8mm Movie Camera
In 1974, responding to a "for sale" ad in a New York newspaper, I bought a Canon 8mm movie camera from a guy in Brooklyn.
As a film student in High School, I used it extensively over the next few years.
With interchangeable lenses and manual f-stop and focus settings, it was the closest thing to "pro" I could afford.
Thirty-three years later, after corresponding with a camera collector in California, I learned that my camera was
"a little more special" than I knew. It seems that Canon produced this camera in very small numbers, and
never actually sold it at retail, opting instead for a more elaborate variation, the turreted Cine 8-T.
How that "guy in Brooklyn" came to own a not-sold-anywhere camera will likely remain a mystery....
If you have any more information or insight into this camera, please write me.
Here is my camera, the Canon Cine Model 8-S, on the left,
and the first 8mm movie camera sold by Canon, the Cine 8-T, on the right:
Several lenses were available ... 6.5, 13, 25, 38, 50, and 75mm.
Other than the lack of a turret, one difference between the 8-S and 8-T is that
the viewfinder on the 8-S is not set up to use the 50mm lens
Another difference between the two cameras: The 8-T has an additional viewfinder that
allows one to look through (and focus) the lens that is not currently in use by the camera.
The 8-S has a plugged hole where the viewfinder would be.
This would suggest that Canon was planning to use the same body for both the one- and two-lens models,
but then dropped the single lens model altogether.
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Here is the serial number plate on my 8S
Here is the manual for the Canon Cine 8-T. There was no manual specifically for the 8S, at least not in the USA.
Canon maintains a webpage describing the 8-T, which includes a mention of the 8S:
"A lower class camera, the Canon 8S with a simpler viewfinder and without a turret, was also designed, but it was not marketed."
This Canon history page shows the 8-T on the timeline.
There is an enthusiast webpage that goes into more detail on the 8-T. Take a look!
Here are pictures of 8T advertising, found on the Canon site.
There is of course no marketing for the 8-S.
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