A Quick Review of the KODAK REELZ Film Scanner for 8mm and Super 8 Movies

This is more of a rant rather than a review. I had two that both failed after just a couple minutes.

[RM_VFX]

The "Kedok" unit had the same problem with the takeup reel stopping. I noticed it rubs against the side of the unit, so I pulled it out 1/16 inch after putting it on the spindle, and it doesn't stop any more.

[chris_]

Wow. Thank you Motorcar Lamar for making this Kodak Reels vid. We can certainly see the reasons for your frustrations. Glad you could at least like the final results. Obviously it would've been difficult to also be instructional but would'a been nice for us. Have a good day Lamar.
Well I just got done enjoying your family movie. I remember getting blinded by those old camera's.
Hope you've all been blessed since

[ronwilken]

I just purchased one, and I found, like you, that the takeup just does not have enough grunt to pull the film through. A solution I found is to exclude the last "peg" in the outlet side of the takeup chain. Mine certainly doesn't like splices. One suggestion I would make is to make sure the arms of the reel supports are fully extended so that the internal belt is as tight as possible.
I'm on my third 5" reel (about 2.5 hours worth) and believe me there are a few seventy year old splices in one of those.
I'd appreciate a report on the magnasonic when you get it.
A major frustration with this machine is the inability to make frame, colour, or sharpness adjustments while it's running and the fact that ANY stopage results in yet another file starting. I'm hoping they can be stitched together on the computer. otherwise, it'll be like looking through a stamp collection.
Every now and again, I've heard it twice, this one grinds like a coffee grinder. It doesn't stop and still copies, but it sounds like it's trying to tear its guts apart. For nearly $600 in Canada, I agree with you that Kodak should be able to put their name to a better product. But the Kodak company went the way of the dodos, so I'm sure it's just a licence agreement with whichever Chinese company is churning these out by the thousand.
Thanks for your report/rant.

[brianmuhlingBUM]

Other reviews have had similar problems. Sounds to me like some adjustment is required on the take up arm assembly.
A real pity because the transfers I have seen on ebay reviews looks fine for a budget transfer machine. 😢

[G_Machine_Joe]

The issue with the take-up reel is the grey plastic 'sleeve' on the take-up shaft. It's too loose on the shaft and any tension will make it spin on the metal shaft. Poor design. If you take the reel off and do a FFW or RWD, you can actually hold the grey piece and the shaft will continue to spin normally... strong. Hold the end of the shaft and it'll be real tough to get it to stop spinning. The grey adaptor on it needs to be tightened somehow... maybe Super Glue? The sleeve can't be removed unless you take the arm off first.

[lawman]

Whats the preferred product for converting 8mm to digital? Is there anything else thats affordable for the consumer?

[followyourbliss]

the fact that you had two defective units in a row doesn't say much for the reputation of Kodak - it used to be a standard, now seems from your experience it's just another junker now.

[rizzlerazzleuno]

As a mechanical engineer that has repaired or redesigned many products, it looks pretty obvious that whatever they are using to drive the take-up reel is failing. I suspect it is a round rubber drive belt like what is used on tape recorders. It would be fun if VWestlife could get one of these and take it apart to analyze what is wrong. He likes to get audio gadgets and open them up to check out the components, both electrical and mechanical. The company that is making these digitizers either has a quality control problem from the maker of the belts, they might have specified the wrong belt requirements, or the folks that assemble this have picked the wrong belt out of the supply bin. I bet that with a little time and effort the factory could cure this problem. This is nowhere as bad as the defective and often dangerous cars that have been produced, but usually now they are recalled to fix the problem. This scanner should be recalled and none sold until the take-up reel works 100%.

From reviews I read the other consumer grade movie scanners are no better, so I hope you had good luck if you bought another scanner. They only scan at 720p, if that.

PS: If nothing else, this video led me to see your other interesting videos. Thanks. 👍

[sunrisesunset]

What did you end up doing? Are there better options?

[stefan.holst]

Did you return your Kodak Reelz machine?

[matthew]

I hear its hit or miss with this product

[ratmadness]

you should order the optional Reelz Kicker attachment

[ThirdRegentPictures]

I would have more respect for your criticism, if you had the sense not to try to point a bright lamp at the built in screen, which makes it impossible to get a decent picture of the screen! if you click the arms down the reel will work fine, also dubbing the sound of a printing machine is not fair.