Trip to Italy

Kodak super-8 cameras

For years, the Eastman Kodak Company had worked to develop a system of movie equipment and film that would be easy enough for the advanced amateur photographer to use, yet reasonably affordable. The result was the Sixteen Millimeter "Cine Kodak" Camera and the Kodascope Projector". The camera itself weighed about seven pounds, and had to be handcranked at two turns per second during filming. A tripod was included in the package, all of which cost a whopping $335.00! And this in a time when a new Ford automobile could be purchased for $550.00.

Thus, Home Movie Making was not an inexpensive hobby, but one that was capable of exciting, high-quality results. By 1932, with America in the throes of the Great Depression, a new format, the "Cine Kodak Eight", was introduced. Utilizing a special 16mm film which had double the number of perforations on both sides, the film maker would run the film through the camera in one direction, then reload and expose the other side of the film, the way an audio cassette is used today.