From The Archives: Super 8 Film in Eastern Colorado

I love capturing moments on Super 8 film because it provides a timeless element that digital doesn't achieve naturally. The grain, flicker, and imperfections make everything feel alive and take me back to a time when things felt more simple.

We took a trip out to the plains and rolling hills of eastern Colorado, far from modern civilization and remote enough to escape any sort of signal. The compositions were simple, yet breathtaking with the landscape and animals around the area. The blue sky and orange/brown landscape provided sharp contrast at the horizon, so I could test this specific film stock in outdoor lighting. I let the camera do all the work this time around, keeping it set to auto-exposure mode, but it helped me concentrate more on the moment.

This was an initial test run I did using a Pro8-13 200T film cartridge. It's a tungsten-balanced film stock that gives the footage a subtle blue-toned atmosphere. I shot this film in the dead of winter, so the ground and foliage were already very orange and brown. Shooting on a Minolta XL601 Super 8 camera, the built-in 85 filter automatically engaged to color correct the blue tint and really brought out the oranges in the landscape.

The entire roll was captured using automatic exposure, so the camera dynamically managed the lighting conditions throughout the shoot. Some of the resulting shots were a bit dark and underexposed, but not bad for an initial test run.

Next, I'm going to try a different film stock, testing the Pro8/07 ASA 250 film cartridge on the Oregon coast. This particular film is daylight balanced and will help provide more crisp direct sunlight and golden hour shots that I'll be going for this time. It's a 50 foot roll, so I should get 3 minutes and 20 seconds at 18 FPS. Stay tuned for more ✌️&❤️

Created: May 28, 2026