May 2012

EXPRESS PROCESSING NOW AVAILABLE to find out more Click Here

Our unique Super 8 processing service offers the highest quality and is the fastest in the UK

A processing opportunity you can't afford to miss. Remember the film has to be Ektachrome 100D Super 8 [E6 process]. For more details please click here.

We Process Super 8 film to find out more Click Here

We operate the only lab in the UK that processes Super 8 colour reversal film with professional machines, we will soon be able to process Super 8 colour negative films.

We Telecine Super 8 film to find out more Click Here

We offer a friendly and quality service and have years of experience working with Super 8 for student, broadcast and non-broadcast projects. If you need help, or are unsure about equipment; cameras, filters, choosing film-stock or need tips on filming feel, free to ask us click here.

Super 8 made easy!

1. Get a Super 8 camera, there are so many to choose from.

2. Get some film, you can buy four different emulsions from Kodak;

Ektachrome 100D Colour reversal film
Vision 3 200T Negative colour film
Vision 3 500T Negative colour film
Tri - X Black and White reversal film

You can buy other film from Europe, such as Fuji and Foma. Super 8 film comes in easy to load cartridges which contain 50 feet of film. This is approximately 3.20 seconds if you film at 18 frames per second or 2.30 seconds if you film at 24 frames per second. All cameras can film at 18 frames per second but many allow you to film at 24 frames per second.

At SPS we currently process Ektachrome 100D Colour reversal film, [we can process Fuji reversal film too]. We will be starting a processing service for Vision Negative colour film stocks soon.

The used film needs to be processed, we take the film out of the cartridge and put it in our machines for processing. After about fourty minutes a reel is processed and you can see the images, the film is then dried and spooled up into new three inch black spools and sent to the user, the film can be watched via a projector onto a screen.

To watch the film on a television, or to edit it via computer the film needs to be scanned – this process is popularly known as ‘telecine’. A fresh reel of Super 8 is scanned to standard definition PAL and put onto a CD.

For film processing & telecine you can send us films any day of the week, as we receive your films we will log them, confirm with you by email that we have received them. Your films will be placed in the order they arrive in a queue. For processing they will be processed on a Monday or Tuesday, we do not process on any other days, so films we receive on a Wednesday or after will not be processed until the following Monday or Tuesday. Films receieved on a Monday or Tuesday might get processed on those days and might be with the sender by the end of the week, but only if there isn't much film waiting in the queue to be processed. It is better if we recieve films at the beginning of the week as they will be at the front of the queue and should be with the sender by the end of the following week.

If films require to be telecined they will be transferred on our telecine days which is Wednesdays & Thursdays, we do not telecine on any other days. We understand that many people want to have their films processed & scanned quickly, but we have to adhere to our workflow and cannot offer an express service yet or fast track orders.

We are very grateful for all the encouragement we have had and are very glad of everyone's support and patience over the past few weeks as we perfect our our work practices for our new services.

February 2012

Lightbreeze is changing, to reflect this change we have changed our name to SPS - Super 8 Processing & Scanning.

Processing Delays - Update

Processing film is a very specialized and skilled job even when processing with machines, our machines and workflow are new and finding dedicated and experienced people is difficult. To ensure we don't have delays in the future and have now developed a new structure for processing and scanning films. We urge everyone to support us through this turbulent period and to be patient as we work through our issues. We are very sorry to those who have not had a fast processing service and hope they continue using Super 8.

Super 8 Workshops

Due to staffing problems the February workshops have been cancelled. We hope to continue workshops in April 2012, please watch this space for regular updates.

January 2012

The Future of Film and Super 8

There has been a lot of speculation over the future of film. Even film manufacturers like Kodak are showing major signs of trouble. The rise of digital technology has had a huge impact on the traditional film business and the use of film by consumers has declined.

Many are simply saying that digital is now good enough and there is no need for film. Despite the growing trend towards digital it is encouraging that many British television programs are being made on film. Filmmakers are opting for film for many reasons, it's become cheaper and even easier to shoot film as there are great deals available to shoot film. The undisputed fact is that film still gives better colours and reproduces skin tones more naturally than digital.

