Author
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Topic: Review Wolverine Reels2Digital MovieMaker 8mm film digitizer
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Mike Spice
Master Film Handler
Posts: 421
From: none of your business
Registered: Jun 2017
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posted October 25, 2019 02:26 PM
I would love to be able to scan 1440x1080 as an option, but I do like the overscan
The capture settings are a bit of a puzzle.
Partial scan changes when I come out of external trigger. I check 'auto white balance' and 'auto exposure' and set things in motion.
Next time I look at the settings, the boxes are unchecked. This is really frustrating.
Mid scan I have gone back to using the laptop and the settings are remembered with no problem. Very odd, the Revo is up to spec for the task in hand
may have found the answer
Software on the Revo crashed today, since then it forgets it's settings.
On the laptop just now I stopped a scan to see if it had remembered it's settings and I stopped it perhaps a bit to quick before allowing the software to recover from writing.
The IC Capture software went 'non responding' and I had to force close it. Now it too, forgets it's settings.
I can only guess it is something to do with user/app data/roaming/default.iccf getting corrupted.
I will try deleting it on the Revo and if that doesn't work, I will uninstall and re install IC Capture.
i give up
TWO computers losing settings during a scan!
on the laptop I deleted the app/default file still losing it's settings during a scan.
on the revo i uninstalled IC Capture and reinstalled. still losing it's settings during a scan.
It still remembers it's 'save and file number' settings from before me uninstalling the program... so what got left behind during uninstall?
I am really tempted to put my wolverine back to how it was.
I can not scan when settings are not remembered and actually change during a scan.
I was looking forward to four days of cine but right now, I could happily throw the whole lot out of the window.
The first day I started this working, it was fine, now it has all gone to s**t
It's not the mod, it's the software.
I can't scan films if the software settings keep changing.
Looks like a long saturday pulling registry edits and uninstalling again. [ October 25, 2019, 07:31 PM: Message edited by: Mike Spice ]
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Stan Jelavic
Master Film Handler
Posts: 314
From: Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jan 2019
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posted October 25, 2019 07:37 PM
Bruce, did you say that the machine work ok before? As suggested, check the film gate carefully. Is the film loose in the gate. With the claw disengaged, the film should be somewhat tight to pull. Possibly damaged claw cam. I have some spare if required. Mike, don,t give up. You are almost there. Unfortunately I have only my iPad with me so cannot do much testing. But hey, the api is available. I can do a custom sw to interface to the cam. And there we can do whatever we like... The downside is delay. BTW this is a usb cam so some other camera sw may work as well. Something to check.
Just looked at the SDK offered for free from imagingsource for this and other cameras and looks like everything is there for us to do our own version of capture. That also opens up other possibilities... for example if auto settings are to be used, the software can reduce the resolution temporarily to eliminate the white square and do auto exposure etc. then go back to original Rez and continue with the capture. But anyways for the starters we should do just a simple code that would make partial scan easy to do.
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Bruce Davis
Film Handler
Posts: 47
From: Adelaide, Australia
Registered: Sep 2019
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posted October 25, 2019 11:51 PM
Kamel Ikhlef Mike Spice thanks for the replies, I was not aware that the "door closing flap" had a spring loaded part to it, checked that and found it had a reasonable grip on the film, so that is not the problem. Setting the claw in its down position is what I do also.
Regarding the capture software IC capture, its free and has some bugs. I'm running Win7 and have the same problem, EDIT just happened to me part way through a scan it forgot its auto exposure/WDR settings, not all are forgotten just some. Same happens if a config is saved and reloaded.
Stan Jelavic I found the problem, it has to do with the Claw position in relation to the gate when set to Super8 or Standard8 and partly the fact that the 8mm film has quite a bit of sideway play inside the gate.
On super8 setting the claw side face is only 0.457mm from the gate guide face, super8 film punched hole edge to edge of film is 0.51mm. Its not much I know but enough to stop the claw from penetrating and simply sliding on the underside of the film. Taking into account allowable tolerances in film manufacture and the amount of sideways play in the gate adds to the problem.
I have set (with the sliding switch) the gate position so that it is roughly half way between the 8mm and S8mm settings, this places the Claw right in the center of the S8 punched holes feeding the film successfully.
Thanks for your help, Regards - Bruce
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Mike Spice
Master Film Handler
Posts: 421
From: none of your business
Registered: Jun 2017
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posted October 26, 2019 03:54 AM
so it is not only me with software issues. At least that will stop me pulling my hair out for now. I have sent a message to Imaging Source asking for advice, I doubt I will hear from them until next week.
I will try one uninstall with a registry tidy up and see if that cures it.
As Stan mentioned, there must be other software capable of capture. camera control software perhaps?
EDIT:
I uninstalled the capture software from my laptop, deleted the appdata/roaming/default.iccf and ran a registry tidy up.
Something is still getting left behind, when I re installed the capture software it still remembered where my last file save was and the file name and number.
And sure enough, it is forgetting it's settings again. This is just stupid, there has to be a simple reason for this to suddenly start happening, not only to me either.
Stan, if you can make software that will do this task then goodness me, I take my hat off to you!
