Arducam Wolverine

[Stan Jelavic]

With the Imagingsource cams price going higher and higher I was debating if I should switch to Arducam for Hawkeye.
Possibly something like this:

The Sony sensor should work ok with 12mm because the same sensor is used in products with the long focal length lenses.
The issue is that there is no external trigger.
The workaround is to use a usb mouse emulator and trigger it with the Wolverine sync.
Then use the Workprinter like software for capture.
I already developed several sw versions that should work ok for this purpose.
The cost should run around $260 and that includes everything including a few $$ for my labor and test.
Wolverine unit also included.
Again, would keep the whole design open source.
Just a thought.

[Stan Jelavic]

Actually this can be done with even lower cost.
Remount the Wolverine controller and power supply vertically at the back of the unit allowing for the Arducam to be mounted at the front.
With the sync disconnected the controller will run continuously or alternatively can be routed through a switch.
The camera can be run at 30FPS and with the controller running at 2 fps extra frames can be removed with a simple dos script, see
the discussion here.
https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/vbb/f...0-hawkeye-dslr
Cost, around $200.

[Stan Jelavic]

Here is the post from 2021. The setup is with the Wolverine controller and Mark2 with a reverse mount lens. In this setup the Wolverine controller was mounted on a board. Do not think that is required. It can be just mounted vertically on the back with a small adapter bracket. The arducam can be mounted don a small pcb and connected to a PC.
The Mark2 30FPS frame rate works well with the Wolverine controller 2 FPS. Not sure if arducam will be the same. Can be tested.
Here is the post:
DSLR rig.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/QSPEtW4sqBXS5G5q8
Mark2 reverse mount for the 17-40mm lens works very well.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xS6V8x5QztKq1HPV6
At F16 everything is is sharp focus and no soft edges.
Ran the camera in video mode and with the Wolverine controller you have to extract every 15th frame, And that does not change throughout the clip. It is solid. The only issue is that the post is slow. Here is the processed clip.
https://drive.google.com/.../1uAQWzG2XNxeERvZ1GYp.../view...

[Stan Jelavic]

Got the setup working with the Arducam. Used da blank Hawkeye board for camera mounting and rigged up a bracket to mount the Wolverine controller at the back. Used a spare Wolverine lens and the lens mount (have a few of those).

Ran the camera at 3840x2150 resolution at 10 FPS. The Wolverine stepper runs at 2 FPS.
Then cropped the resulting video in VirtualDub and used the remove Dups script to remove the bad and duplicate frames.
The script did a wonderful job in cleaning the video. Did not have to touch it after that just had to remove the end of the video.
That is where the script dumps the bad frames.
Here is the result.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14mv...usp=share_link
Here is the test setup
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wBu...usp=share_link

[Stan Jelavic]

Project cost:
Used Wolverine Movie Maker Pro $120 (have several of those if you do not own one)
Arducam $50
Blank Hawkeye board $5 but you can also make your own.
Reuse Wolverine lens and holder so around $175 total if you just keep the Wolverine guts loose at the back with some tape.
A bit more if you want to go with the mounting bracket. You can make your own or get it from me for $10.

A side note. I acquired a whole bunch of broken Wolverines and fixed them all up. These are all pro units and in very good condition.
Issue with them.
Burned out and shorted takeup motor.
Bad DC adapter.
Bad controller
Bad display
Bad solder connection inside stepper motor
Bad camera - used the unit for Hawkeye

[Erkki Tikkanen]

When I watched your example file I felt a very strange and odd 3D experience. Like the film was shot in 3D.

[Stan Jelavic]

I get the same thing. The scene with the fountain in the background. Did not do any special postprocessing except for automatically removing the duplicates and crop after that.

[Stan Jelavic]

This camera uses the same sensor as Wolverine.
http://www.webcamerausb.com/elp-2mp-...-mic-p-89.html
This camera could give better white balance than the one I used. The price is roughly the same.
Here is my final assembly.

