Well the film convention is upon us in Blackpool, good hunting for those of you who are going to attend. Hopefully on show will be some of the new 600 footers for those who intend to purchase in the future, but this has me pondering the question, great though they are, where does the source of these prints actually come from ?. As i understand it a negative would need to made in order to produce the finished product, so this involves cutting down the feature to produce the cut down, now i'm thinking would i want my beautiful 16 mm feature cut up to produce this and put back together again ?. I am annoyed if i buy a feature with more than a couple of splices i haven't been told about, with the prices of good low fade prints fairly high any way even if you could find them the last thing i would want is a lot more splices, not good, so the 64 dollar question is it a film printed from real film, or could it be sourced digitally ?. Now we know this can be done because Marco has done such things for forum members who have parts missing or damaged and want to restore there print to its former glory, and i understand the these inserts are very good indeed including the optical sound on the film. the new prints certainly look incredible, and skill and knowledge is needed to get them looking this good, maybe that is the give away ?. It doesn't bother me one bit that they might be, but what does stick in my claw is the fact that some forum members ponder the question, " of i wonder if it this print or that print " when they must be slightly suspicion of the source but won't say, for not being the one to throw the first stone............

You make a good point Paul, i must admit i havnt thought that one through, it would put a lot of splices in an otherwise mint 35mm print and i would imagine that perfect prints of some of the titles due for release must be pretty rare, i say 35mm as this is where we are told the new products are from. I would love to visit Andec to see the process, it would be quite interesting, it's a shame all the labs here and in the States are either closed or wont do it, the prices would be able to be reduced if it could all be done in one country, obviously there is the shipping from one country to another with Italy being the source for the sound.
As for the 16mm items many a collector have had sourced, the quality from the Blu Rays/ DVDs or even simply uploaded files from youtube are fantastic, the optical sound produced is as good as anything on 8mm if not better. Just as an example, and a reminder, this is the opening 8 minute pre title sequence from Waterloo, it was taken from a DVD and has restored our print to its former glory. You just need to remember these images are taken with an early 4mp digital camera during projection, the on screen image is much much brighter, sharper, and more colourful.

New insert for Waterloo in scope

That's just fantastic Tom, i can't tell this is from a digital source, blistering colour hope it matches your original print mate..........

The weird thing about these newly made parts is the way they always seem to match. I think i have now had around six movies sorted with a few minutes here and there and to date i havnt had one where i have had to touch the focus or framing knob. It's probably a bit of luck but so far so good.
If you buy a newly released 8mm trailer you will pay around £50, (a reel of three, 120) a 16mm trailer made up from a digital source, around £30 and the print will be sharper than its 8mm counterpart. (only in my view)
One thing to remember is that film has a look of its own, as Spielberg said, digital, (excellent though it is) is imitating real film, its getting there but it is still a long way off which is why he, Christopher Nolan and Tarrantino to name a few still use real film.
I did read elsewhere that many of our super 8 releases have a 70s colour look about them What is that suppose to mean? Some of the releases from the mid 70s have colours that still stand perfectly well today and have outlasted releases from the 80s, many Iver and Walton releases for a start, also, one thing no release can compete with is, is a 16mm IB Tech print. Pity no super 8s were on IB Tech stock.
I have tried to find a marking on my JP film, i cant see any so i hope Andec are being honest when they say they use Kodak low fade.

I'm thinking of having a screening print of my short film made when it is completed and have looked into many options. There are the "old standard" of negative/positive/negative printing for 16 and 35 formats. 16mm and 35mm can be printed from digital files, so those are easy formats to obtain. Many proper labs offer the solution,but no negative required as print-stock can be printed directly to with lasers. Charged per minute.

Super 8 is a different beast and is very expensive...some labs on the down low likely do that.

I think the new prints have a digital sourced neg, they are too good not to be, those black and white releases are way too nice to be from a film negative and as pointed out who would want a nice 16mm or 35mm print cut up these days, no way!! Personally it doesn't bother me at all as I have a lot of digitally sourced films on the shelf, surely it's about screen image and running real film, reducing one of the processes definitely has a positive effect on the finished film, I don't look at them and think oh no , I think wow look at that!! Surely it's the best of the best, the down side is the prices, I cannot justify them on a super 8 30 minute cutdown, I can buy a nice title on 16mm, have the repairs done and still be a lot cheaper or have my own titles made again on 16mm for less. They could be more honest about the process but really does it matter? Mark

Very true Mark, i am very pleased with my JP. Like you,it goes against my priniciple to pay that much for a cut down movie but i do get what the costs involved must be and the print does look very good, the sound is among the best ive heard on any print on 8mm and it is a title i like very much so it was a treat for myself having sold a few older titles.
ive since bought three good 16mm full features for the same price as one 8mm release hence why for me it was a one off. The call out by one collector elswhere to buy all the new releases so you end up with a collection of top quality prints is way ott. The spend would be so high and unless your earning and on benifits itvwould be be out of reach for the average man.

Whatever way you look at it the hobby is an expensive way to watch films, Mark

Thats for sure. Its weird how we keep doing it. Very addictive.