New to Telecine and Need Some Advice

[Rey Lowe]

Yes, I am aware that this subject has been beaten to death here. However, after scouring this forum (and YouTube) for days, there are a LOT of opinions and I just want to see if I'm on the right track.

I want to build a telecine system to add film to digital transfer to my small, family business. Based on the information I have found, this is what I'm currently looking at -
A Eumig Mark S 810D projector from Ebay.
Converting the lamp to a cool 7W LED with dimmer control
Using a Bell & Howell 16mm lens to allow my video camera (A Sony HDR-500V) to record the image.

Of course, I do have experience in cleaning film and even have some vintage reel cranks for that task already on hand, as well as a bottle of Filmrenew. I have a few projectors here, but none of the 8mm/Super 8 machines provide sound. I don't imagine having many folks interested in 16mm conversions, but I have two projectors on hand if needed. I also have a brand new Wolverine for 8's, but I don't trust it with someone else's memories.

Based on what I have provided, am I on a good path for providing quality transfers on a budget? What am I missing?

Thanks so much in advance for your time and expertise!

[Rey Lowe]

Well, after another day of seemingly endless research and going down many rabbit holes, it does appear that my trusty Sony video camera may not be the best choice for this process. It looks as if I need to dig out one of the old MiniDV or Digital 8 camcorders or purchase a used Canon Vixia. Not knowing the condition of the optics of my old cams (they were all retired to tape to digital transfer purposes only), is there a certain model or series of the Canon Vixia I should look for?
Looking at you, Janice Glesser. So far, you have been the most informative....even if you didn't know that. lol

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

Obviously I'm not Janice, but can't resist chiming in my 2 cents...

If HD isn't too mandatory, a high-end miniDV camcorder with full manual control will give surprising good result (and they're relatively cheap nowadays too).
What I'm using here is Sony TRV950 bough dirt cheap a few years ago. Although the optics aren't as pristine as it were when new, the result is still quite impressive to my eyes.
Another candidate would be Panasonic GS400/500 which will give about as great results too.
Canon HV 20/30/40 would give amazing results also. But its manual control isn't as extensive as the above 2 models. Besides Canon uses one CMOS sensor instead of 3 CCD. Unless properly setup this will inevitably give rolling horizontal bars to the output - not a pretty thing.

[Janice Glesser]

Rey Lowe Glad to hear my posts have been helpful. As far as camcorder recommendations...I can only tell you what I have used. I have never used Sony or Panasonic cameras for telecine capture so I can't comment...I have only used Canon's. I still use the Canon Vixia HV40 for my 16mm captures and either the Canon Vixia HF200 or HF20 for my 8mm setup.

[Rey Lowe]

Thank you, Nantawat Kittiwarakul. The only reason I was hoping to get a Vixia in the setup is to provide the video on a removeable memory card for convenience. I didn't want to tie up a computer with capturing if I didn't absolutely have to.

[Rey Lowe]

Rey Lowe Glad to hear my posts have been helpful. As far as camcorder recommendations...I can only tell you what I have used. I have never used Sony or Panasonic cameras for telecine capture so I can't comment...I have only used Canon's. I still use the Canon Vixia HV40 for my 16mm captures and either the Canon Vixia HF200 or HF20 for my 8mm setup.

Thank you, Janice Glesser. I noticed that not only do you use Vixias, but many of the setups sold on Ebay also use them. Do you know what it is about that series that makes it good for telecine, compared to other brands?

[Rey Lowe]

For a bit of clarity, I'm trying to marry the two setups I have been most impressed with -
A gentlemen by the name of John Yapp has this video - https://youtu.be/uiOiuGFEzSU
and this system on Ebay -
https://www.ebay.com/itm/COMPLETE-8M...8/254814208913

Right now, I cannot decide between a Sankyo Dualux 2000H or the one that John uses in his video, a Eumig 810D. Aside from the advantage of sound on the Eumig, do the Sanykos seem to do well in these circumstances?

[John Yapp]

Rey, my Eumig telecine video shows a pretty good way to telecine, and I was more than happy with it at the time. However, you say you have a wolverine. I have now progressed to the wolverine and have to say, on the whole, it is capable of better results than my real-time method. I'm sure you know that there are various firmwares available for the wolverine and I find that capturing at 16000kbps gives the optimum result. I would also say that, although I can't comment about the Dualux, The Eumigs can be a bit rough on film that has broken sprockets or poor splices, whereas the Wolverine will just stop the film when it encounters a problem so to my mind, is safer with precious film.

[Rey Lowe]

Thank you for your input, John Yapp. While I did not know you were part of this group, your video provided me with a lot of information.
While I am close to purchasing a Dualux 2000H to build a telecine system, I will heed your advice and not ignore what the Wolverine Moviemaker Pro may provide for me. I just want an end product that I feel good about charging people for. Like many folks now, I simply cannot afford a $6000 professional telecine system, but I have a lot of people who trust that I will provide the best, most cost effective and caring service.

[Rey Lowe]

John Yapp, Can you point me in the direction of firmware for Wolverine MovieMaker PRO. The only links I have found are for the original model and they look quite sketchy.

[Rey Lowe]

Janice Glesser, I know that you use VirtualDub, Handbrake and possibly other apps as you capture (albeit, frame by frame in your case), is any of that needed or warranted when capturing at the gate? As I mentioned, my goal is to capture to an SD card via a Vixia cam and make any final adjustments in my video editing suite on my work PC AFTER capture.

[Janice Glesser]

Rey Lowe I use a Blackmagic capture card (https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/dev...e-and-playback) and the Cinecap frame-by-frame capture software...no other restoration apps during the capturing process. I do all enhancements in post. For realtime captures from the gate I also use the Blackmagic capture card and Blackmagic's media express software to record the captured footage. All footage is saved to a internal SD drive in my computer which I installed myself. Unless your captures are very short...I don't see how you can capture to an external SSD card. Your capture software would have to have a very high compression rate...which would definitely degrade the image. High quality captured video can add up to hundreds of gigs. If what you capture does fit on the external SSD card I would then move it to a larger internal or external USB drive for post editing. You might also try an external USB3 SSD drive. It will have a larger capacity.

I do use vituraldub with VideoFred's scripts at times...but my primary after capture software is Adobe Premiere with the NeatVideo plugin.

[Rey Lowe]

Rey Lowe I use a Blackmagic capture card (https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/dev...e-and-playback) and the Cinecap frame-by-frame capture software...no other restoration apps during the capturing process. I do all enhancements in post. For realtime captures from the gate I also use the Blackmagic capture card and Blackmagic's media express software to record the captured footage. All footage is saved to a internal SD drive in my computer which I installed myself. Unless your captures are very short...I don't see how you can capture to an external SSD card. Your capture software would have to have a very high compression rate...which would definitely degrade the image. High quality captured video can add up to hundreds of gigs. If what you capture does fit on the external SSD card I would then move it to a larger internal or external USB drive for post editing. You might also try an external USB3 SSD drive. It will have a larger capacity.

I do use vituraldub with VideoFred's scripts at times...but my primary after capture software is Adobe Premiere with the NeatVideo plugin.

My hope is that the Canon Vixia SD card port can capture everything real time. I know that they're compatible with 32gb cards and possibly higher. I can then simply move the card to my editing computer and import it. Am I incorrect in that assumption, even if I can only capture a few reels at a time?
A capture card (if need be), isn't off the table either. Just hoping to keep my work computers free for other projects.