I'm not sure if this has been asked before on the forum, so my apologies if it has. How long have you been collecting projectors and films? I'm fairly certain that this month makes two years for me. Around 1990 or so, I bought a projector that I found at a tag sale for $10. I knew absolutely NOTHING about them back then (how to thread a machine, how NOT to blow a projector lamp, or even that there were two 8mm formats-regular 8 and super 8). Therefore, that idea was dropped quickly back then. But two years ago, I found a machine at a second hand store. At the time, I only wanted a film or two to go with it. Well, pretty soon after, I became somewhat obsessed with finding another machine...and another film...and another machine...spare lamps...another film...
My skills are very basic concerning film (threading, splicing, inspecting, etc.), but I now have knowledge that the common person wouldn't have. It's kind of fun to have a 'language' that would go over most people's heads-LOL! This year, I got a call from someone with a projector for sale. I asked if it was an 8mm or 16mm machine. His response was "I don't know, how can you tell?".

I got my first projector in 1977, eleven years old with a paper route. Downpayment over a year I think and the Elmo ST-600 was mine. Think at the time I owned some fifty films, only digests and cartoons, no features. Sold it when the VHS wave came, regret it now, but at the time, full films was attractive.

I think it is three and half years ago I decided to try again, paid around 50 dollar for two projectors and some ten films. Decided the projectors were not usable, bought an Eumig Mark-S 710D off eBay for some fifty pounds or so. Saw the picture on screen and was hooked again. My collection is now around 1500 I think, from 50' to features

Magic is reel (pun intended)

You certainly have a difficult decision Vidar, on deciding what to watch!

:-)

Just past my 3 year mark - looked back through my ebay purchase history - first thing I ever bought was a bulb for my Grandfather's B&H I'd decided to try to get working and a western short to view. Have a little over 100 features - am already having storage issues! Couldn't imagine 1500!!

I was born in 1977, the year Vidar got his first projector :-)

I have grown up with family films on standard 8. About 30 films on Kodachrome. The colors are still beautiful. I bought 5-6 cartoons when I was about 12 or so. I am not sure. The projector, an Eumig P8 was silent, but some of the films had sound which I never heard. When I moved to study the films remained home at my parents house. I still have them.

After thinking about reel film for a while, I finally got around and bought an Eumig S 810 D. I met Vidar at a Norwegian forum and got some tips and chose it as I liked Eumig and since it could do both Super 8 and regular 8. This was in January/February 2014. I have gotten 3 more projectors since, both 8 and 16.

I've had 3 stints at this hobby in my lifetime although two contain blurred lines.
By the time I was 7 in 1973, I had my first projector, before that, I had a fascination with those toy slide projectors that had strips of cartoon slides on them to push and pull through the lamphouse.

As I've said before, I got for Christmas that year a Casdon Standard 8mm silent toy projector with no rewind facility and a 6v motorcycle bulb to illuminate the screen.
No shutter was fitted to this projector either.

By 10years of age I had my first dual gauge silent grown up projector.
By 11 years. of age I got my first Super 8mm sound projector and sound films for yet another Christmas present .

I then after a few years drifted away from the hobby with my attentions and other interests began to take precedence over my love for film and film projectors.
Namely Football, Music and DJ Gear and girls!..
Not always necessarily in that order either!

Quite a few years of this lifestyle ensued before one day well into my early 20's but not yet married, I suddenly got the urge to look up my old hobby once again.
By this time it was towards the late 80's.
Jubilee Film library where I'd previously always visited as a youngster had moved across the road in A.U.L. to a much bigger shop than I had memories of and Cyril the owner told me the only Super 8mm film he still had left (new) was Disney's 400ft extract of The Black Hole.
He was clearing his old stock so I got it for £5.
By this time Cyril of Jubillee Films was solely a VHS video cassette dealer.

Feeling somewhat disheartened yet still very much riddled with nostalgia, I asked Cyril if there were any dealers still left selling cine film?
He told me of a company in the Midlands that were still dealing in film called Derann!
He gave me their address and phone number. (No internet back then let's not forget!)

As soon as I was home I phoned the number and spoke to a very polite voice on the other end of the phone that suddenly began to make me realize that chasing this childhood nostalgic interest further, was not a complete waste of time as I first thought.

