Dave has an excellent suggestion, another way is depending where you live, Wallgreens has a transfer service for a very nominal fee that will transfer that to dvd. I'm not sure if you want to edit thos 8mm if you do I don't think they put in in minidv which is avi to edit.

MAC

on the other side of basic, check out

http://www.moviestuff.tv/transfers.html

Roger will either transfer for you, OR, you could purchase one of his solutions to DIY. Sorry to hear about your dad.

bestx3,

bt

Sorry to hear about your dad.

To add to the ideas already given: DO NOT project onto the wall or a movie screen; all the imperfections on the wall surface, and the texture on the screen, will show on the tape. Use a sheet of foam-core instead.

Put the projector as close to the foam-core as possible while still being able to focus. This will give you the most intense illumination.

Also, to avoid recording the projector noise onto your tape, plug a mike jack into the mike input on your camera.

Good luck.

Jack

And if you have the transfer done by someone else make sure it's to Mini-DV tape (530lines per mm) instead of VHS (250 lines per mm). Of course if you have nothing to play back the Mini-DV then you have to use VHS.

JJK

There is a service available from www.homemoviedepot that has a special price right now of about $4.50 per 50 foot reel to DVD (got this info from DV Expo last week in NY).

Thanks to all of you who helped!

Useful links:

Telecine

Workprinter Workflow

My Original Workprinter Posts

I have been reading your posts and links and am intrigued by the Workprinter. Does anyone have one? How has it worked out? If it has worked well and you have finished with your transfer would you be interested in selling it?

See the links in my previous message for information on the Workprinter. I have one, as do several other people who frequent this forum. It works incredibly well.

The WorkPrinter is a very ingenious device that does a great job and is a lot of fun to play with.

If you happen to see one for sale on ebay, you'll find that they very often command a near-new selling price -- don't expect a great cost savings by buying used. In fact, Roger Evans prefers that the original owners return the units to him before they're sold. He checks over each unit and makes adjustments/repairs at no-cost, and then ships to the new owner for $40. In this way, he assures the quality of the unit you're buying. I think it's a great PR move, too.

My condolences to memory maker - I lost my Dad in January of this year so I know what it's like.

In regard to 8mm film transfers, I would urge you to at least capture your old films with your own video equipment before you send them off to anyone for a "professional transfer ."

In that way, if any of the irreplaceable material gets lost or damaged, at least you'll have some visual record of it.

From my experience -
1 -The rather smooth, dull BACK side of glossy heavy inkjet photo quality paper makes a very decent projection service.
2- Optimum image size is about 6 x 8 inches.
3- Leave some artificial room light ON - this helps moderate contrast.
4- Use a color TV/monitor - 13 inches or so is good to establish proper focus, exposure, color and framing.

I hope this helps everyone who is trying to hold on to those home movie memories.

An alternative projection "screen" is a piece of photo gray project board available at most craft stores. This helps knock down the contrast a little. CCD chips offer about half the contrast range of film, so avoiding super bright projection surfaces can help.

Also, it is a good idea to clean and lubricate the film before trying to run it through a projector. Old film dries out and will often drag through a projector which can result in scratching. You may also find that splicing to larger reels is desirable to keep the workflow and the inevitable adjustments to projector speed (unless you're using a 15 or 20 fps projector) under control.

If using a sprocket fed projector, make sure the film has not shrunk enought to cause problems meshing with the sprocket teeth (usually not a problem).

If you use a camcorder with manual shutter speed control, 1/60 sec is usually recommended unless there is excessive panning, then 1/30 may help control strobing effects.

If the reels are all 3 inch diameter, you will have about three hours of video resulting.

Good luck, and hope there are good memories of your Dad waiting to be rekindled on those films.


RalphM