Ektachrome 64t.
For 5 years or so, this was the main super 8 reversal stock. It has now (as of June 2010) been discontinued by Kodak and replaced with their own Ektachrome 100d. But there is still some of this stock out there, so I will keep this information here for the moment. As a tungsten stock like the old Kodachrome 40 it replaced, Ektachrome 64t requires the use of a colour correction filter for shooting in daylight (ie shooting outside). All super 8 camera have this filter built in. When shooting indoors under tungsten lighting this filter has to be taken 'out'. This is done in several ways - flicking a switch on the camera, inserting a filter 'key' or screwing in a thread, depending on the camera. With the filter removed the film speed is 64 ASA. With the filter in place a little light is lost (2/3 of an 'f' stop) and the film is effectively only 40 ASA. As mentioned preveously, many cameras will not automatically detect this films ASA. See our 'Shooting Ektachrome 64t' page for more details. Of the colour reversal stocks available, this stock is by far the grainiest of the three. This can be a disappointment for people familiar with Kodachrome.

Note that we can also process this stock as 40 ASA for use in cameras that are not capable of reading 64ASA film. Similarly, we can also Push process this stock to 160 ASA for lower light use. We sell 64t in a specially modified cartridge called PUSH160 to make this easier.

Ektachrome 100d.
We have been selling this stock for a number of years. During that time this stock, while always a kodak film stock, was put in cartridges and packaged by companies other than Kodak. this made 100d more expensive than other stocks. Now the situation is reversed and this is the main and cheapest super 8 stock. Ektachrome 100d is a 100 ASA daylight ballanced stock. It has very slightly more contrast and less colour saturation than 64t. Even though this is a higher film speed than 64t, 100d is noticably superior with regards to grain.This is really an exceptionally good super 8 colour stock. It is as fine grained as Kodachrome, but much more colourful. It is the stock of choice for daylight filming. As a rule of thumb, daylight stocks are always finer grained than their tungsten ballanced counterparts because they comprise more blue sensitive grains and blue sensitive grains are the smallest. The cartridges have no filter notch, thus allowing cameras with filter notch readers to automatically remove the camera's internal colour correction filter. If your camera has a tungsten/daylight switch for the internal filter, then put the filter in the 'tungsten' (no filter) position.

This stock copes well with being pushed 1 and 1/3rd stops to 250 asa and can even take 400 asa and yield acceptable results. Please ask if you want us to notch 100d carts for these higher asa speeds (we call these PUSH250 for the 250 ASA version).

As noted above, many 40/160 cameras are actually 40 tungsten, 25 daylight / 160 tungsten, 100 daylight cameras. The difference is that the latter type are capable of reading the filter notch on super 8 cartridges. This is the lower notch on the side of the film cartridge. These cameras are capable of reading Ektachrome 100d automatically and without the operator making any ajustments. The filter notch reader is a little button inside the film chamber that is depressed by cartridges that have no filter notch. In depressing this button, the camera's internal colour correction filter is removed automatically and cannot be accidently put back in. Thus 100d is 100ASA in daylight. The down side here is that to use daylight films indoors under tungsten lights you need to use an external blue (80A) filter that cuts out a whoping 2 stops of light, making 100d only 25 ASA under tungsten lighting. How do you know if your camera has a notch reader? In general, 40/160 cameras that do not have a notch reader have a simple switch for removing the camera's internal filter. This switch usually has a picture of the sun in one position and of a light bulb in the other. 40/160 cameras that do have a noth reader usually require a more convoluted method for removing the internal filter, such as a filter 'key' or a screw that must be inserted. To use this stock in non-filter-notch-reading 40/160 cameras (a mouthful in itself!), one would have to make a similar ajustment of two thirds of an 'f' stop as when shooting 64t in these cameras, but in the other direction - i.e. open the lens 2/3 of a stop as in if the camera's meter indicates an exposure of f8, then set the exposure to f5.6+1/3. In short, 100d is a good stock for fine grain shooting in daylight. It is not really suitable for shooting under lights.

Plus-X (7265).
100 asa in daylight, 80 under tungsten. This is a very fine grained stock - much finer than Tri-x and probably the finest grained super 8 stock ever. Its lower contrast yields an 'even' toned result with a wide range of greys. This is the stock to use for general black and white shooting in normal light levels (not low light) where you don't want to emphasise grain or a super 8 'look'. Note that previous version of Plus-X were rated as 50 asa. This stock is notched for 100asa daylight but gives in my opinion even finer results when 'pulled' to the older speed of 50asa. When using cameras with exposure compensation dials, this can simply be done by setting the camera to '+1'. Note that some 40/160 cameras that don't have a filter notch reader will most likely expose this stock as 160 asa - an under exposure of 2/3 of a stop.

It is worth noting that Kodak have discontinued this stock and it is only available while stocks last.