Fujifilm has just introduced its new Instax Mini Evo Cinema, a hybrid instant camera capable of capturing both stills and short digital video clips. It was inspired, they say, by the Fujica Single-8 movie cameras made from the mid-1960s to the late ’80s.
But just what were these Single-8 cameras and what made them so inspiring? As it turns out, quite a lot.
The Single-8 cartridge was introduced in 1965 as an alternative to Kodak’s Super 8 cartridge. Co-developed by Fujifilm, Canon and Konica. The film itself is identical to Super 8 in both image size and perforations. But unlike Super8 with its side-by-side reels, the Single-8 cartridge featured one spool above the other.
This allowed several features impossible with Super 8. For a start, Single-8 allows you to rewind the film, allowing, for instance, multiple rewinds for multiple shots with matte boxes, so you could make split-screen films, or do titling, right in the camera. Or, more commonly, fade one shot into the next, without the need to do it in post-production.
A big advantage was that the pressure plate was part of the camera, not the plastic cartridge. Thus it was made of metal, ensuring better film flatness and thus superior image quality.
Single-8 cameras and films were launched in 1965, with Fujifilm being the leading film supplier. Konica was to make its Sakura colour film available as well and many Single-8 cameras had stickers inside the film compartments recommending Sakura (in English: Cherry Blossom) film. But, for whatever their reasons, Konica never did make their Sakura film for Single-8 cameras.
The history of the Single-8 cartridge itself is somewhat murky, with Konan (now a maker of medical equipment) claiming that it designed the Single-8 system, back in November of 1959. A Single-8 working group started in early 1964 and consisted of Fujifilm, Canon, Konica, Agfa, Yashica, Bell & Howell and, initially, Kodak; though Kodak soon left, to create its own Super 8 cartridge. However, Kodak’s initial involvement may explain why the image size and perforation standards are the same in both systems. This also means, of course, that projectors made for Super-8 can also project Single-8 films. Like the notches on Super 8 cartridges, the Single-8 cartridge has several tabs, slots, and holes to automatically set film speed and type.
Both Super 8 and Single-8 were introduced in 1965, and while Super 8 had the greatest success, Single-8 proved very popular in Japan and Southeast Asia. There was even a dedicated, Japanese-language magazine for film-makers called “My Single-8 ”, which ran from 1965 to 2012! Still, Kodak’s Super 8 became the dominant drop-in movie film cartridge worldwide, thanks to Kodak’s ubiquitous presence.
One curiosity was the Elmo C300 Multi Back Cine camera. It was made between 1960 and 1969 when 8mm film was being superseded by the rival Super 8 (Kodak) and Single-8 (Fuji) film formats. Unsure of which format might survive (a bit like the BETA vs. VHS wars of the ‘70s and 80s), Japan’s ELMO produced an unusual camera which had interchangeable magazines for all of three formats... standard 8mm, Single-8 and Super 8. It was electrically-driven (18 or 24 fps), had a reflex viewfinder with a rangefinder and through-the-lens exposure metering which could be manually overridden. It could also rewind both 8mm and Single-8 films but not Super 8 film. In the USA, it was sold as thethe Honeywell Elmo Tri-Filmatic.
Unfortunately, Fujifilm announced the end of film made for Single-8 cameras in 2010, and all remaining stocks were gone by late 2012. However, there are still ways to use Single-8 cameras. There is at least one small shop (Retro-8 in Tokyo) that re-spools other emulsions into older Single-8 cartridges and provides processing. Or, do-it-yourself types can reload their cartridges with film cannibalized from Kodak’s Super 8 cartridges in a darkroom. It’s inconvenient, but certainly doable. And, for those willing to do it, but who don’t have the cartridges to reload, there are open-source plans on the web for 3D printers to make your own! So, while Single-8 may be wounded, it is clearly not dead!
Kodak’s Super 8 cartridge holds the record for being the fastest, easiest film, of any kind, to load, taking just two to four seconds. Single-8 takes just a second or two longer, but offers many advantages in return.
See our review of the Instax Mini Evo Cinema
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