Bell and Howell Super 8 Showdown!: 50 Foot Woman Episode 26

What is an XL super 8 camera and what makes shooting with them different from a regular super 8 camera? Let's take a look at footage from two different Bell and Howell super 8 cameras - one of them XL - and find out!
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[@stranger8105]

Great captures! This has much less noise than my super 8, even when I'm shooting with a slower stock. Love the colors in the arcade and balloon museum.

[@criticalcroptop]

Thank you! The T20XL is very inexpensive and worth adding to your collection for those types of situations. I shot with 500T and was also surprised by how nice it looked.

[@dana_cataldo]

Let's shoot more film, you guys! This was a fun side-by-side. I love learning about simpler super-8's, and this was really interesting to learn a little about the small differences that went into even just one maker's variants. The campfire footage was really interesting to see!
You said you developed at Negativeland- is that the location in Brooklyn? That's where I get mine processed (Nikon R10). It would be fun to go shooting together if you're ever up here, or if I find myself in Atlanta!

[@criticalcroptop]

Thank you! I do process alot at Negativeland. I'm based in Atlanta but ship it to them and they do great work and are very fast. I have a Nikon R10 also - it's an excellent camera!

[@lolkthnxbai]

The wide shutter angle and aperture seems to really help it in the museum where the light has such drastic changes, it looks really good! And anything else I feel can be fixed pretty easily in post like you mentioned, already looks way better already than a lot of 8mm footage I've seen shot.

[@criticalcroptop]

Thank you! It's a pretty fun camera to have on the go and very cheap.

[@thousandoaksmall1995]

Nice. Some of these compositions at the museum are sick, I want to see them after a coloring. I love my Canon 310XL, but keeping things in focus when at wide apertures is very challenging (especially with such an inaccurate viewfinder), so the fixed-focus lens on the T20XL to me seems like a compromise that's worth making. And results-wise, these B&H T*0XLs seem to produce footage just as good as my 310XL, and they're available for like 1/3 the price.

[@criticalcroptop]

Thank you! I was really thrilled with how the museum stuff came out. The price of this camera is certainly a bonus! It really has become my choice for grab and go. I would be interested to see if any of the later B&H XLs have a better lens. I was eyeing the 310XL so that is good to know.