8mm film

Developed by the Eastman Kodak company during the Great Depression to create an even less expensive home movie format, 8mm film is simply 16mm film sliced down the middle, fitting four times as many frames in the same amount of film.

Common length film spools allowed to film about 3 to 4 min at 12, 15, 16 and 18 frames per second, the camera user had to reverse the film spools after filming on one side and then he could film on the other. It was sometime called double 8.

8mm was largely replaced in the 1960s by Super 8mm film, with a slightly larger picture area and an easy cartridge-loading system obviating the need to swap film spools.