The Small Gauge Hi8

Post by **mathis** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 12:42 pm

IÃ‚Â´m currently editing a Hi8 video and it keeps me reminded how beautiful analog video can be. I like it for the same reasons I like Super8: noise, noise, noise. Just different one...

Post by **sophocle** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 6:20 pm

I hear you--

I love hi8. The good part is that there are plenty of cheapish gear around.

Most of the video work I got payed for was on hi8. Good stuff.

Post by **mattias** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 7:05 pm

yeah, a while ago i watched a hi8 snowboarding video we shot circa 1995 and it was more than beautiful. we edited it in single field mode on a dc30 so it's progressive and even softer.

/matt

Post by **timdrage** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 7:47 pm

Yep, nice...

I like black + white video quite a lot generally... it's the colours that are not so nice (and in DV, not so high resolution!)

Post by **Actor** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 2:14 am

Just curious here. Why is the thread titled "The Small Gauge Hi8?" Is there more than one gauge of Hi8?

Post by **flatwood** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:35 am

Craig Brewer shot The Poor and Hungry in Memphis in Hi8 and edited in Premiere 4.2 to B & W. The film did great things for Brewer who parlayed it into his new film, Hustle and FLow.

Post by **S8 Booster** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 7:04 am

i have transferred quite some hi8 to minidv/mac using a PC120 as a A/D converter and - for some reason it looks noticeably better than the original stuff when viewed on tv but never better than the PC120 originated stuff.

s8hÃƒÂ´ÃƒÂ´t

Post by **timdrage** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 1:04 pm

Since we're on the subject of video, I'll just plug http://videothing.blogspot.com/

Quite a lot of cool stuff posted there recently, but we need more readers!

Post by **bakanosaru** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:57 pm

Out of curiousity which Hi8 cameras would be the ones to look out for?

(It's hard not to have a soft spot for analogue video...)

Post by **flatwood** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:12 am

bakanosaru wrote:Out of curiousity which Hi8 cameras would be the ones to look out for? (It's hard not to have a soft spot for analogue video...)

How about a nice Sony DXC 325 or 327 (3 half inch ccds) with a hi8 back and that great Canon hot plug lens for a few hundred these days? This rig cost around ten grand a decade ago and gives you a beautiful 400 line picture. You can also plug a Beta SP deck onto this head. It's a big, professional camera. You can find on ebay (I know because Ive bought and sold them on there)l.

Post by **filmbuff** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:00 am

bakanosaru wrote:Out of curiousity which Hi8 cameras would be the ones to look out for?

(It's hard not to have a soft spot for analogue video...)

I really like the Sony TR700 and still use one to this day. They go crazy cheap these days.

5 years ago I bought a pricey Sony VX-3 (3 ccd) but dumped that because the TR700 gave an image pretty much equal to it.

Post by BK » Tue Feb 21, 2006 3:54 am

mathis wrote:IÃ‚Â´m currently editing a Hi8 video and it keeps me reminded how beautiful analog video can be. I like it for the same reasons I like Super8: noise, noise, noise. Just different one...

I don't have a Hi 8 camera but a Japanese NTSC 3 chip VHS-C palmcorder. The footage produced has a certain noise and colour quality very similar to Ektachrome film, actually rather like the 64T, one of the engineers at Panasonic must be a Ektachrome fan!

When I used it last I tricked the camera to record a S-VHS signal on a normal VHS tape by making a extra detection hole on the cassette...result was more noise but the video resolution was still there.

See if I can upload a few pics.

Bill

Post by **mathis** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 8:13 am

bakanosaru wrote:Out of curiousity which Hi8 cameras would be the ones to look out for?

(It's hard not to have a soft spot for analogue video...)

I own a Sony VX1-E and have no comparison. But I like it so much that I just spent more than 200 Euros for service.

And S-VHS is definitely something to look at, maybe I would even prefer S-VHS. A Panasonic S-VHS Camcorder gives you fine pictures.

Post by **Angus** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 9:32 am

I've had a Samsung VPH65 hi8 camcorder for around nine years now. It's OK, produced acceptable analogue video at around 400 line resolution.

Last year I was given a Panasonic SVHS-C camcorder which has manual aperture control and extreme low light capability...good for those but the recordings are inferior to the hi8.

I'd never say either camcorder produces good pictures, but they're acceptable. I've never liked video noise or distortion...analogue or digital. But if one transfers to DVD carefully before watching the tape a bunch of times the results are acceptable.

Post by **MovieStuff** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 1:17 pm

Toshiba made a really sweet professional 3CCD Hi-8 some years back. A customer of mine had one and we used it for quite a few things. The picture had a nice, "soft" quality to it. I don't mean it wasn't sharp because it actually was suprisingly sharp. I mean it didn't have a harsh video look to it like so many other cameras. Very forgiving on the highlites. I wouldn't mind having one and could probably pick one up cheap, these days. Repairs might be problematic.

Roger

Filmshooting

The Small Gauge Hi8

The Small Gauge Hi8

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