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8mm film scanners

Posted: Tue May 29, 2018 6:22 pm
by Roy1
Hi. Has anybody had experience of 8mm. film scanners which convert film to digital on an sd card. I am interested in obtaining one but I have read so many contradictary reports by users, mainly from USA, Some highly praising the wolverine and others damning them completely. I really don't know what to do about a purchase. They have to be bought from USA or China and it's expensive to return them if needbe I have seen a German one advertised but as the offer is in the German language as is the user Manual I couldn't entertain it.

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 3:11 pm
by tom hardwick
Film scanners? You want to digitise your side collection or you want to transfer cine film to DVD/BD?

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 4:52 pm
by Roy1
I want a machine that converts 8mm film to an SD card by scanning the film frame by frame. They are called 8mm film scanners and there are several makes on the market. Eventually I will use the SD card in a card reader and use adobe premiere to possible edit and make a DVD or BD using encore or IMGburn. But as I wrote origonally I have read so many different views on the product, I would like to hear from someone who has actually used the product.

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 6:27 pm
by tom hardwick
There are a lot of YouTube videos extolling the virtues and otherwise of Wolverine film scanners. I imagine they're designed to run on 120v and they're slow; a little 50' reel will take ½ hr to digitise and still need timeline editing to get the speed right. They can only transfer mute footage. They're not terribly expensive, and in side by side comparison with expensively transferred footage the results look somewhat soft.
Have you tried any other transfer methods Roy?

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 8:23 am
by Roy1
Tom. I have in fact transferred 8mm films to DVD and BD's for many years. I started by using a video cam camcorder onto a a film projected on a white screen. I then used a gadjet that allowed you to project the film via a mirror onto a fresnal screen. The camcorder was then filmed from the fresnal screen. This eliminated any hot spot from the projector lamp. To eliminate any projector noise I took a lead from the line output of the projector to the audio input of the camcorder making sure that the impedance matched on both machines. To elimate any flicker I either used the speed control of a Eumig Projector or if using the Elmo or Baur projector I used a variable voltage regulator. If you would like to see the results of one of the transferred films you can either log on to You Tube and search for >Royfromdurham< and play LAS PALMAS. Or you can log onto Member Collection on the IAC website where all my videos can be viewed including LAS PALMAS. Let me know what you think. It's not perfect but it's watchable. As you can tell it's a fiddly and time consuming way of transferring and I thought a Wolverine film scanner would be better and sharper as it scans frame at a time. BTW the Wolverine operates on 110/240 volts. Thanks for your interest.

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 8:41 am
by Cathy Poole
Was that a side collection, a sideboard collection, or a slide collection?

We all get our worms wrong sometimes. Don't we Tom?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Roy1,

You could contact The Widescreen Centre

www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/film-depart ... nsfer-sets

They sell a video transfer set for £199.99

or have a look at

www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/film-depart ... e-services

Unfortunately, at the moment, they've suspended their professional transfer facilities.

If you email

simon@widescreen-centre.co.uk

he'll give you any latest news about all this.

I hope this information has been of some help.


Cathy Poole

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 8:51 am
by tom hardwick
Lass Palmas 25 years ago. Good to see, Roy. Looked a bit crowded on the roads even back then. You've put a lot of work into new titles, cleaning the film and so on.

Technically yes, there's a hot spot, but projectors were normally set up that way to make the film seen brighter. Correctable on most projectors by adding a lamp diffuser or repositioning the lamp. Filming with your video camera at or near maximum aperture only exacerbates the problem.

Your edge masking isn't consistent either, and this is a bit distracting - along with (camcorder) exposure fluctuations at scene changes.

Did you apply colour correction and sharpening on the timeline? These can make a huge difference to the overall look of your film.

Of course the Wolverine is going about things the right way, but I wish they'd spent more money on a really good lens, the hinge-pin of the whole operation.

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 8:54 am
by Cathy Poole
Dear Roy1,

I forgot to mention, but you'll see it when you read it.

The Widescreen Centre is selling off their film transfer equipment,
so might well be interested in buying it from them.

www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/film-depart ... e-services


Cathy Poole

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 9:43 am
by Roy1
Thanks Cathy, I will get in touch with widescreen centre. You are most helpful.

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 10:00 am
by Roy1
Tom. I forgot to mention that the LAS PALMAS film was transferred to VHS recorder as I had no online facilities and no PC. Years later when it was possible I transferred the VHS recording to Premiere pro, made a ISO copy with Encore and then burnt a DVD with IMGburn. I notice that Widescreen centre is retailing a Kaiser copy box for £199 which looks as if does the same thing as my HP gadget but could be more sophisticated. Do you know anything about it.?

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 10:23 am
by tom hardwick
I've had a look at the Kaiser copy box Roy and ouch, it seems a lot of money for what it is. That £200 will get you some really good professional transfers of some of your films. The WS Centre also gives dubious advice about eliminating hot spots and flicker, and in reality the Kaiser is introducing yet more optics onto the path; not what you want at all. But should you be able to afford it, the WS Centre's proper transfer kit that's up for sale will give you outstandingly good results. I've seen them.

I've done a lot of transfer work with back projection, surface silvered mirror projection and straightforward front projection, and the latter (when very carefully set up) is the best of the three. I refilm onto a Sony A7RII using a prime lens, because using a big chip is so important if you want to avoid diffraction losses.

Back to Las Palmas. So it's VHS.. not bad. A new transfer using the same setup but in HD direct to your PC's HHD or to SD card will look miles better, and then use PP to mask the edges, cc and sharpen.

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 9:37 am
by Roy1
Hi. Tom, I take on board what you say. BTW Widescreen in reply to may email says they do not have Cinetele transfer equipment for sale.

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 10:51 am
by tom hardwick
How strange, because Cathy's link (above) takes you straight to the page where the WS centre says all their tele-cine equipment is up for sale.

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 7:06 pm
by Roy1
TOM. Perhaps the equipment has been sold before I sent my email

Re: 8mm film scanners

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 9:15 am
by tom hardwick
Any update on your film transfer results Roy?