Quickie Motion Pictures

Beginning soon, a wedding photographer carrying a $189 movie camera loaded with super 8-mm. film will be able to take sound motion pictures of the bride's arrival at church and have the movie ready to show at the reception. Films of football games will be developed quickly enough for a coach to deliver a motion-picture critique at half time. Amateur cinematographers may even be able to drop off film at a drugstore, take a fast coffee break, and then pick up the finished footage.

In the race to introduce the first instant movie film, Eastman Kodak Co. last week took a quick step ahead of its rival, Polaroid Corp. Kodak showed off its new Supermatic 8 processor, in which 50 ft. of movie film can be developed in less than 13 1/2 min. by an unskilled operator v. the 20 to 30 min. required by highly paid technicians using conventional equipment. The compact machine is roughly the size and shape of an office photocopying machine; only an hour is needed to learn how to run it.

The operator feeds a short section of film from a specially designed cartridge into a slot. Then the machine takes over, developing the film and even winding it onto a take-up reel, ready for projection. Because the device can be operated by a low-paid inexperienced worker, it will prove cheaper than conventional equipment in the long run. Indeed, the machine could be the precursor of the long-sought device to process color slides quickly.

The fast developer will go on the market in mid-1974. It will probably turn up first in television news departments, some of which are switching to super 8 from more expensive 16-mm. film, and pose a threat to suppliers of videotape equipment; tape is much costlier and harder to edit than film. Though amateur movie buffs will benefit from the fast processor, they should pause before rushing to place an order. The price is $12,500.

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