Welcome to Photo.net: A Community of Photographers

828 Film

Lora Christy , Mar 21, 2010; 10:58 a.m.

I have a Coronet Cub camera that I think takes 828 film. Just wondering if it would be possible to use regular 35mm film instead, and would I have to do anything differently if so?

Thanks

Responses

Michael R. Freeman , Mar 21, 2010; 11:03 a.m.

See the last paragraph here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/828_film

Terry Dent , Mar 21, 2010; 11:14 a.m.

B+H has some Portra 160 you can buy, $12
(link)

Larry Dressler , Mar 21, 2010; 12:00 p.m.

It was a roll film camera that used unperforated 35mm film. If you have the take up spool or the supply spool you are in good shape I used to cut down 120 paper and just use perforated 35mm film in the one I had but I have seen tons of Porta un perf on ebay and also by other dealers.
Also I have a film splitter that I made to cut 120 down to 127 so I figure if you wanted you could make one to cut it down to the right size for 828.

http://www.filmforclassics.com/sh_fees.html

John Shriver , Mar 21, 2010; 01:40 p.m.

35mm perforated film stock is a good bit thicker than rollfilm stock, so it can be a tight squeeze on the tiny spools. So slitting down 120 film is one good option, since it it thin.
Portra 160NC is still readily available in 100 foot rolls of unperforated film. $55 for 100 feet. You can use that to reload spools and backing paper.
828 spools and backing paper are both moderately rare, and fragile.
Note that a few 828 cameras require the indexing holes punched in the film, and can't be used in the "red window" manner. For those, the only choice is vintage film.

Larry Dressler , Mar 21, 2010; 01:47 p.m.

John what cameras are those as i have had only a few Kodaks that just used red windows. or had mechanical advance.

Shalom Septimus , Mar 21, 2010; 11:52 p.m.

Only 828 camera I've ever used is a Flash Bantam; it uses the index hole to provide a positive stop at each exposure, preventing you from overwinding and missing the frame, but it works fine without the holes as long as you keep an eye on the red window (OK, so it's green on this camera).

I've slit 120 down to 828; I found that if you do it right, meaning you slit it along the edge with the 6x9 frame numbers, the 6x4.5 frame numbers will fall right in the window with almost perfect spacing for the 828 frame. (I still manage to do it backwards half the time...)

(I also found that if you slit 120 down to 127, if you want the numbers to line up correctly, the only way it works right is if you first wind the whole roll onto a takeup spool and then slit it the other way, so it goes from 12 down to 1, and don't forget to tape the loose end.)

Nicholas Andre , Mar 25, 2010; 10:45 p.m.

You would have to load it onto the funky reels and backing paper that accompany the format. This works best with unperforated 35mm film because you expose over the perforations. In short, it's doable, but not fun to do more than once.

You can buy prepackaged 828 film at B&H for the handsome sum of $12 a roll. If you want it, it's there.

Back to top

Notify me of Responses