Film Scratches No Longer Evident in New Super 8mm Wolverine Capture

[Mick Morley]

Around 35 years ago, my father had all his Super 8mm footage "professionally" transferred to VHS video cassette. The quality wasn't great but I always assumed that this was mainly due to the original Super 8mm source film combined with the inferior VHS medium. Specifically, the video suggested that the Super 8mm film was badly scratched leaving white streaks on almost all of the footage when transferred to VHS.

Around 10 years ago, I digitized the VHS video but undertook no restoration of any kind.

More recently, a friend loaned me his Wolverine and I managed to track down the original Super 8mm reels in my sister's attic. After looking at the subsequent video files produced by the Wolverine I was shocked to see that the scratches apparent on the VHS copy were no longer evident on the new capture. At first I questioned if the Wolverine had magically repaired the scratching but was told that apart from sharpness and exposure settings, the Wolverine did no other processing. A close look at the film also revealed no obvious scratching!

So where might this apparent scratching on the VHS copy come from?

I've included a snapshot for comparison but you can see the actual footage of both versions here on the links below:

VHS version: https://youtu.be/OFWPVwJ9Pfo?si=ynYz2PmNoZwJsXKQ&t=3

Wolverine version: https://youtu.be/tnZ3EKd08O8?si=r-7FFCXZO1qqHhET&t=125

Note that the Wolverine version has also undergone Topaz Video AI enhancement but that process did not remove any scratches. Even the raw Wolverine capture has no scratches as shown in the VHS version.

[Stan Jelavic]

The scratches may be caused by the poor light source. The other possibility is that the original scan was focused onto the glossy side of the film and that is where the scratches are. You can check with the magnifying glass looking at the glossy side at an angle towards light.

[Brian Fretwell]

Yes a diffused light source can hide scrathes that a point source one can make look worse.

[Ed Gordon]

It's a nice problem to have. The original is fine, the lousy transfer to VHS is bad for reasons we will never know.

[Mick Morley]

Thanks for the responses. I'll take another look with the magnifier to see if I can solve the mystery. Just glad we kept hold of the reels instead of writing them off.

[Thomas Dafnides]

This appears to me to be electrical interference in the circuit during the time the vcr was recording the vhs transfer from film, creating the visible distortions. Probably, like a heavy electric motor on the same circuit . It has nothing to do with the original film.

[Ed Gordon]

This appears to me to be electrical interference in the circuit during the time the vcr was recording the vhs transfer from film, creating the visible distortions. Probably, like a heavy electric motor on the same circuit . It has nothing to do with the original film.

Your theory certainly explains why the original film looks so good. Another thought I had is that if the film was cleaned with Filmguard prior to being run through the Wolverine, scratches were hidden from the scanner.

Removes dirt and scratches
FilmGuard's incredible cleaning properties cleans even embedded dirt off of the film and forms a thin protective coating which covers up many existing scratches.

Source: http://www.film-tech.com/products/filmguard.php

[Todd Kitchen]

Agree with Thomas-- I think the streaking you see in the VHS transfer is some sort of artifact on the tape, not the film.

[Brian Fretwell]

Yes, unless the super 8 film was a negative scratches would be black not white.

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

I was about to say electrical static as well as several comments. But watching your Youtube upload I'm more than confident that it was maladjusted (pointed, not diffused) light source that greatly magnified those scratches.

The diffused light source + film cleaner solution can do wonders hiding those mild base scratches, and even taming down some emulsion scratches too.

[Stan Jelavic]

Since we do not have enough info we can only guess. It would help if Mick could provide some additional info, such as:
- is film negative or positive
- was it ever cleaned after the original transfer
- was the original transfer done by a shop or at home. Would anyone be doing transfers with such shoddy equipment that has streaks like that?
- never seen streaks like that and have done many vhs transfers.
- check the original film with magnifying glass

My best guess is the light source if the film was negative because the streaks are usually black or purple. Also possible that the film was cleaned prior to the 2nd transfer.

[Scot McCauley]

That was probably from a dirty head on the VCR recorder. Glad to hear the original looks good. You get to relive in HiDef now lol