Super-8 Film Stock Dimensions

Research
#1

Some time ago I started to collect information about the dimensions of Super-8 film stock. It turned out to be more challenging than anticipated.

My current educated guess about the Super-8 format is documented in the following .pdf-file

_Super 8 Format with Sound 3

I think the dimensions given in the file are pretty close if not identical to the actual dimensions of Super-8 film stock.

Of course, camera manufacturer as well as manufacturer of projection equipment did certainly not always follow these specs - for example, most cameras feature a somewhat larger camera frame than the spec did actually specify.

I hope the document will be useful to someone. If anybody has more or additional information, I am happy to include it in a revised version.

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Enlarging an 8mm gate
#2

Super-8 Film Stock Dimensions - Research - Kinograph Forums.pdf (44.3 KB) Checking that this file can be uploaded as well as linked to Dropbox. . . .
_Super 8 Format with Sound 3.pdf (93.6 KB)

Looks like it worked!

EDIT: But it didn’t.

I’ll check on this tomorrow.

imageimplyfavicon

#3

This is defined in SMPTE standard S149-2004. I can’t upload it here because it is copyrighted but here are the dimensions stated therein. The first number is in inches. The second number is in millimeters.

Film width 0.3140 ± 0.0015 7.976 ± 0.038
Perforation pitch (long) 0.1667 ± 0.0004 4.234 ± 0.010
Perforation pitch (short) 0.1664 ± 0.0004 4.227 ± 0.010
Perforation width 0.0360 ± 0.0004 0.914 ± 0.010
Perforation height 0.0450 ± 0.0004 1.143 ± 0.010
Edge to perforation 0.020 ± 0.002 0.51 ± 0.05
100 consecutive perforation pitches 16.670 ± 0.017 423.42 ± 0.43
100 consecutive perforation pitches 16.640 ± 0.017 422.66 ± 0.43
Radius of perforation fillet 0.005 ± 0.001 0.13 ± 0.03

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#4

Nice! Thank you. Just getting ready to build a new S8 sound head for the Spirit.

#5

@CLamb - thanks for posting these numbers. These numbers seem to support what I arrived at by searching the internet. I think the two different perforation pitch numbers correspond to film stock used in cameras (long pitch) and film stock which was used with contact printing (short pitch), but I am not sure. It’s been too long ago to remember and of course I did not bother to write down any notes at that time…