Canon Zoom DS-8

Canon Zoom DS-8

Double Super 8

Year: 1970

Made in Japan

Instruction manual: Canon DS-8 instruction manual on www.mondofoto.com

Service manual: Canon service manual on www.myoldcamera.com

Original price in England (in the year of introduction): &pound;382 Original price in Japan: 200,000 yen

Value: US$450 11/1999 private sale, US$810 02/2005 eBay, US$250 07/2005 eBay.

http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/cine/cl/1970_ds8_cl-1.jpg

Comments
Technical specs from the Canon Museum: The Super 8 magazine developed by Eastman Kodak was a revolution in 8mm movie cameras because of its easy film loading. However, it could not satisfy requirements from professional photographers, who demanded Kodachrome film for conventional regular 8. Kodak introduced double-width 100-ft Super 8 film on a reel for professional use under the name DS-8.

The Zoom DS-8, developed to adapt to this new film, used the outer design of the 16mm Canon Scoopic camera for journalistic use, which had an ideal human-engineering design. This model had the shape of the Scoopic, but the contents were totally new. Film transportation with sprockets, variable shutter opening angle, Servo EE were applied to this model, achieving a serious 8mm movie camera with full specifications and high durability for use in the media, academic and industrial fields.

The zoom lens was based on that of the Auto Zoom 814 Super 8 marketed in 1967.

by geoval
In 1965 Kodak introduced double-width 100-ft Super 8 film on a reel for professional use under the name DS-8. Canon quickly adapted their pro Canon Scoopic 16mm camera for the new format and released it in 1970 as the Canon Zoom DS8. Inexplicably Canon hastily fitted this truly professional camera with what amounted to an enhanced version of the same 7.5 - 60mm f/1.4 lens that came with the consumer Canon Auto Zoom 814. Not a bad lens, mind you, but not world class performer either. So what makes this Super 8 tops? A professional built-in pressure plate for the steadiest images of any Super 8 camera I have ever tested! The lens may not be the sharpest of the bunch but the rock steady registration more than makes up for it. The Canon DS8 is built like a tank. You can go to war with it. But it’s quite heavy so bring a tripod. Canon DS8s are a little more expensive but they can save you money in the long run because one DS8 100’ daylight load equals four 50” Super 8 carts. Spectra sells 100’ DS8 daylight loads of Ektachrome 100D for $45 and processing at .45 per foot. That’s approximately a $50 savings. Do the math - geoval.

A Review from 2016
This is kind of an odd beast. It has the extended speed range of the later canon scoopics, but the same door/battery pinout design of the earlier canon scoopics. Unique to this camera however is the fully variable shutter, ability to put the camera in full reverse, that it has a tape recorder sync socket, and the fact that it takes standard AA batteries instead of the lithium ion cells. The lens is based off the Canon 814 E lens, so it is pretty good; it's sharp even at f1.4 and it gives really nice contrast in low-key lighting. I don't like the run-lock switch, I prefer the run-lock button on the later Scoopic models. Perhaps the nicest part of this camera is the solid registration, which will always enhance the quality your movies. It's a fairly rare camera, perhaps not as rare as a Sound Scoopic 200, but you may see 1 or 2 come up on Ebay per/year. The big question is, is it worth it to buy this camera over a Scoopic M/MS because you can run more film through it at 1/2 the price? I say no because I want quality > quantity. If you have the option of owning both though, go for it. It's a beautiful machine, take it to a film festival and you will be much the envy of Super8 and 16mm shooters.

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Canon DS-8