With Super 8 there are a number of companies in the USA and in Europe who slit and re-perforate 35mm film from Kodak, Fuji and others. It is likely that other companies will start slitting and re-perforating Super 8 film and the future looks promising. We encourage filmmakers to shoot film as there is plenty of film and a lot of choices.

December 2011

We are closing our processing lab during the Christmas period until 12th January 2012, we will re-start a new faster service in 2012 as we are buying two new film processors. In 2012 we will lunch our new website.

A new article has been added to the resources section.

October 2011 - Update

New articles have been added to the resources section.

We have been busy working out our new processing machine for Super 8. We have discovered that we can process the Vison negative films as well as black and white reversal films, but we need to test the machine properly before we offer this as a regular service.

There have been some structural changes to the group and we have decided that the name Lightbreeze will be dropped from the new company, which will offer Super 8 sales, processing and scanning. The new website will be online soon.

Is Film Dead? - Article from a recent lecture has been added to the resources section.

Super 8 - A Handbook by Jürgen Lossau - September 2011

This book has everything you need to know about filming with Super 8. It's filled with lots of very useful information, unique colour photos and illustrations about working with Super 8 in this digital age.

There is a lot of useful information about Super 8 cameras, film stocks editing equipment and where to get these from. It's useful to anyone who is interested in using real film as it answers all the important questions that a prospective film maker asks themselves. Such as the fundamental difference between using film and digital video and how to find the right equipment and workflow. It explores transferring film to digital and editing it on computer. It looks at the huge possibilities of editing Super 8 on the computer such as image stabilization, colour correction and so on.

There is a lot of detail on Super 8 competitions and a comprehensive list of Super 8 specialists and retailers across the world. This is a beautiful book it is of the highest quality and is an essential tool for anyone wanting to learn and work with Super 8 film.

Over the last few months the Lightbreeze group has been transfrormed into a sales and post production company specialising in Super 8 film. Building on our vast experience we will offer workshops, film sales, processing and scanning. We will be changing our name too and are launching a new website soon.

Processing Super 8 in the UK - Update August 2011

We are the only people in the England who can process Super 8 film. We process film in our lab and do not send film abroad as a result we can get your processed films back to you very quickly. Until now we have used our processing machines to process films from our workshops only. We have now installed a new automatic film processor and therefore can offer a Super 8 processing service. Please note, at the moment we will only process Ektachrome100D colour reversal Super 8 film. Please click here to find out more.

July 2011 - Update

We have been so busy doing workshops and working on our 'Films For Fun' films that we haven't had a chance to update the website. We are delighted as we have had a huge number of emails over the last few weeks. Can we please ask eveyone to mark their emails in the subject box as Super 8 Enquiry, it will make things easier for us and we will be able to reply quickly.

Kodak Film Sales - Coming soon

We have been working hard to make things even easier when working with Super 8 and have been in discussions with Kodak. As a result we will soon start selling Super 8 film via our website. We are currently working out pricing, our prices will be the cheapest for Super 8 in England.

Processing - Update May 2011

We are now sucessfully processing colour reversal films [such as the Ekatchrome 100D] that are made in our workshops with our new automatic Super 8 film processor. We are in the final phase of tests with this new automatic Super 8 film processor and are confident that we will be able to offer professional Super 8 film processing for Ektachrome films that use the E6 process only by July 2011.

Don't Miss Our Very Special Offer!

Do you need to test a camera? Check a batch of film? Or check the quality of our transfers?

Well, to make things simpler and easier when using Super 8 we have decided to transfer one fifty foot [new] reel of Super 8 film for free. This incliudes negative, reversal, colour or black and white film. All you have to do is send us your three inch reel and we will transfer it to digital completely free and give you a high quality Pal AVI file.

Don't miss this opportunity and send your processed film with return postage costs. Contact us to find out more.

For Super 8 Ideas and Inspiration visit Resources section!

This is an exciting section with invaluable Super 8 information, everything that you will need to know about working with Super 8 in the digital age. This section is updated regularly, it's a growing resource, there's indepth behind the scenes stories, lectures and case studies about using Super 8.

Get your Super film transferred to digital!

