DIY Frame by Frame Telecine Issue

[Robin Haggett]

Hello, I think I may be a bit of a veterin on here from about over 10 years ago. I built a machine in the end with a super 8 Bell & Howell 1462. I had all the mechanical workings running just perfect and the old projector lended itself very easily to the conversion. I've used the cinecap frame by software very successfully. I've come back to this subject as I've felt the the optics of the old system needed another approach. The condenser lense set up was very difficult to line up.
Here are my results from back then. The first youtube shows the iner workings and the other shows my capture procedure.
https://youtu.be/tx4IbmrSUyY?si=FrZej8UQ-GJZwjiM
https://youtu.be/-Jkx-92HuhM?si=-bU9tS0K-cQd8FRg

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

Great work Robin! That's probably as good as it could be back then.

Since you already had the modified projector as the film transport, the most obvious "upgrade" is to replace the camcorder with something more recent - a digital mirrorless camera is a very good candidate for the task. Some may prefer industrial camera but digital camera is easier to work on IMHO.




You can also do away with those thick/large/clumsy condenser lens setup. A macro lens (while still fiddly to setup) would take up much less space to work on. The result image will be inverted, but it's just a matter of inverting it again when editing. The final result will be lightyears ahead of what can be achieved back then.

[Stan Jelavic]

Nice work Robin and going back to those days we all tried the condenser lens. I had one of my setups with a large condenser lens and a camcorder and remember spending hours trying to align the system. These days I have setups with DSLR, industrial camera and even a web type camera and a single good quality lens. For triggering I use optical detector.

[Robin Haggett]

Thank you for your complements. I think we all can agree that the condenser lense is too awkward and impractical so I've been doing research. I've ordered an industrial camera with a C mount magnifier lense. I have very limited funds and a SLR is out of the question at the moment. I'm going to have a play and see what happens.
I designed my frame by frame tellecine specifically for my home movies as a lot of them are damaged and splices with repairs are all over the place. My Bell & Howell's frame trigger Is perfect for this and the gate is very kind.
Once everything is capured I can take individual frames out and restore them as needed in paint shop. Doing this sometimes to the point where I feel like I'm animating my films. It sounds like a lot of work but it's fun too.
My approach to exposure is not the norm, I don't sit there and fight with it on the go. So many times I've seen on the fly telecine done where the exposure is all up and down and I decided long ago the frame by frame is the way to go for me.
Here is my tip. I do up 6 passes of the same film at different f stops, one extreme to the other. I then put them all in my edit time line and cut to the desired exposure. This is excellent if you have lots of dark to light scenes like I have. The result is shot/frame perfect. Quite simple really. Of course all this is down to time and a labour of love of my precious films. I've forgotten how much fun this all was. I'll let you know how I get on.