Category:Revue

From Super8wiki

Quelle is a large European company with several department stores and a large mail-order-division. They're famous for selling "relabled" goods much cheaper than the "original". "Revue" is one of their brands, mainly used for photo/video/film:

It looks like all "Revue"-Super8-cameras have been produced by Chinon. (There's still a small chance that some of them have been produced by Eumig, Bauer, Silma or Cosina, though.)
Some of "Revue"-Super8-projectors have been produced by Chinon, Silma, Eumig and Norris.
The "Revue"-Super8-filmstock was produced by Agfa.
Many of the "Revue"-Super8-movies have been produced by Piccolo, others have been done by Ullstein, ... . A short history of the "Revue"-Super8-movies (German)
...

Unfortunately Quelle has stopped supporting Super8 via its mail-order-division. Hence it's very likely that all department stores have stopped selling Kodak-Super8-filmstock, ... , too. They're still selling tripods, ..., though.

The main arguments for selling the "Revue"-items cheaper than the "original" ones have been buying larger quantities (and hence getting rebates from the producers) and offering other terms of warranties. Nevertheless it's still very difficult to say whether some "Revue"-cameras are exactly the same as their "Chinon"-counterparts:

The model-numbers have been changed in most cases.
In most cases the lenses have been -at least- relabeled. Since you won't find any hint whether the lenses' coatings are as good as the "Chinon"-ones, there's no proof whether the lenses are the same or of minor quality (and hence cheaper).
Some of the projectors definately do have cheaper and weaker optics, hence it might happen that the same camera was sold with a 1.2f-lense from Chinon, while the Revue-model only has got a 1.4f one (e.g.).
The manuals have been replaced.
Sometimes even the microphones or other accessories (bags, remote releases, eye-pieces, ...) differ.
It might happen that some models have been sold as "Chinon" from 1976-77 (e.g.), while the "Revue"-versions have been available 1978-79. Of course this doesn't matter anymore, since all "Revue"-/"Chinon"-cameras are now "outdated". ;-)

The final question for the actual Super8-second-hand-market: Will the "Revue"-items be as good as the "original" ones? The answer is: yes - except for some projectors with replaced optics. This is because everyone knew the real origins of the "Revue"-items. And no company wanted to ruin its reputation. Nevertheless you'll notice that the "Revue"-models mainly reflect Chinon's/Eumig's/... low-cost or mid-range product-lines. Hence you'll mainly find "work horses" and no real "flagships" in this section.

Revue in the camerapedia