what is a Super-8 movie camera?

Question

and how does it work?

Answer 1

8 Millimeter film.

The "Home movie" film of choice in the 50-70s.
Older ones did not have sound.
It had a camera the same size as a modern video camera (non-sound).
You had to bring the used film into the processors, got it back in a couple of weeks.

Works on the same concept as photography film- negative on a Movie strip.
you then had a projector that ran the movie.
The finished movies tended to come back in little rolls the size of a mini-disk.
As you played the movie on the projector (against a screen or a white wall or sheet)
the movie rolled up into the collector reel.
When the movie was done, you had to re-roll it onto the original reel.
Same concept as the theater movies.
Moving pictures on celluloid film.

You can still get them transfered by a major camera store onto disk.

Answer 2

super 8 is an upgrade to traditional 8 mm home movies. the biggest difference is it came in a cartridge insead of on a spool making it easier to load the camera, and the picture image was slightly larger than traditional 8 mm, hence super as in super size.