8mm Forum: Large variation in flicker

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Posted by Alexa Alana (Member # 5324) on May 01, 2016, 04:30 PM:

Hi all,
I have started to transfer some of my super 8 films to digital by using a mirror and ground glass setup. However, I noticed that throughout the film the flickering changed speeds/lengths/etc., which resulted in me having to constantly change my projector's speed. The final result came out pretty nice, but there is some minor flicker in some parts since I could not adjust it as perfectly as I would have liked. Is it possible that throughout my film the camera was not maintaining the speed I have it set at (18 FPS in my case)? Or, is this just how flickering occurs - throughout the film at different speeds?

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on May 01, 2016, 05:28 PM:

Sounds more like variations in projector speed to me. Modern CCD etc sensors in cameras today are less forgiving of this than tube pick up cameras were, as they had image lag with smoothed out flicker, except for very bright pictures.

Posted by Ty Reynolds (Member # 5117) on May 01, 2016, 07:54 PM:

If you are not able to maintain constant projector speed after the first five minutes or so, this may be a sign that rubber belts are starting to stretch and need to be replaced.

Posted by Will Trenfield (Member # 5321) on May 01, 2016, 08:18 PM:

As posted previously, I captured footage using an Eumig 501, a fixed speed model, projecting on to a white card. The images were captured on an old Panasonic VHS-C which had a direct output to a cheap analogue to digital converter and saved to a hard disk. It was done on my computer desk quite easily. Just experiment until you get the best results you want. Here's a link to one film I uploaded https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbou-p_SgDM

Posted by Alexa Alana (Member # 5324) on May 02, 2016, 02:39 AM:

Thank you all for your input. [Smile]

Brian, I'm leaning towards the notion that it is the projector. And, the video camera I was using is definitely not forgiving. It is one of Sony's newer Handycams and it picks up everything. I have another Sony video camera from 1999/2000, however it has a CCD sensor, as well. It still might be worth a shot, though.
Ty, I hadn't thought of checking the belt - I'll definitely look at it. Though, when I just project the film on a projector screen to view it there aren't any noticeable speed changes.
Will, what kind of white card did you use? Your film quality is superb - the results look excellent. I also have an older video camera (it takes mini DV tapes), and I am considering using it for my video transfers.

Posted by James Wilson (Member # 4620) on May 02, 2016, 05:50 AM:

Hi Alexa,

while all the above is true, if your camcorder records at frame as well as interlaced, set it to frame this will make some difference.
Good Luck,
James.

Posted by Will Trenfield (Member # 5321) on May 02, 2016, 08:13 AM:

Hello Alexa. I just used a sheet of Kodak A4 gloss photo paper. There's no recording going on in the camera. There are output sockets so I used it like a rostrum or security camera. I guess this feature was so that you could capture the images direct to a video recorder. I fed the output through an analogue to digital converter so that I could put it on to a hard drive. Then I cleaned it up with VirtualDub. All low tech stuff. Other methods would certainly give much better results.

Posted by Alexa Alana (Member # 5324) on May 02, 2016, 06:35 PM:

Thank you both. [Big Grin]

James, definitely an excellent suggestion. I still need to experiment and adjust the settings some more on the digital camera, especially because it has been years since I have really used it.
Will, that seems like a rather brilliant setup, and the quality of your film is very respectable. Was that something you figured out on your own or did you have a reference for creating that setup?

Posted by Will Trenfield (Member # 5321) on May 03, 2016, 12:43 PM:

Hi, Alexa. I looked at the different ways of capturing cine. There's loads on YouTube. This is a cheap and cheerful method. It's fine if you just want to capture home movies to DVD for the family to see as the content will be more important than the quality. Other methods will give superior results but at a cost.

Posted by Alexa Alana (Member # 5324) on May 03, 2016, 10:17 PM:

Thank you, Will. I still have much more experimenting to do, and I have been browsing YouTube for various methods. [Smile]

Though I must say, I definitely like your method. I will continue to do more research!

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