection is that it solely outputs the video feed, not the opposite on-screen help instruments. I might ship out a feed to the director for them to examine my body, but when I needed to make use of a bigger monitor or EVF, I couldn’t see my meter, any digicam settings, or transfer by the menus. Hopefully, this may and will probably be fastened in firmware updates.

Talking of menus, these are the place you may see the total decision of the LCD they usually’re sharp, simple to know, and effectively laid out. The odd factor is that going by them requires using a contact wheel and middle button just like the unique iPods. Nonetheless, Kodak’s implementation is nowhere close to as responsive as that of twenty-year-old Apple tech. I discovered myself continually making an attempt a number of swipes to maneuver by the menus solely to overshoot my goal. I can solely think about the frustration if I used to be on a time-sensitive documentary and wanted to shortly change a digicam setting.

The opposite main innovation is that the Kodak Tremendous 8 Digital camera can report audio proper to an SD card for straightforward syncing. You’ll be able to set audio ranges and have them displayed on display whereas rolling. This makes use of the metadata of every movie reel you report on and makes syncing an absolute breeze. There’s additionally a headphone jack for monitoring. The bizarre factor although is, there isn’t any place to truly mount a microphone or receiver. There isn’t a chilly shoe or perhaps a 1/4″-20 thread for an adapter. I wound up utilizing Rycote stickies to connect each a shotgun mic and wi-fi receiver to the facet of the digicam physique however that is hardly supreme.

Kodak Tremendous 8 Digital camera Assessment: In Use

I needed to get the opinion of somebody with extra expertise utilizing Tremendous 8 cameras, particularly on set. To that finish, I used to be joined on a shoot by my buddy and Calgary movie group legend Alex Mitchell on our shoot to see if had any extra insights on the digicam. One factor Alex instantly highlighted was that the tripod mount is offset from the lens mount, which is able to make it troublesome to make use of a easy matte-box rig for filters. The shortage of any mounting factors on the digicam re-affirms that this digicam isn’t meant to be used with different widespread equipment.

Alex was impressed with the accuracy of the built-in mild meter, though we each want it was extra responsive. There’s a delay in updating that may usually trigger the operator to over or under-expose, after which right. When it comes to the registration — the steadiness of the footage — Alex discovered it to be unexceptional and according to what he sees from many decades-old Tremendous 8 fashions.

One probably compelling cause to buy a Kodak Tremendous 8 Digital camera over a used mannequin is that it does have a guaranty. Take into account that is for one 12 months or 1,000 toes of movie. That is equal to twenty rolls of Tremendous 8, and to place that in perspective, that’s solely 50 minutes of captured footage. I believe most customers will shoot effectively over that guarantee limitation earlier than their first 12 months is up.

The Kodak Tremendous 8 is at Instances Baffling and at Others Heartwarming

There are an enormous variety of limitations with this digicam, but I nonetheless had a incredible time with it. I believe that’s as a result of this digicam is actually designed for use as a run-and-gun device, counting on the built-in mild meter for publicity, sending audio proper to an SD card for straightforward syncing, and never counting on it to interface correctly with different filmmaking tools. For that cause, Alex and I each agreed that is greatest used as a “enjoyable” digicam for informal taking pictures, albeit one which prices $5,500.

I believe it will be simple to place collectively a guidelines for a second model to make it a way more compelling product. Add mounting factors like a chilly shoe, and a few 1/4”-20 mounts for equipment, enhance the standard of the video feed, align the tripod screw with the lens mount, ditch the contact wheel, add full-size ports, and permit digicam settings to be output by the HDMI. Do these few issues and this theoretical Kodak Tremendous 8 Digital camera 2.0 turns into a way more versatile filmmaking device.

Lastly, I do wish to say that I discovered super worth in utilizing the Tremendous 8 movie itself. The feedback on our latest Fujifilm Instax Extensive 400 evaluation (a portion of which was shot on the Kodak digicam) had been overwhelmingly constructive. I had sufficient movie left to shoot some home-movie-style footage, and that has a particular look that I discovered surprisingly highly effective. For that cause, I hope the Kodak digicam is profitable and results in a extra well-rounded and inexpensive model sooner or later.

Are There Alternate options?

So far as new movement image cameras go, no, the Kodak Tremendous 8 Digital camera is the one one you’re going to seek out. That mentioned, there actually are loads of choices on the used market which can be extra inexpensive.

Ought to You Purchase It?

Most likely not, no. This digicam is good for single operators trying to experiment with movie however nonetheless make use of a number of helpful trendy options. Nonetheless, the value places it out of attain of those that would most benefit from the distinctive expertise this digicam provides.