If someone asks about my hobby that are not into film collecting on reels, they tend to think it is all about features. I do love features, and I have a few full features and some cut downs that I an very happy to own. But I mostly do watch 200' cartoons and 400' digests. My days are a bit busy at times, and when i have some time for my hobbies in the late evening I am often too tired to commit to a full feature. It is easier to watch a few cartoons or digests. I can watch as many as I like and then stop. I hate to stop in the middle of a feature. Anyone else having it that way?

We have many features but i do like the 2x400, the 3 x 400s and the 400/200 reels. I often have and hour where i can get in a trailer or ad reel followed by two or three 400 digests. I do like these and you get to see three films all be it digests, however, the ones that are well edited do make you feel like you have seen the film.

The same is true with me Eivind. In 8 / Super-8, I mostly collect shorts and digests (I have only a few features in Super-8.) I do have more features in 16mm, but I generally prefer shorter subjects even in that gauge.

I collect and watch primarily shorts, too. I do have features, but find I really have to be in the mood to devote an evening to watching one. I prefer an evening of shorts when I fire up the film projector.

I have more shorts in Super 8 than I do features. I was trying to build up a collection of all sorts, comedies (L&H), newsreels, trailers, cartoons, plus I was busy shooting film. I never managed to get everything before it came to an end. Like someone else here mentioned; I had no idea that there were still people selling new films. My time in collecting Super 8 lasted 11 years, and strange to say, that my time in 16mm is also 11 years, now that I have had to stop due to no space. Now, I watch mostly features. I collected 27 Super 8 features, plus several hundred shorts, now I have 49 or 50 16mm features and about 30 shorts. Although there are probably many that have larger collections than me, I have enough to ensure I could never be bored.

In the 8mm gauge, everything that I have ranges from 50' to 400' reels. In the 16mm gauge, my films range from 100' to 1200' reels. So I have nothing over 30 minutes in length. And that works well for me. One thing that I have found, is that by collecting condensed versions of films in 16mm, I am enabled to acquire some very good color prints on occasion in an affordable price range for me. And even if the color has faded, I'm not troubled by it. From what I've seen of full length 16mm features in the U.S. on eBay, a common starting price is $100-150. And it only goes up from there.

I have had a few features from the US that were under $30, and each one was perfect. i would have expected to pay a minumum of £80 in England.

I have quite a few cutdowns that I enjoy and probably do watch them more than features, I can also watch trailer reels as a good way to view many varied titles,I have well over 50 400ft trailer reels so randomly choose one which makes it fun not knowing what's on them. Some collectors don't like cutdowns but they do come in handy for a quick film fix, Derann did some cracking 2x600 releases that make you feel like you've watched the whole film in half the time!! Mark