Bell & Howell Filmosonic XL Super 8 Camera

We love talking about super 8 film cameras here on Retro Thing, and usually we talk about the now rare high end cameras that were expensive even in their day.  There were a number of mid-level movie cameras too, and these are a heck of a lot easier to find these days!

Bell & Howell issued this Filmosonic XL camera in 1974.  Inside the box is a camera that's ready for a plug-in microphone to record audio along with sound on special Super 8 carts.  Super 8 sound cartridges are long gone, but the camera is still a good affordable basic unit even today.  The "XL" is short for "existing light" - it's shutter is suited to filming indoors without photofloods.  It also uses regular batteries - sometimes cameras use exotic batteries that have been unavailable for years to power the light meter.

I got this setup for under ten dollars - truthfully I was attracted to the highly 70's art on the front cover, but I wouldn't hesitate to run some film through this cam.  It may not have the image quality and control that a sweet Canon 1014 XL-S offers, but with this camera you'll have a few hundred dollars left over for film!