Equipments
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Modern usage
The two major suppliers of 16 mm film today are Kodak and Fujifilm. 16 mm film is still used in television today, such as for the Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology series and "24" in the US. In the UK, the format is still exceedingly popular for dramas and commercials; in fact, the BBC has a large part in the history of the format. They worked extensively with Kodak back in the 1950s and 1960s to bring 16 mm to a professional level, since the BBC needed cheaper, more portable production solutions while maintaining a higher quality than was offered at the time, when the format was almost exclusively for amateur filmmaking. Today the format also is frequently used for student films, while usage in documentary has almost disappeared. With the advent of HDTV, Super 16 film is still used for some productions destined for HD. Some low-budget theatrical features are shot on Super-16 such as "Chasing Amy"; ironically, thanks to advances in film stock and digital technology - specifically digital intermediate (DI) - the format now seems to be seen as revitalized option. Vera Drake, for example, was shot on Super 16 mm film, digitally scanned at a high resolution, edited and color graded, and then printed out onto 35 mm film via a laser film recorder. Because of the digital process, the quality of the final 35 mm print is high enough to often fool professionals into thinking the footage was shot on 35 mm.
In Britain most exterior television footage was shot on 16 mm from the 1960s until the 1980s, when the development of more portable television cameras and videotape machines led to video replacing 16 mm in many instances. Some drama shows and documentaries were made entirely on 16 mm, notably Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown, The Ascent of Man and Life on Earth. The advent of digital television and widescreen sets led to the widespread use of Super 16. However, improvements in film stock have resulted in a dramatic improvement in picture quality since the 1970s.
A 1995 American movie Leaving Las Vegas was shot on 16 mm.
Cameras
Professional cameras
Today, the professional industry tends to use 16 mm cameras from Arri and Aaton, most notably the Arri SR3 (and similar variants) and the Aaton XTRprod. Recently Aaton released the A-Minima, which is about the size of a camcorder and has been used for specialized filming requiring smaller or more versatile cameras. In addition, Arri recently came out with the 416. Photo Sonics have special extremely high speed cameras for 16 mm which can go up to 10,000 frames per second. Panavision even has a rarely-seen model known as "the Elaine" which appears to be making somewhat of a comeback.
Amateur cameras
For amateur, hobbyist, and student usage it is more economical to use older models from Arri and Aaton as well as Auricon, Beaulieu, Bell and Howell, Bolex, Canon, Cinema Products, Eclair, Mitchell, and others.
Creation
Amateur films were usually shot on 16 mm film or on 8 mm film (Either Double-8 or Super-8) until the advent of cheap video cameras or digital equipment. The advent of digital video and computer based editing programs greatly expanded the technical quality achieveable by the amateur and low budget film maker.
