What you build
A printed cartridge with a Raspberry Pi inside. It loads like film and records video in your own Super 8 camera.
On this page
Your camera’s lens, viewfinder, trigger and motor work as they always did. Nothing on the camera is glued, drilled or soldered.
How it works
- A Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and a small sensor sit where the film would be.
- The camera’s take-up spindle turns a printed wheel. The wheel chops a beam of light, and that tells the Pi to record.
- Clips go onto a microSD card, and you get them off over WiFi.
The route
| Step | What you do | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Parts | Order the electronics | Shipping |
| Fit kit | Print it, measure it, try it in your camera | 1–2 h |
| Print the cartridge | About 70 min | |
| Wiring | Solder 7 pins on 4 nets | 1–2 h |
| Software | Flash the card and install the code kit | 45 min |
| Calibrate | Measure your camera’s motor speed | 15 min |
| Film | Load it like film and shoot |
About €70 in parts and a weekend: one evening to print and fit, one to wire and install.
Good to know
- Super 8 only. Single-8, Double Super 8 and 200 ft cartridges are other systems.
- Picture only. No sound, and no single-frame mode.
- Up to 43 fps. That is the sensor’s limit.
- A tighter picture. The sensor sees the middle 64 % of the frame, so a lens looks about 1.55 times longer.
- Focus to infinity needs the film gate out.