8mm Forum: New guy in the forum, question regarding Filmguard

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Posted by Kev Morrison (Member # 6338) on February 19, 2018, 05:55 PM:

Hello all,

I'm in the process of converting my 1970s era family Super 8 movies via a Wolverine film to digital converter. I've been shadowing this forum for over six weeks, and have been reviewing archived forum discussions (I'm back to mid 2009). Yes, I need a life.

Now, I recently acquired Elmo 912 and Minette S5 viewers from eBay (good deals, nice shape) to examine movies that have never been run through a projector. Yep - really.

The most I did after the films were processed was to unreel the first few feet, hold the film up to the light to examine the 'header sheet' (I always made a small sheet with the event & date to film so we'd know what the heck we were looking at in later years) and some film, rolled it back up, and put the reel back into the Fotomat envelope to be stored in a cool, dry area.. They've held up nicely - no vinegar smell.

Sooo.... it was a treat for my wife and I to run a few of the films through a viewer, look at your kids, and wonder what happened to our bodies after all of those years (not so much a treat!).

I ran about a half dozen movies through the first edition Wolverine Digital converter I had. That had some problems in running, and by that time, I learned that the new Wolverine Pro unit was available. Snagged a lightly used Pro for my film conversions.

Keeping the above comments in mind, I have two questions for the forum:

1) I noticed that on two of the films, I had what appeared to be light vertical scratches. Mind you, these movies have never been through a projector, the viewers were cleaned, and their rollers were lightly polished with Pledge. Everything carefully checked to ensure nothing was scratching the film. Is it possibly that the scratches were incurred while the film was being processed? Seeing that the movies had little opportunity for acquiring dirt, would it be a good idea to clean and lube them with Filmguard?

2) I intend to splice together movies for conversion - I currently have a pristine Kodak Universal Splicer w/tapes, and a Minette splicer (came with the S5 viewer). If I treat my films with Filmguard, should I splice first and then treat the combined spools of film, or vice versa?

Posted by Burton Sundquist (Member # 5813) on February 19, 2018, 11:35 PM:

Hi Kev,
Welcome to the forum. I am also a relatively new member but I do have experience with the issue you have brought to light. Of the prints I have acquired during the past year, including "green prints" straight from the lab, some have shown thin black lines when previewing them on my editor. Yet when screened on my projector, There are no lines present. I can't account for the reason behind it, these prints obviously have light surface ( not emulsion ) scratches that are brought out on the editor, but "invisible" when projected. I think you will find the very same thing with yours.
I recommend treating the prints with Filmguard too; it's a good cleaner, lubricant and will help hide surface or base lines.
I would clean the prints first, then when you are in the process of editing, wipe off the ends to be spliced with a cotton pad or cloth, making sure you remove the cleaner from the frames to be joined...This works best for me.
Good luck, but from the research you have already done it sounds like you will have no problems.

Posted by Maurizio Di Cintio (Member # 144) on February 20, 2018, 01:00 PM:

Burton and Kev. the problem of scratches you mention is quite normal: there are scratches on the base film side (no doubt) but you will only see them on the viewer (and not projecting with a projector on screen) because the viewer has got a condenser between the light source and the film, whereas projectors (at least the more modern ones) use diffused light which minimizes scratches and can possibly have minor ones 'removed' as if by magic. It depends on phisycs... I am unable to explain the theoretical principles behind this but that's the way it is.

Posted by Kev Morrison (Member # 6338) on February 23, 2018, 08:04 PM:

Burton & Maurizo,

I appreciate your thoughts and advice regarding the cleaning of my films.

Just received my bottle of Filmguard. I can see that it'll be much more than what I need to clean my 42 reels of film, BUT - now my relatives have learned what I'm up to in my film conversion..... I could be looking at a total of 170 films of Super 8 & climbing. Ha!

Maurizio, I think I understand what you speak of regarding the perceived scratches. Perhaps a light coating of Filmguard may minimize them on the viewer or the Wolverine, perhaps not.

I don't expect to attempt to do an additional conversion via a projector at this time because I have an old Argus projector (and I'll be selling my house in three months), but I'll be loading my films on some nice Gepe spools - we'll see in the future!

Thanks again for your advice to both of you!

Posted by Maurizio Di Cintio (Member # 144) on February 24, 2018, 11:10 AM:

Applying Filmguiard should defintely minimize the noticing of scratches...

Best of luck with your efforts.

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