Copying film to video

[Keith Head]

As a recent convert to DV and NLE, and having much unedited film in Standard 8, Super 8 and 16mm I am pleasantly surprised at the quality of simple transfers made by videoing the projected image. At least the standard 8 and 16mm is good, but have not had much success with super 8. Phasing is not the problem, because I can lock the projector at 16.67 fps, but the sharpness is noticeably worse than the other gauges.

Does anyone have much experience or advice to give on this?

I wonder whether the fact that the std 8 and 16mm projectors use prime lenses, whereas the super 8 (Elmo GS1200) uses zooms would make that much difference.

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[SteveBagley]

I've done it with varying success with various methods from projecting onto a screen, a sheet of A3 paper, and use of a daylight screen (a device my Dad got hold of).

Most of the results are poor but some have been acceptable, its just a matter of trying different methods.

I'm interested of how to get a good transfer though, as I want to transfer some super 8 material for a video I want to make

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[pcwells]

If you have a bit of cash, Chrysalis Television in Camden, London (opposite MTV) offers a professional telecine service for broadcast productions. As a student, I had them transfer some super 8 animation to Beta SP and it looked as good as a 16mm telecine!

Granted, the service is costly but it's the only frame-accurate professional transfer for super 8 I've ever come accross.

I'm not sure whether the company is still called Chrysalis or whether it's just going under the name of Todd AO, but it's worth while giving them a call.

Cheers,

Pete



[This message has been edited by bcrabtree (edited 27 June 1999).]

[tom hardwick]

You're right, Keith, the f1,0 zoom fitted to your (and my) GS1200 is definately designed for projection, not copying.

I tried stopping mine down by cutting a matt black "washer" out of thin card and pressing it up against the front element, but it was only partially successful. So I got hold of a Bolex prime, a 20mm f1,3 and it gives far superior results to the Elmo.

But as with painting your front door, it's the meticulous preparation that gives the outstanding result. I say this, but see that you've had success with the Standard8 so there should be little difficulty in getting Super8 (with its 40% larger frane) to tape.

The beauty of the GS is the huge light output. I run my lamp on "Hi", and am able to keep the camcorder working at its sharpest middle apertures, riding the exposure control (and monitoring on a tv screen) all the time.

But Pete's right, and the proffessional flying spot tele-cine transfer is outstanding. There are a couple of snags, though. The telecine seemed to have huge depth of field, such that scratches and imperfections on the film base (as opposed to the film emulsion) were also recorded to tape.

I also found that audio transfer from my projector was better than the telecine. The latter didn't like splices at all.

tom.

[Keith Head]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I am in Melbourne, so will need to look locally for reasonable flying-spot-scan services (restricted to jobs that really matter).

To Tom: What projector did the 20mm/f1.3 Bolex lens come from?

To anyone: What is the best camcorder shutter speed to use? My MV1 seems to give the smoothest results at 1/50th whereas I would have thought that 1/25th should be just as smooth and would allow the camcorder to use a smaller aperture.

(Sorry for delay in this reply and query, but I've been away skiing with the grandkids).

Keith

[Shaun Tregear]

There are no super8 telecine services in Melbourne that I know of, but I believe thst one of the Sydney labs definately has a telecine suitable for super8.

There was also one in Adelaide but I think that it has been closed for some time now.