Does anyone make a Low Cost scanner for Super 8mm and 16mm that will not damage the film?

andyd wrote on 8/19/2003, 10:09 AM
The Nikon 4000 and 8000 supposedly can scan 16mm Movie film,
but it cannot do it without cutting the film in small pieces.
Is there a scanner like these that do not require a "tray" for mounting the film?
Thanks!

I have seen the machines that scan them in for mucho $$, but
I am looking for low cost. Thanks!!

Comments

RBartlett wrote on 8/19/2003, 10:21 AM
to scan at standard definition video resolution or something higher?
If standard def video then there might be some cheaper solutions, depending on your idea of cheap.

Otherwise a duplication of your film might be necessary whatever route you take if you wish to reduce the chances of loss. This will also give you a rejeuvenated emulsion to help it last however many years more.

Film is why there is now video. The price of film gear is such because the low end of visual media is now catered for by video. What irony.
BrianStanding wrote on 8/19/2003, 1:55 PM
You can always just shoot a projected film image with a video camera. Results can be good or bad, depending on control of ambient light, quality of projector and video camera, and how close the angle of view is to that of the projector.

jsteehl wrote on 8/19/2003, 5:45 PM
www.moviestuff.tv, what you are looking for the the WorkPrinter XP. Do a search on this forum also. It is about $1300 (cheap is relative). You would have to get one for 8mm and one for 16mm. Basically, it is a modified projector with an external lens and you use your camera to capture the frames (6fps) to the computer via firewire.

They are about 60days back ordered (really a slick setup) and I will be setup to do 8mm captures (via 3DD camera!) by the end of September. Next to a rank $$$ transfer you really can not beat it. It really is outstanding quality.

-J
johnmeyer wrote on 8/19/2003, 11:30 PM
I also use the Workprinter and highly recommend it. You use your DV camera as the "scanning" pickup element.

Years ago I read a post (not on this forum) from someone who had developed software that would let you place 8mm or 16mm film on a flatbed scanner and then "cut" the individual frames after each scan. It was ridiculously cumbersome, and all that resolution was totally wasted when transferring to NTSC or PAL video, but I guess it worked.

Just to reiterate, except for a Rank Cinetel (which is what Hollywood uses to transfer film to video, and which costs hundreds of dollars per hour to rent and hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy), nothing beats the Workprinter.
Erni wrote on 8/20/2003, 11:14 PM
Check this site

http://8mm2avi.netfirms.com/

Sounds crazy, but...

Cheers.
johnmeyer wrote on 8/20/2003, 11:46 PM
Yes, that's the guy. I remember reading his stuf 3-4 years ago. I don't know how he deals with registration issues. Also, the scanning would be painfully slow -- perhaps all day to do one three minute real.
farss wrote on 8/21/2003, 8:51 AM
Granted its going to be painfully slow but...

You must be able to pick up old 8mm projectors pretty cheaply if not even from the trash. So then you've got all the bits to handle the film, put a lower wattage lamp in it so you cannot cook the film, replace the motor with a stepper motor and a controller that works from the PCs serial port, project onto rear projection screen, focus digital still camera onto that and get image via USB or whatever. So long as the camera drivers expose themselves to automation simple to write some code to make the whole thing run by itself. 1 fps would be good enough, actually I seem to recall Premiere would capture one frame at a time...

I've got an 8mm projector but it's not mine but I might have a go using that with my camera and a rear projection screen, trick is syncing the projector and camera shutter to avoid flicker. I've seen a simple 8mm telecine, basically a projector with a CCD block fitted. It had a variable speed motor, you just adjusted it until you got no flicker but the resolution was pretty limited.

I know what I'm talking about is basically building your own Printworker, it looks like a great bit of gear and I admire the chap who makes them. Its just the price, by the time I got it over here it'd cost more than a new two new PCs.
farss wrote on 8/21/2003, 8:58 AM
Just found this:

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=003WXX

Seems there's a VirualDub filter to reduce the flicker after capture using a projector and camera.
johnmeyer wrote on 8/21/2003, 11:02 AM
There is also a VirtualDub filter to reduce the hot spot that you get from the way the condensor lens assembly in most projectors distributes the light. The CCD in the camcorder is very sensitive to small variations in light and therefore emphasizes this hot spot. The VirtualDub filter eliminates this. You might be able to create a mask in photoshop and use it in VV to achieve the same thing.

The Workprinter is very expensive, but Roger (the guy that builds them has done many, many things, including the low wattage bulb, an aerial lens that projects the image in space (eliminates the need for a screen, with the loss in detail), and finally the removal of the film gate and shutter. Removing the gate lets you see the film all the way to the edge, much like the frames scanned on the flatbed (shown in one of the links earlier in this thread). Removing the shutter avoids having the camcorder respond dozens of times per second to the frame going completely black and then returning to full bright.