#Homemade film transfer?
6 messages in this thread
I've got some old 8mm film I would like to transfer. Any suggestions on the
best homemade setup to do this. Thanks in advance
Joel,
Here is the expert opinion of the day (big grin) (although I would like to know
its shortcomings from someone who does know what they are talking about …)
Point the 8mm projector at a wall, and put your camcorder directly to the left
or right of it. Creative framing et al., record.
-John
John ,you hit the nail on the head. At this very moment the old Bell & Howell
is sitting on the desk with the 450 on a tripodnext to it. I use a semi-glossy
poster board on the wall. I have found that by keeping the projected image
small (8-10 inches wide) the contrast is reduced. Also because of the high
light output of the projector I reduce the manual iris a bit. I found that by
setting the white balance to the outdoor setting I get more of a natural color
rendition ( don't ask me why, I don't know <g>). And don't forget to clean the
40 years of dust from the film. I use Edwal anti stat film cleaner, I think
it's still made (not like the 8mm splices i tried to buy recently, I got a
chuckle from the guy in the camera store). It's a tedious job, but with most of
the specks removed, some of this stuff actually looks good. The only fallback
with this setup is that you have to be an octopus to reach all the
controls……..
arnie
John, Arnie:
>Point the 8mm projector at a wall, and put your camcorder directly to the left
or right of it. Creative framing et al., record.<
I seem to recollect another method back in the days of Super-8 filmmaking that
also might work for film-tape transfers: you project the film image into a
magnifying glass and videotape the magnifying glass image. Supposedly, it
worked better than shooting off a wall (tho I've had pretty good results
w/that, too).
Hope this helps,
Tim Liebe
Tim
> you project the film image into a magnifying glass and videotape the
magnifying glass image<
sounds like a interesting concept, I have been trying to align this setup for
about an hour now with no results. Could you elaborate on this a bit, i.e.
distance between projector and camera. Also I am a little concerned about
projecting a magnified image directly into the lens, or does the magnifier work
as a condensor lens?
arnie
Arnie:
>> you project the film image into a magnifying glass and videotape the
magnifying glass image<<
>sounds like a interesting concept, I have been trying to align this setup for
about an hour now with no results. Could you elaborate on this a bit, i.e.
distance between projector and camera.<
Oh, Jeez! It's been about fifteen years since I last tried it (back when I was
living at home & going to college)–but it seems to me that the distance
between projector and magnifying glass wasn't more than a foot or two (enough
to get the full projected image comfortably onto the glass w/out slopover), and
the distance from glass to camera wasn't more than three feet, fully zoomed in.
(Of course, I've since lost the magazine the article was in, so I can't check
the number for sure…)
>Also I am a little concerned about projecting a magnified image directly into
the lens, or does the magnifier work as a condensor lens?<
Actually, it works more like a REAL accurate screen, w/no texture to
accidentally get incorporated into the image. The time I tried it, the results
were very good, but the setup was so complicated (my magnifying glass kept
slipping, I had a hell of a time aligning the elements, and my Mom needed the
kitchen table <g>) that I set it aside for a future date.
Sorry I can't be of more help,
Tim