8mm Forum: Transfering 8mm/Super8 sound and silent to digital

This is topic Transfering 8mm/Super8 sound and silent to digital in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Gary Lee Hammond (Member # 5888) on June 17, 2017, 07:41 PM:

Since I got so many responses to my first question since joining this great forum about slipping belts I might as well come to the experts about copying to digital. What are your preferred methods? My thoughts are to transfer to my canon camcorder HF-G10 via the Ambico V-0612 film to transfer box with built in macro lens (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ambico-The-Director-V-0612-Film-Slides-to-Video-System-NEW-w-Box-Instruction-/191817188260?hash=item2ca93203a4:g:APkAAOSwll1W1fSU) that I've had for years that originally was going to be used to transfer to VHS. Obviously glad I didn't do that. Sometimes procrastination is good.

Posted by Frank Colosimo (Member # 5952) on June 18, 2017, 06:50 PM:

I have seen various methods on digital transfer as DIY. After a lot of study, I am leaning toward finding a professional house to do the conversion of my 4100 feet of sound Super 8. The places I 'contacted' via the web and email did not even return an answer, so I am not getting a warm and fuzzy on going forward. So I don't want to totally hijack this thread, but if I can ask whether DIY methods have provided a decent result to the forum members, or whether some of them resorted to a commercial (expensive) alternative in the end? And if this is a hijack, my apologies - I will post separately - just let me know.

Posted by Gary Schreffler (Member # 5945) on June 19, 2017, 07:50 AM:

I have been transferring films to digital for many years. I own a Workprinter-XP and Cinemate-20 for 8mm conversions (both devices do 8mm ans super 8mm), and the Workprinter-16 for 16mm conversions. All made by Moviestuff. I use a HD camera for capturing and Adobe Premiere for editing. I own over 2,000 reels of 8mm and super 8mm films, and a few hundred 16mm films, and have digitized every one of them.

I recently came across a scanner made by Wolverine, called a Moviemaker. There is another thread on this device. I must tell you that I am surprised at how well this unit scans, considering that it only retails at $300, and seems to have a strong resale value on eBay.

Moviestuff also makes scanners, with interchangeable heads for most film formats, but they a pretty pricey.

Sound is a bit more complex, more of an advanced endeavor than silent films, to be sure.

So, it really comes down to how involved you want to get, your resources/infrastructure, and how much time you want to spend doing it or how much money you want to spend having someone else do it for you.

[ June 19, 2017, 12:28 PM: Message edited by: Gary Schreffler ]

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on June 19, 2017, 07:57 AM:

I have used professional services for some of my transfers (my own shot films) and I have also videotaped a projected image at home as well and got acceptable results. I have used the Ambico box but prefer just to project on a small white screen. The professional scanned stuff was much better but expensive so it does depend on what your goal for the film is.

Posted by Frank Colosimo (Member # 5952) on June 21, 2017, 07:56 PM:

Thanks for the advice. It is time to try a few things out and see where I come out on time vs quality vs cost. Phase one was supposed to be 'pointing my Canon camera at the screen and playing with video adjustments/post processing to see what I could get'. I found that the camera has no audio input (mic only) and my projector is SO noisy it would be impossible to record anything decent. I might just send a roll or two off to see how that works, as phase two. I probably should see if I can at least get any kind of video quality just doing silent, and if it looks good enough, find/borrow/buy a camera that has an audio input to work with.

Posted by Ty Reynolds (Member # 5117) on June 21, 2017, 08:51 PM:

Go to your local equivalent to Radio Shack and pick up an attenuating jack. It's an adapter that will bring the output level of your projector down to a level your microphone input can handle. Amazon has a complete attenuating cable for around $50.

Posted by Gregory Oliver (Member # 5803) on June 22, 2017, 02:37 PM:

Right now I am capturing the video from the film using the moviestuff.tv RetroUniversal and the audio using a Minolta sound 7000 and then merging them using VirtualDub.
I am real happy with the results.
Gregory

Posted by Frank Colosimo (Member # 5952) on June 23, 2017, 10:46 AM:

Thanks for the extra input. I am getting some great ideas here. Ty - my camera does not have any kind of input jack to allow the audio in - it just has two tiny holes for the built in mic. So an adapter won't help - if I understand what you are suggesting. But Gregory has me thinking: The video and sound recording can be separate processes if you can indeed successfully merge them later. So for the audio, I only need a sound recorder which DOES accept the audio output from my projector. I think a PC can easily record digital audio from an analog source, but there may be even more convenient recorders out there. If anyone has investigated this, please let me know. Now back to the video, I probably won't try a direct recording to canon camera, but rather use a scanner of some sort. That moviestuff Universal is really sweet but so expensive. Has anyone used the Wolverine unit and obtained decent results?

Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on June 23, 2017, 11:36 AM:

Hi Gary,
I've done my own with mixed results, but if you decide to send your film out to be transferred you might check out Integrated Imaging. They did a few really nice transfers for me...
http://www.iilabs.com/

Posted by Gary Lee Hammond (Member # 5888) on June 29, 2017, 05:45 PM:

Thanks for all your input fellas! One thing I was surprised no one mentioned: HOW TO HANDLE SYNCHRONIZING THE SHUTTER TO MINIMIZE FLICKER. I've heard that a variable speed projector helps or minimizes this. However, my Elmo does not have a variable speed only 18 or 24 fps. Sadly I have a Bell and Howell 10ms given to me that functions only in reverse that does have the variable speed. I'm also wondering if my Canon digital camera synch is different than Hi 8mm was for I recall taking some copies of Super or Reg 8 just off of screen projection and I don't recall the synch being as large an issue. I still have a workable Sony 8mm but sure prefer going directly to digital over 8mm tape and then to DVD. With all of your vast knowledge I'll all ears.

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on June 29, 2017, 06:34 PM:

When I did the transfers at home I just videotaped off of a screen using a variable speed projector to eliminate the flicker. I judged it by eye but this is about 20 fps. I can't offer any info regarding the computer....not my thing. Sorry!

Posted by Gary Schreffler (Member # 5945) on July 01, 2017, 07:46 PM:

If you don't have a variable speed projector, just use a variac transformer. It's what any variable speed electronic device uses.

You can find them pretty easy. Here is a sample from eBay: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/variac-transformer

Posted by Gregory Oliver (Member # 5803) on July 02, 2017, 10:47 AM:

Frank,
I forgot to mention that the audio goes into my PC from the sound projector using the free audacity software. I start recording, turn on the projector, play, turn off the projector and stop the capture. Crop off the beginning and end silence. There is an option to stretch/shrink the length to make it match the timing on the video capture. Then export it as an MP3 file.
That get matched to the video using VirtualDub.

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