Wolverine-Hawkeye Telecine

[Stan Jelavic]

Hi Marco. I have not seen issue like yours before. A closer examination of you video indicates that this in not the takeup reel issue but possibly issue with the transport mechanism. The stepper motor drives a gear which drives the claw gear and the ratio is 1:4 i.e. the main gear one turn results in claw gear 4 turns. By the sound of it there may be a problem with the main gear at one spot, something like worn teeth resulting in slippage. That is why it repeats every 4 frames roughly. It is not that hard to disassemble the transport mechanism but does require some patience. Let me know if you want to do that and I can put together a short guide for you.
The purpose of these pages is to discuss the Wolverine improvements. Together with the help from the team here I designed a replacement controller for the Wolverine with the new camera and lens. The camera connects to a PC where it store the frame-by-frame images which then can be used to create a video.
The name of the kit is Hawkeye and I sell it for $100 US. The kit provides better image quality than stock Wolverine and since it gives you individual frames it is much more suitable for post-processing than the stock Wolverine MP4 file.
Hope this helps.

[Marco De Vitis]

Hello,
I recently bought a Wolverine clone, a no-brand Movie Digitizer / MovieMaker "M127".
I'm having some issues with it, and by searching the web I stumbled upon the thread by Robert Hudson in the old forum, of which this one is a followup.
So I thought I could ask about it here, I hope this is the right place .

My issue can be seen here: http://mdv.eu/temp/MovieMaker_Problem_Short.mp4
It seems similar to what Mr. Hudson experienced when the belt of his Wolverine was melting. But my device is new! And it actually does not do it with ALL my 8mm movies... with some of them it goes mostly smooth, while with others the issue happens continuously, even getting to a complete halt of the conversion process (blue error screen on the converter).
It does not seem to be related to film conditions or joints, because e.g. the film in the demo video above seems in very good conditions to me.
Curiously it has a specific periodicity, at least in most cases: it glitches every 4 frame advances.

I'm asking the seller for a replacement, but they are offering a partial refund instead. Which would be fine to me, IF I can fix the issue somehow myself.

Do you have any clues? Do you think a fix is possible? I like the image quality after all, if I can make it work.

This thread and the old one are so long that I hope I'm not asking something which has already been said a million times...
And by the way: I'm interested in what has become the main topic of the thread, it's still not clear to me; is it a DIY Wolverine-like project? Where can I find full info and status about it?

Thanks for any info!

[Stan Jelavic]

Thank you Kamel and Bruce. More stuff coming up soon.

[Bruce Davis]

Hi Stan, many thanks for all the work you are putting into HDR development, this benefits all those interested in better image end results.
Regards - Bruce

[Kamel Ikhlef]

hello Stan,
Good to see you again on the forum. Sharing your experiences is always interesting.
Thank you for that.

[Stan Jelavic]

Tested HDR with the UX178 with an S8 clip and 16mm lens
13.5mm spacers used (8mm+0.5 adapter bd + 5mm)
Uncropped resolution 2048x1536
Clopped resolution app 1890x1360
Video Fred script used


The UX178 HDR app is available here:
https://github.com/vintagefilmography/HDR-UX178

The UX178 MSP430 HDR capable firmware is available here:
https://github.com/vintagefilmography/msp430

[Stan Jelavic]

I will use the Hawkeye trigger interface but may need some additional changes. Using these components:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZF2VV48/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EUGY24/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KDS2BY
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CQG5CWL/
I completely dismantled one of the Wolverine units. The stepper assembly including the gate will mount on the stand with the L channel. Will rig up two L channel pieces vertically to mount the reels. Will use the Mark2 in live mode to prevent shutter wear. The macro lens I have is from the old 2012 system. Pretty low magnification but will tell me how good the colors are i.e. how good the Wolverine LED and Mark2 combination is.

[David Brown]

I'll be watching to see how that side project comes together. I had planned to mount a dslr to the left of the Wolverine, pushing the supply reel farther left onto a rewind. I would use the Wolverine to increment the film. I did fry the Wolverine's trigger when trying to connect it to my camera. That's been on hold while I complete the Hawkeye. It's good to have a compact self contained capture system.

I might do some comparison still captures in the future, Hawkeye/Dslr.

Here's the answer (that we already knew) projector framing compared to the camera's. Or at least the design image size for S8.

[Stan Jelavic]

I noticed the same thing David. The mask does not have to be exact and it still cuts down the flare. I am waiting for the boards from http://jlcpcb.com/
to test the USB design. If it works OK then I will get the boards partially built by seeekstudio.com
Also getting a batch of adapter boards V1 and V2 (qty 5 each) and it they work ok can send some out some. The main cost is shipping.

Also have a small side project. Using the Wolverine components to build the DSLR capture system. Have some parts in already and slowly putting it together. Should be pretty cool.

[David Brown]

Sounds good Stan. Not to add to your list, but I prefer that you populate and test the board!

I started to capture films for testing and found the mask I made, developed from only one film, did not line up on others. I wondered if different film brands and cameras were the cause.

The 8mm frame is so small that manufacturing tolerances look large. I also found that once the film is in the gate it can be a little crooked and still run. That might only be on mine or I was just going too fast as I tested a variety of films.

I found a good compromise where the amount of perforation showing is the variable. Projectors must have used a tight crop. The only adjustment was vertical. I don't notice any flare with small amounts of perforation showing.

Anyway I found myself watching endless youtube tutorials as I changed the 3d model. There won't be any youtubes on how to troubleshoot the new Hawkeye board.

No hurry.

[Stan Jelavic]

Thanks David, no list yet. Just to be clear these are partially populated boards with the components difficult to solder manually. It includes the two USB connectors and the power supply connector. The other components are pretty easy to solder manually. I can do that or you can also do it. I will total the cost. Will not charge much for the labor just material cost and any shipping.
But first I will have to do one of the boards manually to make sure the usb 3.1 design works.

[David Brown]

I will be number 4, good to have a backup. This is informal will you have a list!

[Stan Jelavic]

Just FYI, will be getting qty 5 camera adapter boards for the UX226 camera that allow to go with the 14.5mm spacer combination.
Here is the prototype.


This allows you to go with 2560x1920 resolution.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w0n...ew?usp=sharing
The board should also work OK with the BUC02 and 16mm lens.

[Stan Jelavic]

Thank you Kamel. That makes 3 of us.

[Kamel Ikhlef]

Hello Stan,

I like upgrades. So you can count me for a V13. If I change the camera, I will be equipped.