Within a few weeks I had catalogues and pamphlets galore all over the bedroom just full of ideas of what I could still buy on Super 8mm both new and used.
It was just so exciting!!
Let's not forget, we hadn't even begun to hit the Derann heydays by this stage!

From these exciting new revelations, I drove in a heartbeat down to Dudley in my car and purchased quite a few of the brand new Universal double digests they had on their shelves that day.
I bought 1200ft reels, lamps, card boxes, splices, cine film, film cleaner and just about anything else I thought would be useful to me in the future within the restraints of the money I had on me on that day.

That was it! I was smitten!!

From then on it was one film after another, one ST 1200 after another and the dream of one day finally owning a GS 1200 with f1.0 lens.
In those days Derann got their hands on hundreds of different projectors each year, but each time, all the very best went usually before their 2nd hand list dropped through your letterbox!

Before this ever materialized and in the early 90's life had moved on for me. I was
A house owner, a new husband and in the not too distant future, a new Dad.
I wanted by 98, the best digital av equipment I could afford.
Given the above, I was left with no choice than to sell it all back to Derann if I wanted to continue to enjoy the big screen adding more and more fresh titles.
DVD and their players was now a realistic and viable alternative, or so I thought, and that was therefore the avenue I pursued.

This continued right up until the closure of Derann ironically.
Then I was at an even more different stage of life and there were many many unfilled ambitions upon hearing this very sad news regarding Derann.
By now my kids were all but adults within their own rights and I went for it, while I still had one last ounce of a chance of finding all I had previously drooled over but never had the opportunity to own.

That was some six years ago now and I'm still at it, loving every minute of my on going daily searches.

So all in all, since the very humble beginnings all those years ago looking at my mum's Kay's catalogue at the images of that toy projector, 45 years have passed.
My interest today, is stronger than ever and this hobby, no matter how many times you may turn your back on it, or take knock backs from it, it simply gets in your blood for a lifetime! ...enjoy the journey!!😊😊

my father bought me a standard 8 projector when I was 8 and a few films .but when dad got out the debrie 16mm I was blown away .when I left school I was on £16.00 a week and bought my first dansan 540 sound projector which is mint condition and I still own ,then about 3 years later I bought a grey debrie which I still own .I also own my fathers black debrie which he bought new and that is mint condition .I have over 1500 films in my collection and wheni pick up the other 2 collections I have bought I will have over 2000 films .my sons keep telling me to sell the lot but I will keep collecting as long as I can ,I am also pleased that talking pictures are now showing films from my mamouth collection

Bought my first super 8 projector years ago, can't remember form where or whom I know I paid monthly, still got the machine.I started to show films when I was about 1964 or5 but super 8 were the first films type I actually owned I guess sometimes in the seventies.
I eventually went into 16 mm in the eighties but I sold nearly everything with the intro of video and only kept five features which I still have.that was the way it was,could not resist the new technology.
Anyway late in the last century (about 1996 - 7) it all started again and so it continues,keep finding film in places I did not know I had them ,in fact today came upon an airline print of the French Connection,the colour has turned but it is quite watchable so it has been cleaned today with filmguard and I hope to view in the not to distant future.
When I think back its strange how film helps one through difficult times.My father was very ill when I was 16years old and for about 18months my mother would go to see him in hospital in Exeter for many hours each day.Obviously I went as well but not every day and when I did go I would leave them for hours at a time and I would go to the cinema.how many films I saw and which ones I cannot remember.Each day we would return home some thirty miles away and I remember thinking what film I could see next when I went.
Strange how a new topic brings back memories,but I do know my interest in film began from the age of about nine,when at boarding school we all looked froward to the Saturday night movie.No television in those days.
The times they are changing 📽📽📽📽📽

From what I've read David, you have one hell of a collection of 16mm films!

For that amount of film on Super 8mm LPP or equivalent, you'd be spending close to 400 grand plus to achieve anything remotely like it!

From what I've read David, you have one hell of a collection of 16mm films!

For that amount of film on Super 8mm LPP or equivalent, you'd be spending close to 400 grand plus to achieve anything remotely like it!

