Telecine Advice

[woods01]

Okay so for my transfers I have a black
transfer box and a mini-dv camera. I
know I need to get a multi speed projector
to improve on flicker but in the mean time
Is there anything else that can be done?

I do all my transfers at night in a dark
room. I feel that gives the sharpest picture
to transfer.

Also if anyone has some links to mpgs of
home transfered film that I could look at
that would be helpful too. Just to see how
other peoples transfers compare to mine.

[Alex]

The sharpness may simply be that you have prevented glare from reaching your camera lens. I have an old topic post on this very topic, but it never made it over to the new Hostboard.

Apparently, some ambient fill light can help reduce contrast a bit. Also, you can add a slight warming effect by not using pure black for he sides of your box. You may want to experiment with different colors of paper, particularly sand colored paper.

Experiment with the shutter speed of your video camera. By the way, which video camera are you using?

[woods01]

Well the box I use isn't one I made but a factory
built model. My Grandpa bought it about 10 years
ago to transfer his 8mm movies when he bought
a camcorder. Its just a basic black box with
a mirror in it.

The DV camera I use is a friends I don't know
much about the specs other than its a Sony. I
will have to check into the shutter speed
options on it. That sounds like that would
improve things.

Now about the ambient fill light. What would
your reccomend? Just leaving a light on in
the room or something more fancy?

[Alex]

The key is to experiment. But don't experiment with new film, but something you have already transferred to your satisfaction.

Transfer it again, and try different techniques. Talk out loud so the camera mike picks your voice, and verbalize what it is your are doing.

As you change shutter speeds, verbalize what shutter speed you are using, etc. Try preset for the white balence, the try auto-white balance.

I'll see if I can round up somebody else who has already experimented.

[woods01]

Well I mixed things up last night and had some
interesting results. Instead of using my
transfer box, I just aimed the video camera at
my projection screen. And adjusted the video
shutter speed. The result was the best transfer
yet. However this was for black and white film.

For the only reel of K40 I have shot. I used the
exact same set up and resulted in the flicker
being quite noticable. However I was pressed
for time and never tried to tweak it for the
new reel. But it was interesting that B&W
hides the flicker better. I will experiment
more when I get more colour film to work with.

[wahiba]

My efforts with a fixed speed projector and a hi-8 camcorder can be seen on my site listed below.

There are other problems to look out for besides flicker. Bulb bright spot from the projector can be a problem. This seems to be lessened by having the projector and camera at an angle to the screen. Get the angles exactly the same and it compensates out. There distances are too small to affect light. This seems to reduce bulb glare.

Having the projector and camcorder side by side works better than a back projection system.

Do not expect anything better than VHS quality, but of course you might be able to video at a higher resolution that 320 x 240, which is all my computer can live with.

The flikcer seems to be a problem of 60Hz countries. Those of us with 50Hz, and a Hi-8 camcorder that will run at 1/50 seem to have fewer problems.

[cameraguy]

I've tried many times with the basic projector and camcorder pointed at a wall. With a variable speed projector you can dial away the flicker easy enough. Biggest problem was always the "hot spot" and glare off the surface. I totally gave up on this method and I only recommend it for those who don't need or demand quality.

I bought a bunch of Bonum reels from a guy on ebay once. Weeks later he emailed me out of the blue offering me a bunch more. I took them and he told me that he was done transferring all his 1970's family Super 8 films. He used the black box method to VHS. He then told me all the reels he sold me use to contain all the film. HE THREW AWAY 5000 FEET OF FILM. What a waste [img]graemlins/film.gif[/img]

[woods01]

I feel bad for the guy who threw out his home
movies. I think everyone involved with this forum
knows about how VHS degrades with time. Not to
mention that the format may disappear in 10
years. Maybe sooner.

Some people just don't have a sense of the future.
One of my motivations to get a new computer is
back up 13 years worth of Hi-8 home movies onto
mini-dv and cd-r, they are already breaking down.
At the time we couldn't stand to watch those
videos. Now its amazing stuff. One of my younger
cousins first baby steps were caught on hi-8!

[cameraguy]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by woods01:
I feel bad for the guy who threw out his home
movies. I think everyone involved with this forum
knows about how VHS degrades with time. Not to
mention that the format may disappear in 10
years. Maybe sooner.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

The thing that gets me is that all he will ever have now is the low resolution VHS copy (black box transfer no less). Even if he burned some dvds it will still be VHS quality.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by woods01:
Some people just don't have a sense of the future. One of my motivations to get a new computer is
back up 13 years worth of Hi-8 home movies onto
mini-dv and cd-r, they are already breaking down.
At the time we couldn't stand to watch those
videos. Now its amazing stuff. One of my younger
cousins first baby steps were caught on hi-8!</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Me too. I bought a Sony GV-D200 digital 8 VTR and it plays the old 8mm/Hi8 tapes super clean and drop out free since with its built in TBC and with its firewire output your good to go with a NLE.