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Nearly eight years after the initial announcement, Kodak is finally preparing to sell its Super 8 film camera. Unveiled in January 2016 at CES, aka Consumer Electronics Show, the camera will go on sale in limited quantities in the US next month. A wider release will follow later, with the company aiming to sell it in Canada and Europe, including the UK.
Kodak is finally selling its nostalgic Super 8 film camera
Kodak worked with industrial designer Yves Behar to revive its iconic Super 8 film cameras with a touch of modernity. At its core, it is a film camera. However, it comes with some digital functionality, like a digital viewfinder. The company showcased a prototype of the nostalgic camera at CES 2016 and said that the limited-edition gadget would be available later in the year for between $400 and $750.
The New York-based firm planned to release a less expensive version of the modernized Super 8 film camera in 2017. However, nothing materialized for the next two years. In January 2018, Kodak said the product is still in the pipeline but will cost a lot more. It shared an expected price of between $2,500 and $3,000 but didn’t go into details about the changes that triggered such a dramatic price increase.
Meanwhile, the company released a demo reel of footage shot on the camera. The footage had that grainy look of film cameras you don’t get with digital cameras, evoking nostalgia for people who lived in that era. Unfortunately, Kodak’s second attempt to release the revised Super 8 camera failed too, with no information for the next six years or so. It was believed that the firm abandoned the project.
However, Kodak seemingly never gave up and is finally set to bring the nostalgic Super 8 film camera to the market next month. Its global managing director for motion picture, Vanessa Bendetti, told The Verge that the iconic gadget will debut on December 4. It will now cost pretty much a fortune, though. The firm has doubled the expected price to a whopping $5,495.
You can sign up to buy the super expensive limited-edition camera
Sure enough, you can get much better cameras at this price. However, it’s not just about picture quality. Kodak is betting on the factor of nostalgia here. It is a niche proposition for extremely nostalgic filmmakers who lived through the challenges of shooting on film before transitioning into digital videography. While used vintage Super 8 cameras can be found for a few hundred dollars, it’s a brand-new hybrid product we are looking at here.
The new Kodak Super 8 film camera features a four-inch LCD viewfinder, interchangeable lenses, 16:9 shooting format, microSD card support for recording audio, and a Micro HDMI output for connecting an external monitor. However, it still charges via a MicroUSB port, which is an outdated charging mechanism today. It appears the firm developed the camera in 2016 and never bothered changing or upgrading anything.
As pointed out by 404 Media, one Super 8 film cartridge can shoot roughly two and a half minutes of footage at 24fps and costs about $35. The processing and editing charges will add to the overall cost of shooting with this vintage camera, which already is super expensive. The gadget is more of a novelty than a camera you take on your holiday trip to record memories.
Kodak has added a “sign up to buy” button to the new Super 8 film camera’s product page on its website, allowing interested buyers to register their interest and get notified about its release. Those who joined the reservation list in the past “must sign up again by Tuesday, November 28,” to maintain their position of priority. The firm says it will “contact customers in sign-up order when a camera is available for purchase in your region.”
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