8mm Forum: MovieStuff Retro-16 adaptable to 8mm?

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Posted by John Barbour (Member # 3777) on April 21, 2014, 01:19 PM:

Hi guys,

Any idea if the Retro-16 could be adapted to work with 8mm films?

I've been slowly but surely transferring film with projector and Digital SLR, starting, adjusting frame rate, stopping, restarting, etc.

Lately, though, I've spent a lot of time just staring at the awesome Retro-8 and Retro-16 from MovieStuff and convincing myself to pull the trigger.

I have a ton of 8mm home movies, and a little less than a ton of 16mm films. One option would be to buy the Retro-8, transfer those films, then resell the Retro-8 and purchase the Retro-16.

However, I'm curious if the Retro-16 would be able to handle 8mm if I adapted the spindles to hold 8mm film. As far as capturing the image...I'm not sure if the software identifies the size of the film, or if the scanner does that. Either way, it would seem like I could run something smaller through the scanner and crop the image.

Is this possible? Am I ignoring other differences that would make this not work? Should I just shut up and buy both?

I thought I'd ask here first before I sent an email to MovieStuff . Thanks so much.

-John

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on April 22, 2014, 01:29 AM:

I have a feeling it would not work since each of the units have a specially designed "gate" area that has been machined just for the format (I have the 8mm and the 9.5), so your 8mm film would not work on the retro 16mm gate because it would keep slipping off the edge runners. So even if it would work software-wise you'd have to convince the company to sell you some sort of spare gate parts, which I seriously doubt any company would do. If they sold you bits and bobs to cobble together your own unit and it didn't work, then they look bad not you...

Posted by John Barbour (Member # 3777) on April 22, 2014, 11:24 AM:

Thanks for the reply!

That makes sense about the "gate" slippage, and about my screwing with a good product making the product look bad. Although...if the main difference is the "gate" size, then maybe a universal or upgradable product is in the future.

I think the Retro-8 will be my first purchase. Among other things, the smaller gate will probably keep me from applying my cheapskate ways towards figuring out how to make it accept 16mm.

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