All The Best Ways to Convert Film to Digital #middlesiggy

All The Ways to Convert Film to Digital

Here is the list of everything I used in making this video for converting 8mm Film and Super 8 Film to a digital format:

Personal Scanner:
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- Handles 3", 4", 5", 7", and 9" Reels
- Produces 1080p digital videos
* I have seen this with a coupon at times so watch for that

Pro:
- Handles 3", 4", 5", 7", and 9" Reels
- Produces 1080p digital videos

Standard:
- Only does 3" and 5" reels:
- Produces 720p digital videos

Any Memory Card should work:

Camera Equipment:
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(what I used)
Cardboard Box Screen - Free with the purchase of any Amazon Product of appropriate size

Other Good Cameras:
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*As an Amazon Affiliate I earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you*

iPhone Software:
ProCam 8 - Manual Camera + Raw

Reel diameter | Feet length | Play Time Length | Digitize Time
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3” reel 50 feet 2–3 minutes 30 Min
4” reel 100 feet 5–6 minutes 60 Min
5” reel 200 feet 12–14 minutes 120 Min
6” reel 300 feet 19–22 minutes 180 Min
7” reel 400 feet 26–29 minutes 240 Min

Televideo Video Transfer Device

Different Kodak Projectors to Look for:
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Kodak Ektasound Moviedeck 285 Projector (This is the projector I used)
Kodak Ektasound Moviedeck 265 Projector
Kodak Ektasound Moviedeck 275 Projector

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Kodak Moviedeck 425 Projector
Kodak Moviedeck 435 Projector
Kodak Moviedeck 445 Projector
Kodak Moviedeck 455 Projector
Kodak Moviedeck 457 Projector
Kodak Moviedeck 475 Projector

*I am an ebay Affiliate and I earn a commission on qualifying purchases*

Review of the Projector by databits:
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Chapters:
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00:00 Start
00:51 Introduction
01:36 Going Professional - Outside Processing
02:40 What processing companies offer
04:29 Buying Professional - Equipment
05:28 Buying Personal - Equipment
06:45 Digitizing Process
07:45 Digitizing Output
09:39 Digitizer Issues
11:23 Digitizer Summary
11:58 Going Old School
13:20 Old School Process
14:03 The Camera Equipment
15:20 Old School Issues
17:56 Projector Samples
18:10 Projector vs Digitizer

Check out my other videos on VHS to Digital Conversion using Hardware Upscaler and also Convert VHS to Digital - How To Convert Your VHS Tapes.. Thank you.

Reference:
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[frankkalusche]

I used my mobile phone on a tripod to record from projector and it worked great

[TerryKovarik]

Nice presentation. I have been looking at the Kodak Reels device on Amazon and the $399 price tag along with the reviews had me pause. But after listening to you I may proceed.

[mohawksunset]

Man do I ever appreciate this. By far the best Ive found on YouTube. Especially the projector model that has a sound output jack and camera model that has the matching input sound jack. Huge problem solved with the projector sound not ending up in the digitized result.

[ammej]

Some years ago, we modified a Eumig 'single shot! projector with a microswitch on the takeup spool. This was wired to a computer mouse. The projector was pointed toward a large condenser lens built into a dark box. Adjust the distance to get a 'floating' image in the lens.
Using Cine Cap free software and the mouse pointer set over the 'shot button' the take up spool catches the microswitch and 'captures' a single frame at a time. You need a camera and a video capture USB connector to get the film into your PC. I used an old colour CCTV camera ( which can also reverse the image back the right way!)
All a bit technical, but as I had nearly all the parts was an inexpensive solution.

[als]

Absolutely great super 8 video capture advice! Thank you!

[mikeshores]

Very detailed but easy to follow explanation of the different methodologies. I've been using the Wolverine Pro for over a year. Started having issues with 4th guide sticking, but a minor problem and fixable. However, a major issue just started, take up reel immediately starts turning as soon as AC power is applied. Can still "quickly" attach leader and still turn the power light on and get to the menu and record. Not easy, but doable. working on it. Thanks for the informative overview. Yes, I'm a DIY'r person. Any thoughts on my problem would be appreciated. Thanks

[tonywilding]

Thank you for pointing this video out on a reply to a question I posted on another of your videos. Old school it will be as I already own most of the equipment you suggest, the only exception is the Optex viewer. Thanks again.

