Total Newbie, please help

[Simon Taylor]

Hello everyone. I am an artist/painter from the UK and have started research into using 8mm films as references for paintings. I have bought a few old films from eBay and a couple of viewers and a projector.

I have been taking still not very successfully. The viewers I have use a plastic projection screen and when the images are looked at close up there are ridges and lines in the image. I have just ordered a ground piece of glass to replace the plastic screen. Hoping this will work but if anyone has a method for capturing still that would be great.

My big newbie question is, why is there a hole punch on my viewer? Is it for marking frames for editing?

Also on spliced section are holes in the film. What are these used for?

Thank you
Simon.

[Tom Dennis]

Good day Simon,
Your references regarding equipment is a bit vague.
However as to viewing screens.
Most plastic screens had a series of concentric circles, this was to spread the illumination into the corners to reduce hot spots, but when viewed close up gives the effect you describe.It also gave a somewhat brighter image.
Replacing with a ground glass screen may give you a grainer and uneven image illumination[this depends on quality.
These viewers were simply that, a quick way of previewing without setting up for projection, and only the most expensive could resolve good clear images.

TOM

[Ed Gordon]

...I am an artist/painter from the UK and have started research into using 8mm films as references for paintings. I have bought a few old films from eBay and a couple of viewers and a projector.

It would help if you could elaborate on what your project's goal is. Are you trying to get digital copies of film? Are you cutting up film to create collage art work? If it is the latter, you may have film aficionados with torches pursuing you for desecrating motion picture film.

[Janice Glesser]

The hole punch you mentioned is what you assumed a means to mark the frame on the film you want to edit.

The other holes you mention could be the end or beginning of a roll of film. Generally these sections of film would be spiced out before putting on a new reel for viewing... but not always.

[Brian Fretwell]

The screens with ridges were fesnel lens (opaqued on one side) used for the reasons Tom gave above.