It all began back in the 1920s, when Kodak introduced the first compact 16mm cameras. At the time, filmmaking was a luxury — film was expensive, and processing took time. Still, the idea of capturing your own movie sparked excitement.
In 1932, Kodak made a breakthrough: the 2×8mm (Double 8) format, which let you shoot on both sides of the film strip, cutting costs significantly. The Cine-Kodak 8 Model 20 could hold 10 meters of film — enough for a four-minute story. A small revolution!
Soon came other brands, like Agfa and Keystone, and even the first cassette-loading camera: Agfa Movex 8. Then, in 1935, came color. Kodak released Kodachrome, and for the first time, amateur filmmakers could shoot in color — even before professionals!
By the 1950s, most cameras ran on a spring motor. You’d wind it up, shoot for 20–30 seconds, and wind it again. But everything changed in 1965 when Kodak launched Super 8: a new format with bigger frames, better quality, and easier operation thanks to film cassettes. Cameras became smarter, too — with automatic exposure, zoom lenses, and fun effects like fade-outs and time-lapse shooting.
Our collection includes Super 8 cameras by Canon and Seiko, and even home editing tools like the Diamond Dia 3-Way Editor.
Then in 1973, came sound. Kodak added a magnetic strip to the film (Ektasound), and cameras like the GAF XL/2 Sound came with microphones. For the first time, you could tell your story with words and music. A real voice to go with your images! You’ll also find the Titan sound projector from Japan in our exhibition.
And while videotape eventually replaced film in the 1980s, Super 8 never truly disappeared. Today it lives on in festivals, special film runs, and the hearts of fans who love its charm.
What about the Soviet Union? Starting in the 1960s, several factories began producing their own cameras. Some used older formats, others tried to keep up with global trends. The Ekhran-3 was small, easy to use, and had three lenses on a rotating turret. The Sport-4 came with an electric motor and manual frame-by-frame shooting.
When Super 8 arrived in the West, the Krasnogorsk factory responded with two models in 1968–69: Quartz 2×8C (for reels) and Quartz 1×8C-2 (for cassettes). They used spring motors — a smart choice in the USSR, where batteries were often hard to find.
Quartz 1×8C-2 became the favorite: reliable, user-friendly, with automatic exposure and surprisingly good optics. But unlike in the West, sound Super 8 film was never developed in the USSR.
Soviet manufacturers also made 16mm cameras, like Kyiv-16U — with a rotating turret, interchangeable drives (battery or spring), and semi-automatic exposure. These were often used by film clubs, research centers, and institutions because of their high cost.
And sometimes, creativity did more than technology. One special item in our exhibition is a homemade underwater case for the Quartz camera, crafted by brothers Serhii and Yurii Verbytskyi. Yurii later became a Hero of Ukraine and a participant in the Revolution of Dignity.
📽️ This section of the museum tells the story of a time when people made films by hand — frame by frame, with care and imagination. Every second of film was a memory, a moment, a little bit of magic.
