Poor quality scan?

[Aaron Myers]

Hi there everyone. This is my first time diving into converting 8mm to digital and wanted to know if I'm doing this correctly or not. I have a Wolverine MovieMaker Pro that I'm using to convert a bunch of old family movies. I've done a few test reels and to be quite honest, I'm not impressed with the quality. I don't know if it is something I'm (not) doing or if my expectations are just way out of whack with reality. I've shared a sample of the kind of output I'm getting here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/115H...ew?usp=sharing). To me it looks very digitally grainy and super low resolution. For reference, I'm using the default settings except for changing the framing to get rid of the cogs/film holes.

I appreciate any help/feedback anyone might have here.

Thank you!
Aaron

[Janice Glesser]

Hi Aaron and welcome to the forum! I don't use a Wolverine but from my observations your output looks typical. Compression artifacts have always been an issue with this machine. If you refer back to previous forum threads threads specific to the Wolverine you will see similar complaints. Most likely one of the more experienced users will get back to you with suggestions.

[Aaron Myers]

Thank you, Janice! That was my fear. Did some looking around here and there doesn't seem to be a good scanner for sub $5k unless you're willing to building it yourself. That's really unfortunate.

[Stan Jelavic]

Hi Aaron, As Janice pointed out, the output is pretty typical for Wolverine. You can turn sharpness down and will help but the artifacts will always be present and it is really hard to do much with it in the post. I designed a custom controller (Hawkeye) for the Wolverine with the imagingsource camera and that gives you lots of flexibility on with the video output. Let me know if you want to go that way.

[Aaron Myers]

Hi Stan,
Sure, I'd be interested in looking at the Hawkeye. Thanks!

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

I was fortunate enough to have a chance to try it out (rebranded ones, but essentially identical). The resultant helped pushing me to DIY route instead - and I'm glad that I chose this route.

[Stan Jelavic]

Here is some info on Hawkeye Aaron.
https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/vbb/f...ye-for-newbies
Here is the comparison clip between Hawkeye and unmodified Wolverine:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-AF...ew?usp=sharing
I cut the cost down of the mod kit:
controller $50
switch panel $20
-------------------
The camera and the lens should be purchased separately.

Since you already own the Wolverine this could be a pretty good solution for you but as Nantawat says one of the cheapest solutions (and very good quality) is to do your own projector mod. Nantawat and Janice can pitch in here since they use that solution very successfully. And their solution is not extremely complicated. I also have a similar solution with the projector stepper mod and Canon T3i dslr that gave me excellent results but my solution is more involved (can provide details) and it is 3FPS max.