I have nearly all the bond films all the carry on films
and some of my favourites are
the Vikings dam busters George formbys
smallest show on earth I have most of the john wayne features
cartoons thunderbirds supercar torchy the battery boy stingray
and over 400 top notch trailers as shown by me at blackpool last year
I have over 1200 features and 900 plus shorts
I would say I have the biggest collection in the uk

Where on earth do you store them David,ever thought of having a film rental service?👍😀😀😀📽📽

I have a lot of out buildings

Tim: Thanks for posting this as these are my favorite kinds of topics! I got my first projector (Bell & Howell Dual-8 Lumina) with money from my first job at age 16 in 1978. I collected Universal-8 / Ken Films Regular / Super-8 films for under a year. In 1979 I sold that projector and donated my small film collection (around a dozen movies) to my local public library. In 1981 I got interested in film again but was out of work and lived it vicariously through film catalogs and magazines. In the Spring of 1986, I came across an ad in the Overstreet Guide ( A Blue Book of sorts for comic book collectors) for Media Arts Associates. I put in an order for a couple of films and it snowballed from there! My first Super-8 sound projector (bought around this same time frame) was an Eumig Mark S-712 D. Roger Williams,who ran Media Arts Associates became my main go-to film dealer. Through him I found out about Coming Attractions magazine (Steve Osbourne's original title for his publication) and subscribed. Steve's magazine opened me up to other dealers (Dave Thomas Films in particular) and a few others. For my Regular-8 movies, I bought a Revere Regular-8 Silent Projector through a local pawnshop. The owner got to know me and would call me if he came across any interesting film gear.

I purchased my last film in 1990, and wound up selling off my collection (about 50 films) to Dave Thomas Films in 1995. The Eumig and Revere projectors were donated in late 2001. Fast forward many years later and it's November 2014. My wife and I made a trip to Texas to pick up some belongings I had in storage there since 2008. Part of that included my late Father's original Regular-8 mm movies. The footage was shot between 1956 up until 1971. Since both of my parents (and my oldest brother) have been gone for many years, these reels are very special to my heart. From this point I went looking for a Dual 8 projector and found a ratty Bell & Howell 10 MS for sale. Since that time to the present, I have been fully back into collecting package films including 16 mm. I've lost track of how many projectors I've owned (some very briefly) and have now settled in with a good and reliable batch of machines. Having started training for a new job three weeks ago I haven't had much time to deal with film related matters, but I did manage to squeeze in two weekends in a row and watch some 16 mm footage.

Unfortunately for you Doug, you've had to hear me gripe about every dud machine that I've gotten ahold of along this journey! :-)

Back at you my friend as you fully know the history of my many faulty machines!

My parents used to make home movies when I grew up. They had an eumig P8 and a Revere 8mm camera. ( Still in my collection ) I bought my first reel 1961. It was a B/W 50ft, silent print. How to play Golf starring Goofy. A natural choice, as I was a big fan of the Disneyland TV shows.
I bought silent print the following years. 1969 I bought my first sound projektor. The new dual-8 Eumig Mark S 709, appx £100, a lot of money at the time. The following years I bought just a couple of sound films every year. A 200ft colour/sound cartoon was about £12, so I had to collect my pocket money for I wile, to buy one single reel.
When I started working in the mid 70s, I could afford more prints. Most 200ft cartoons, and some Laurel & Hardy. Just a couple of features. 1979 I bought my first VHS recorder and started to record features, from TV. I still loved the reel format, but it became hard to find 8mm films in Sweden.
1985- 2000 was a dark period in my collecting. No films bought, as I didn´t know where to buy. I didn´t know that Derann was still in business. Forunately I didn´t sell my litle collection.
Thanks to Internet I returned to the hobby. Prints could by bought really cheap on Ebay, and I found Derann.
My collection has grown a bit since then. I guess I have about 2000 films and 50+ projectors. Standard 8, Super 8, 16mm and recently 35mm. I have also built a 22-seater home cinema in our home. I still have some work to do before the big Premiere.
i´m lucky to have an understanding wife.

Mats, I'd love to see some photos when you get that cinema completed!

Timothy!
I´ll will! take some pics, when everything is up and going

Am I right that the 35mm projector from Nesbyen cinema are to be installed there?

It´s a Bauer B11, that I bought from Inge Strand, in the Norwegian Film Collectors Club. I don´t know it´s origin, but Inge had it several years. It´s a heavy piece of German craftsmanship.

Love Bauer projectors and their engineering acumen!

Ah, no. I don't think it is that one.

I must add that I know Inge's previous neighbors. They got really surprised when his door was open one day and they saw his 35mm projector a few years ago. Maybe it was that one. He had just a small apartment.