I won't do any more scanning until this issue is sorted, it's just too annoying......
That said, I do have IC Capture on my 'workhorse' fujitsu i5 so I may give that a go later today. [ October 26, 2019, 06:45 AM: Message edited by: Mike Spice ]
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Mike Spice
Master Film Handler
Posts: 421
From: none of your business
Registered: Jun 2017
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posted October 26, 2019 09:11 AM
Stuart I guess I could have done a system restore point prior to installing the IC Capture, but too late now so I am looking at a program that does a better job of the standard windows uninstaller. There are a number of them, that do a deep search and take out every last trace of a program.
Stan No I haven't tried loading a saved config. By that I guess you mean make the various selections, save it as a config, and then load that same config prior to scan, and see if it keeps the settings No I haven't tried that, but it is something to try over the weekend.
I am going to give IC Capture a run on my i5 laptop this evening and see what happens there.
In theory it shouldn't make a difference as the software will run on several o/s
If it too forgets the settings, then I will experiment back with the Revo computer, using save and load configs.
Not an ideal solution by any means, if it means constantly having to reload a config during a scan, but worth a try.
Two computers of mine and also Bruce suffering with it too, so something is clearly amiss in the way we are using IC Capture, I can't imagine Imaging Source would not be aware of this if it were a bug, as the software has been available for download since Feb 2017.
I did wonder if it was worth trying an earlier version.
edit I am now trying a scan with a config loaded of the settings I want for this particular reel, lets see if they stay set.
I wonder if this is the point I am making a mistake
I have been using the default selected 'disable property automations' partly because that's what Stan did in the mod video, and partly because I stupidly always accept the default option and not bother to read exactly what it is offering me.
Partly because it also warns that the quality of some images may suffer!
Presumably that is where the auto white balance and auto exposure are being lost, as they are auto settings on the 'device' That doesn't explain why the partial scan area would change, like it did yesterday, when de activating the external trigger, as that is not an auto setting, unless it is at the default settings, then partial scan is set to auto
So a scan this afternoon I am selecting 'leave property automations enabled' and have loaded a pre saved config which include auto white balance, auto exposure and my partial scan area settings before activating a capture.
I have also used the 'VIEW' menu to show me the toolbars for white balance exposure and brightness, I can already see that the ones that should be set to auto, are auto checked while the scan is happening, and I can turn them on and off while the scan happens and see the difference in the live preview. So, for now, promising. [ October 26, 2019, 10:20 AM: Message edited by: Mike Spice ]
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Mike Spice
Master Film Handler
Posts: 421
From: none of your business
Registered: Jun 2017
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posted October 26, 2019 10:28 AM
If my guess about disabling the property automations at the activation of the external trigger are correct, then the uninstall conundrum is fortunately no longer an issue.
Partial scan area seems to be stable as well, having stopped the scan a number of times, so lets hope that is down to having loaded a config of the partial scan area.
A very tiring week at work left me without focus or brains last night, so a fresh mind today and guidance here, I think we are back on track.
The reel being scanned now, is being done with manual exposure, and I have to say the live view looks promising, it also means I can make scene by scene changes to the exposure.
Manual exposure also means I can stop worrying about the light thro' the sprocket hole.
Having the tool bars up during a scan is very handy, learning new software, always a bit of a jigsaw puzzle. This photo before I went to manual exposure
[ October 26, 2019, 02:06 PM: Message edited by: Mike Spice ]
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Mike Spice
Master Film Handler
Posts: 421
From: none of your business
Registered: Jun 2017
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posted October 27, 2019 12:50 PM
David the ghosting on that marching clip is down to my video edit software probably.
I did some raw slow motion 10fps edits last night using VirtualDub and posted them in my FB group. Flawless.
My work flow is either tiff or jpg scan, manual exposure. VirtualDub crop and 18fps export as h264.
Here is today's jpg full sharpness and manual exposure scan
9100 jpg images. 9.23Gb. Compressed to 950mb in VDub.
Thank you for your kind comments on my testing, a lot of testing, a lot of knowledge exchange.
Using the IC software now is very simple, have the VIEW menu show you toolbars, and you can change exposure scene to scene without stopping, or you can just stop the scanner, turn off 'external trigger' to get live view back, make changes, and re start the external trigger, start the scanner, and you're off again...
I have been making exposure changes on the fly today... [ October 28, 2019, 03:02 AM: Message edited by: Mike Spice ]
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Mike Spice
Master Film Handler
Posts: 421
From: none of your business
Registered: Jun 2017
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posted October 27, 2019 02:14 PM
flicker at the beginning, that would be the projectionist putting his cigarette out and not paying attention...
Cheers Stan, it is now going well, after my friday night hic up.
At the moment I am just scanning film, I am not paying attention much to small details, just scan after scan and learning what the software is capable of.
refinement will come one day soon....
For now, just scanning, and seeing what I can achieve.
The fancy pants stuff can come in the next lesson.
I consider myself 40% up the ladder of the learning curve.
I am using auto white balance, so it could be that generating the flicker.
I am using manual exposure from here on in.
Auto exposure? no need to do that two times to a film. [ October 27, 2019, 04:31 PM: Message edited by: Mike Spice ]
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