Understanding Differences of Regular 8mm & Super 8 Film THIS ITEM IS NOT FOR SALE and for educational purposes only.

Many people have forgotten if their home movies are Super 8 film or Regular 8mm film (Regular 8mm is also sometimes called Standard 8mm). Take a close look at the picture by clicking on it to enlarge and then you will be able to see how you can tell which film you have.

A Regular 8mm projector will not play Super 8 movie film. A Super 8 projector will not play Regular 8mm movie film. A DUAL 8 projector will play both Super 8 and Regular 8 movie film.

Film Reels:

Super 8: Reels designed for a Super 8 projector will have a larger hole in the center (approximately 1/2 inch in diameter). There is one thing to keep in mind if your films were created by your ancestors. Just because the film reel has a large hole and is a Super 8 reel does NOT mean the film will automatically be Super 8 film. Regular 8mm film will fit on a Super 8 reel and sometimes our the person creating the film reels mixed them up a bit. So check your movie film to make sure it fits the reel hole size. If you have Regular 8mm movie film on a Super 8 reel, I have an adapter that will fit in the Super 8 reel hole and convert that hole to Regular 8mm size so the reel won't flop around on the projector spindle. You can find that adapter under the MOVIE PROJECTORS in my store.

Regular 8mm: Regular 8mm reels have a small hole in the center of the reel approximately 1/4 inch in diameter. Almost always the movie film on a Regular 8mm reel is indeed Regular 8mm film as this reel will not fit on a Super 8 projector at all (hole too small) so rarely were this size of reel and film ever mixed up.

Dual 8: A Dual 8 reel is a Super 8 reel with a small Regular 8mm adapter installed in the center hole making it a Dual 8 reel. Dual 8 projectors are made to accept either the Regular 8mm reel or the Super 8 reel. If you projector is a Dual 8 and you cannot get your movie reel to fit properly on the feed spindle of the projector, then you are missing the reel adapter that fits into the center of the reel to make it fit properly. I have those reel adapters in my store under MOVIE PROJECTORS.


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