bell & howell super8 projector model 266ex

[leadlike]

Ahh-what you have their is a bare-bones projector that likely still works. B&H of course, have their claim to fame in producing the Filmosound line of 16mm projectors that every high school and institutional space seemed to have from the 50s to the 90s. Their super 8 offerings were typically rebadged cameras and projectors, mostly made by Chinon. I'm not sure who produced their metal 8mm projectors though, but they produced probably a couple of dozen variants on this design over the years. They offered them in 8mm and Super 8 formats (same film width, different sprocket holes and pitch) although I think they did eventually offer this in a dual 8 (8 and super 8 at the flick of a switch) so you didn't need to own two projectors to show those formats. The neatest one is a Filmosound super 8 projector with a sync plug that allowed you to playback your sound home movies. The super 8 Filmosound system included a camera, tape recorder and projector that provided a primitive Vitaphone-type sound for your movies.

Now as for actually using this projector-if I had it, I wouldn't. For what films cost, even on the used market, it is very easy to shred film on these. When a top of the line super 8 projector can be had for under $100 dollars, you're better off using something like that if you wanted to seriously shoot and project film (yes, super 8 and 8mm stocks are still available). The other issue is the projection bulb-it is typically expensive to replace the sealed-reflector types as they've been obsolete for years. A new bulb could cost as much as 40 dollars, and may only be rated for 10 hours of running! But all that being said, if you just wanted a demonstration piece, where you could spin off a reel of silent Popeye cartoons, then this could sit on the shelf for years in between projections and suffer no real problems.

[nasadowsk]

Originally Posted by leadlike

B&H of course, have their claim to fame in producing the Filmosound line of 16mm projectors that every high school and institutional space seemed to have from the 50s to the 90s.

The later (green) Filmosounds aren't that wonderful, especially the autojam ones. The older brown ones are actually nicer, but they're noisy and you have to *gasp!* thread them manually. I've never seen an autojam that actually worked right more than 1/2 the time....

My elementary used Singer projectors, which were teacher-easy the thread. I think there was one non autojam B&H and an Elmo kicking around. A 16mm Elmo? Yep.

By the time I got to high school, it was all film transferred to videotape, which meant you listened to warbly audio while watching orange and blue blobs move around on a 25 inch screen. VHS sucked royally, especially after a zillion views in less than perfect equipment. But it was 'high tech' and we need our schools to be 'high tech'...