[Tony Smith]

Hi Stan,
Long time observer and admirer of your work.
The captures look really good... I'm looking for something like this to scan my families 8mm films. Is this project something you are willing to sell? I am based in the UK. I have limited electronics knowledge so would ideally like something pre-assembled or just with basic assembly. I've looked at the wolverines before, but been out off by the poor compression on the output files.

Regards
Tony

[Stan Jelavic]

Thank you Tony,
Yes I can put a unit together for you for a reasonable cost. I will also try the Wolverine type camera tomorrow and see if it is better than the one with Sony sensor. The cost is about the same.
Here is the cost estimate:
Wolverine Movie Maker Pro $120
Camera $60
Mounting hw and assy and test $50
--------------------------------------
Total $230 plus shipping

You can send me a private message if you want to go this way.
Stan

[Stan Jelavic]

Tried the new ELP camera.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E8OX212...roduct_details
I really like it. The uncropped rez is size is 1080p and the colors are really nice.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...M0?usp=sharing
This is much better that the Movie Maker Pro.
They claim that the Movie Maker Pro resolution is 1080p. It is far from that.
The sensor (ELP camera uses that same sensor) is 1080p capable but here is what they do:
Use 6mm lens. That uses only a fraction of the sensor. Here is the test I did with exactly the same settings

It is close to 720x540 rez. So that is what their optics give them.
So in order to get to 1440x1080 rez they double up the images in the controller. Doubling up causes the images to be too soft so they add aggressive sharpening to it and that is one of the sources for nasty artifacts.
Here is the test shot with the new camera.


I contacted the camera supplier and they are willing to give me a qty break. So if there is a group of people that
are willing to modify their Wolverine, let me know. I am also evaluating their 12mm lens which would be included with the
camera.

[Jack Ricotta]

looks like the corners are still somewhat soft.. or is that test chart making it look worse than it really is?

also, how are folks capturing and sync'ing sound from super 8 with one of these setups? seems like it would be complicated?

[Stan Jelavic]

Yes the corners are a bit soft but that does not impact the video by much, or at least I have not noticed it with the clips that I ran. This is essentially a Wolverine machine with a new camera so there is no sound capability. Would have to do the sound on a different machine and then synch it in and people have been doing that.

[Jack Ricotta]

Yes the corners are a bit soft but that does not impact the video by much, or at least I have not noticed it with the clips that I ran. This is essentially a Wolverine machine with a new camera so there is no sound capability. Would have to do the sound on a different machine and then synch it in and people have been doing that.

Thanks Stan! much appreciated!

I'm trying to figure out if one of these units would be better than a frame by frame mod of a projector with some sort of DSLR. My concerns over the sound are related to wow/flutter that invariably will get introduced and how to sync that later. Is there a better way to pull the sound off the film for later sync? Presumably doing frame by frame, I can capture the image to playback perfectly from a timing perspective. Maybe there's a sound capture that would let me get consistent timing so the sync up would just be a matter of snycing the beginning of the clip, and setting the playback speed because there's no variability. Or I'm thinking about it all wrong, lol (usually the case!)

[Stan Jelavic]

There are several homemade systems discussed here in this forum Jack using the frame by frame and the DSLR.
https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/vbb/f...ping-it-simple
https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/vbb/f...tup-that-works
and so many more.
Here are a few of my suggestions to make your life easier if you decide to go this way.

Generally you need to modify the projector to provide the sync for the camera, and add the led light with the diffuser.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098W63FJ5/
The camera has to have electronic shutter capability such as the Panasonic series.
If you have Canon then go with the Magic Lantern mod.
For lenses you can try Laowa micro lens but you would have to check if it can get close enough to the gate.
You can also go with the virtual image using the 50mm lens that fits the projector lens holder combined with the camera zoom lens.
Can send you some info on this.

I do not have much experience with sound Jack. Here is some discussion on it.
https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-b...c;f=1;t=011565