Our frame by frame scanner captures every Super 8 frame, it's designed to give steady and clean transfers specially ideal for transferring negative films. We transfer Super 8 film to standard definition PAL using our own unique frame by frame method to Mini DV, DVCAM or an AVI file.

We want the experience of using Super 8 to be accessible by offering high quality but affordable telecine. We want more people, especially young people to use Super 8 in this digital age to originate their projects, be it for experimental, documentary or drama. Please click here for more details.

Super 8 Widescreen - Camera Gate Widening

There are many ways to achieve widescreen with Super 8. The most obvious is to crop the top and bottom of the frame, but this isn't always ideal as picture quality will be lost from the small frame. Another way is to attach an anamorphic lens, but this isn't always practical as it can make the camera set up bulky and cumbersome. The easiest and probably the best way to achieve widescreen is to have the gate on the camera widened so that a wider picture can be captured.

Widening the camera gate isn't a new concept, it is similar to Super 16, except with most Super 8 cameras the lens can not be moved, this means that the lens will be off centre for the new wider frame and in many cameras vignetting may occur at wide focal lengths. Wideneing the gate of a camera isn't that difficult, at Lightbreeze we can widen the gates of many Super 8 cameras, in addition we can widen the viewfinders of some cameras so that framing is easier and vignetting can be avoided.

To find more about our gate widening click here.

Coming soon - watch new samples that we've transferred, you'll be amazed with the quality of our Super 8 transfers.

COMING SOON - Super 8 Processing

Very soon we will be able to process Super 8 film, at the moment we are doing some tests to find the best way to process Super 8. We are exploring several options such as using an existing machine designed for Super 8 film or customizing an automated processing machine so that it can process Super 8 film with ease and achieve quality results.

We understand that for many using Super 8 seems difficult; firstly you have to buy the film, then after using it, you have to process it and then most likely you will have it digitally transferred to edit on a NLE system. A lot of our telecine clients and students from our Super 8 workshops have been asking us to provide a package that includes film, processing and telecine.

Currently there are very few options for processing Super 8 film in the UK. We know of only one facility that processes Super 8 film here in the UK. Most people offering Super 8 processing simply send film abroad [usually to Germany] for processing this can be expensive and is very time consuming.

Films For Fun - Update March 2011

We have had a huge response, we were surprised that hundreds of people from across the country and abroad have applied to work with us to produce our Super 8 films. We were definately encouraged that so many of them wanted to work with Super 8. We are sorry that we haven't managed to contact everyone, however we now finalising our team and hopefully will be in production soon. We will advertise soon to recruit actors.

Lightbreeze is launching 'Films For Fun'; this is an exciting new initiative where we will be making a series of short films on Super 8 film. The main purpose of 'Films For Fun' is to show the versatility and flexibility of the Super 8 format, and to show what can be achieved with the format using a professional approach. The films will be funded and everyone who works on them will get paid, the completed films will be screened online.

We are still looking for actors. Please contact us and send us your C.V. For more information please click here.

A New Super 8 Camera

Every so often there are discussions about whether there should be new Super 8 camera, after all most Super 8 cameras were made over twenty years ago. Eventually these discussions fade away as start to people think that it would be too expensive to have a new camera for a very small market and to many a new Super 8 camera in this increasingly digital world sounds absurd. As someone who has always promoted Super 8, I talk about it relentlessly to Media students at colleges and universities, but I am beginning to realise that most of the 'old' Super 8 cameras do not get the best out of today's Super 8 film stock and having a new camera would be ideal.
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Buying a good Super 8 camera is certainly not as easy or cheap as it used to be. Advanced cameras are selling at high prices, due to the age of these cameras no one can really give guarantees. It seems obvious that if Super 8 is to survive over the next few years someone will have to produce a new camera, even if they produce a simple camera. A new camera would be a great boost for Super 8 filmmaking and would mean working with a camera that is more reliable, a camera that can be easily serviced and fixed.

At Lightbreeze we are working on a number of ventures and one of them is to look at building a new Super 8 camera. I have started talking with various people including filmmakers, artists, designers and engineers to see if it is possible for us to produce a decent low cost Super 8 camera. Over the next few months I'll shall have a better idea if it will be possible for us to produce a new camera.

To find more about plans for our new Super 8 camera click here.