[waynebagnall]

Great advice! Now I know there are different options. I appreciate your video. 👍

[marciehrhart]

Thank you! I have that exact projector! Years ago, I recorded the film from the projector screen with the camera behind projector like you did, and although not too bad, it wasn't the best. I tried doing this for my dad's Vietnam War slides too. I'm glad I came across your video! I am going to try your ideas!

[massimilianomattei]

Hello and thank you for your video!
I shoot and develop my N8 and S8 mm films.
When i needed to digitalize them i tried all the methods you have show.
At the end i i have converted 2 projectors, one N8, the second S8 (but i could convert one double gauge projectors only).
With no the Lens on, a TV sensor upside down in the place of the original lamp and a 3W dimmerable led light chip in the place of the projector lens face inside.
The Sony TV sensor has a controller as a little joystick by the way i can control WB, gain and, overall the shutter speed step by step.
You need to mount the TV sensor good in place to have ha good fixed focus and a little lens to get closer to the film gate and 'fill' the image.
After this you can get a real time 600 TV lines output and see It on a monitor or capture It by a PC video capture device.
I use an old TC Hollywood 9SE that can capture an Avi or a MP2 after all the digital adjustments in preview as sharpness, color balance, hue, saturation, and other.
It's not a 4k result but i can get nice 560x720 PAL footages.
On my IG 2M_foto or pppc1978 you can take a brief look to the results.
Thank you!
Regards,


Max

[henrybarnett]

Excellent video. I have an 8mm film of the 1964 24 hour Le Mans motor car race. There is a famous French film "Un Homme et Une femme" that was released in 1965. They used film from the same race that I filmed. Amazon here I come!!!

[tommyc]

Very helpful. I bought the Pro Wolverine and have been very happy with it but plan to go old school as a second back-up. Great advice about frame rate adjustment.

Didn't mean to end there, this is good information and more than one method is offered!

[travelexplorer]

The bluish color on film is normal for a Daylight film (Kodak) you should color correct, but you might check which Kodak film was used because if it was a color corrected D (D=Daylight) it will be bluish, or T (T=Tungsten) Tungsten will be orange and it depends how the DP (Director of Photography, cameramen) shoot it it will shift colors with filters on camera and there are several that shifts a bit the image, with the post process you must think on a Color a correction Software I recommend Davinci (on blackmagic page the simple version is free) - Also if the cameramen did not use any filter you must correct it in post but sometimes no filter on camera is good depends the use and where it was shot (to know where the fils stock is some times on the edge of the film and some times in the white strip before the positive was written)

[martinwilson]

Great video, very informative. I have tried a Wolverine device with some good results but i feel could be better. I have tried recording the projection directly via a mobile device and app which has been good but the suffer with hotspots, is there anything you can recommend to stop that? Also can you recommend a lower budget camera which would do a sufficient job of recording? One that allows manual changing of frame rate and ISO etc.? Many thanks

[bakonfreek]

A problem with the pro Wolverine scanner is that occasionally the frame capture will happen before the film stops to be captured and it will look like a bouncy jell-o top, but also, the frames do bounce around a bit.. the pro Wolverine scanner also only has a 3MP sensor compared to the Kodak’s 8MP sensor.

I ended up using a Kalart editor/viewer paired up to a drill on low speed (the viewer has a hand crank since it’s also an editor) and I just record its screen with one of my broadcast cameras.

[dalehammond]

Good job on this video. Very helpful. I purchased the Pro Wolverine back a couple years ago and have done maybe 2000 foot of 8 and Super 8 film with it. I found that the quality of the scan is highly dependent on the quality of the original. But my experience is I always had to use noise reduction software on the finished scan. Some scans are totally unusable. but overall I like the Wolverine and would buy another if this one ever wears out.

[kippercat]

Southpro at 10 reels on 1 ( provided ) thumb drive costs 144 dollars. Multiply that by 7, 2 ( your total number times 10 ) and that is 1, 036.80 dollars. And each of your reels can be up to 10.5 inches and still be charged for just 1 item.

[garygullikson]

Great video. I plan to try projecting 8mm movies onto a gray background and record them with our VHS-C camcorder, then input taped movies directly into the DVD side of my Funai combo VHS DVD recorder to record them to DVD's. I expect that there will be frame flicker and image quality won't be great, but wonder if this setup will give watchable results. Wish that those 8mm converters would record to DVD's directly.

[wycliffbyonne]

Thank you wonderful video. It really helped! And thanks to the other viewer about Kodak/Wolverine.