New to 8mm forum

[Mark Delatorre]

Hello,

A newbie here and a fan of super 8mm films with a few general questions. I'm still trying to find the best film to digital transfer of home movies (silent) and I need to do some research on the machines talked about on here like the Wolverine. I know a while back there was someone on Ebay selling super 8mm HD transfer units but I never researched enough to find out if these transfer units worked.

I also have some Elmo projectors ( ELMO ST-180E , ELMO GP-E SZ w/ variable speed), ELMO Sound HiVision SC-18 M) and was wondering if there's any companies out there that still service/repair the older ELMO projectors.

Thanks

[Osi Osgood]

I wish I could help you with this question, but I can't ... but I can wish you a hearty welcome!

[Janice Glesser]

Welcome to the Forum Mark. You might want to post your telecine questions in the Film to Digital Conversion section of the Forum and there are several topics on film transfers in the archives.

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

My general recommendation is that to experiment with what you already have first.

Assume that if you already have a decent DSLR/Mirrorless camera, or even an HD camcorder with full manual control. Then go for the simplest method - off the wall capture.

After a bit of practice and tweaking the end result might be "good enough". It will not be comparable by any means with results from professional service. But if it fits your expectation then the story ends, and everyone will be happy.

[Gary Sayers]

Hello Mark - You are not alone in trying to find the best way to do digital transfers of your Super 8mm films. Many of us have tried different methods and I can say that the simple method that Nantawat describes has worked out the best solution for me.

My original intention was to find a way to transfer all of my films myself to the best quality I could obtain and then I would have back-up copies before sending my films for a pro-transfer.

I had tried a few years ago and was really disappointed with the quality, particularly the flicker that was produced. Anyway, after watching this video by John Yapp, I found that a much better transfer could be done : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiOiuGFEzSU

In John's video, he demonstrates using a 16mm lens to copy through but I couldn't really get my camera lined up (I may try again at some future date). So, what I did was change the projector speed as per John's instructions and copied my films using the 'off the wall' method.

I used a JVC HD Everio GZ-VX715 camcorder that I purchased brand new from a place on ebay last year for the incredible price of £49.99! (I bought three at the time - one for me and the other two for my kids). I set the shutter at 1/50 and the focus on manual and started copying. Obviously, there's a bit of trial and error to get the best result with the 'keystone' effect.

When adjusting the projector speed, project onto the wall without any film in it. Then point the video camera at the blank image and you will see flicker on the camera monitor screen. Just keep adjusting the projector speed while looking at the camera monitor and you will see the flicker slowly start to go away as the speed nears 16.66 frames per second. The flicker will totally vanish when you hit the magic 16.66 fps.

My idea was, as I have said, to make back-ups and then get them done professionally. Well, I have now changed this plan and won't be getting the pro-transfers done (except maybe for a few that have dirt/fungus if I need to get them cleaned). The reason for my change of plan is because my DIY transfers look fantastic! Totally blew me away when I looked at them at my large screen TV.

Far, far better than the results I have seen on youtube from the many home scanners that are available.

[Paul Adsett]

I totally agree with Gary - the "off the screen" method can yield entirely acceptable results. I project onto a sheet of 8 x 10 ins matt white paper, the smaller screen yielding more brilliant pictures with higher contrast. To get rid of flicker I slow the shutter speed on the video camera. I then transfer the video to the computer and into a video editing program, where I crop the edges of the picture a little bit to produce a sharp black frame, and do some modest sharpening and color enhancement.
The advantage of this method is that you get the full natural color of the projected film, whereas some of the transfers I have seen from the Wolverine scanner seem to have really horrible color.

[Mark Delatorre]

Thank you for the nice welcome and some very good recommendations on transfers. I haven't gotten too serious with my own transfers and that's why I'm on here to learn as much as I can as there's a lot of good information on this forum.