When Super-8 was presented, one of sales arguments to convince that part of the filmmakers who defended the better image stability of other motion pictures small gauges, was the standardisation of the claw position both in camera and projector.
In the original specification matching claw position in camera and projectors, the film is moved downwards by the claw. In the picture, the perforations are numbered -1, -2, -3... above the window gate, and +1, +2, +3 below the gate.
The design of the Super-8 cartridge is such that the camera claw is such that the camera claw must enter the perforation at -3, pull the film down and then leave the perforation at -2. The whole point of the Super-8 specification is that, in the projector, the claw should be in the same position relative to the gate as in the camera, entering perforation -3.
The argument in favours of this standardisation is that, if the perforations are unevenly spaced along the film, it will still be possible to project a steady picture, because the same perforation is being used to position the frame in the gate both in camera and projector. But, is this matching really worth while?
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| Fumeo projector double claw before pull down: frames + 1 and + 2 (photo from IB Cinema archive) |
NOT APPLICABLE TO SUPER-8.
In order to get good steadiness in film projection, a first essential is that the perforating of the film should be done with with accuracy and precise uniformity of spacing, otherwise, it would not be possible to obtain a steady projected picture. When the 16 mm gauge came along, in 1923!!!, this in general was perforated accurately, and the majority of 16 mm users were always well satisfied with the steadiness of their pictures, regardless of the claw position in the camera or the projector.
It was not until the 8 mm double-run film-stocks became popular for amateurs (over 9.5 mm or even 16 mm), in inmediate post II W.W. years, that complaints of serious unsteadiness began to be heard -and one reason for this trouble was that some of the double-run film-stocks then available were in fact 16 mm film which had been re-perforated to add additional perforations in between the existing 16 mm ones.
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| Fumeo 9145 xenon projector (2.200 meters reels) with claw after the window gate |
In the 50´s some of the 16 mm being re-perforated was ex-war stock which had been stored for some time and which had shrunk. Then, the spacing between "new" and old successive perforations would be alternately long and short. If this stock was shot with the typical double 8 camera, which the claw ends its pull-down at +2, after reversal processing, when the film was run in a projector in which the claw ends its pull-down at +3, the result was the picture on the screen will not be steady.
Thus, we see that certain 16 mm film reperforated to Double-8 mm can be unsatisfactory if the claw positions in camera and projector do not match.
But is this a valid reason for standardising on matching positions for Super-8 equipment?
The answer is no. Unlike Double-8, super-8 film cannot be made by adding additional perforations to 16 mm, because the pitch is different (16 mm has 40 frames per foot and Double-8 80, but Super-8 has 72 frames per foot), and there seems little possibility of badly-perforated Super-8 stock coming onto the film market.
The accuracy of perforation of film-stocks from manufactures as Kodak has always been very high, and there really doesn´t to be much point in making Super-8 projectors conform to the camera standard. So, matching claw positions in Super-8 cameras and projectors is not necessary.
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| ZC1000 double claw after pull down: frames + 3 and + 4 (photo from IB Cinema archive) |
THE BEST SUPER-8 PROJECTORS HAS THE CLAW BELOW THE GATE.
It may be noted that not all Super-8 projectors have conformed with the standard claw position, notably the prestigious Fumeo, Microtechnica and Heurtier projectors, all of which have the claw below the aperture (Fumeo Super-8 projectors are +1 + 2 to down +2+3, and Fujica ZC1000 is +2 +3 to down +3+4). From a technical point of view, it is always better to "pull" the film from below the window gate than to "push" it from above. Professional projectors in 16 mm or 35 mm always use the perforations under the gate window, with claw or Maltese Cross.
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| Shooting in 2023 with my ZC1000N near Mount Erebus, in th South Pole, at -35º Celsius |
WHAT ABOUT S8 CAMERAS WITH PERFECT STEADINESS?
- Why do Super-8 cameras have the claw pull down before the gate?, unlike most other film formats, including Single-8, which uses the same 8mm S-type film. This is because to the coaxial design of the Super-8 cartridge and its poor drag for film advance. With these cartridges, if the claw is below the gate, it would cause unesteady images and jams, as they discovered during the development of the Super-8 cartridge.
But most of Single-8 camera models, not only from Fuji, but from Canon and Elmo too, also have the claw below the window gate. I have projected these 8 mm type S films shot with Single-8 cartridges for years on projectors with claw over the gate, as the Fujicascope SH30, Braun Visacustic or the Beaulieu Studio, among others, always with perfect steadiness. In one of these stantardized projectors, films shot with the Canon 518SV in Single-8 version provides a more steady picture than the one obteined using same model for super-8, despite the fact that the latter has the standardized claw position matching with non professional projector.
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| Canon DS8 |
I have filmed a lot, during the last 4 decades, with two cameras, according to my results, able to give me the best steadiness ever obtained with projected revesal film original: both models has the claw below the gate. One is the Fuji ZC1000 (S8 film in Single-8 cartridge), the other one is the Canon DS8.
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| Canon DS8 claw after the window gate |
- I wrote this article in the hospital, at the request of Italian Senator Ugo Grassi
More information: ZC1000N
