Digitising Super8

[machv]

I've been offered the use of an old Super 8 film Camera and I would love to use it for making some stuff (as i love super8 footage) but how difficult/expensive is it to get it digitised in a format that I can cut up?

[PilotX]

we just bought a 2nd hand 8mm projector, projected the film and recorded it onto DV tape.. It looks good, don't know the methods that companies use to transfer when you pay them for it, but this works fine for us.

[mondo]

marky
been doing this for years - love the format

basically ?12/super 8 film incl processing for 3 mins

get a good clean projector with 3 to 24 fps projection speed control if poss (clean all hairs and fluff from lens and internal gubbins)

project onto an off white/light grey card/paper as small as possible for cleaner saturation and to avoid glare (you can project onto m's body as well for that 007 effect!!)

dv cam and tripod as close as poss and record at differing speeds....save yourself ?20-25 / 3 mins if you get a lab to telecine.

remember you can effect the cine footage in a multitude of ways before and after filming as well.!!

good luck

[machv]

Cheers, Tom & Mond,

All good but, I don't have a DV Cam. :(

The only digital camera I've got is a Fuji Fine Pix f601zoom. :(

But if processing is too expensive and the clips that you use (mond) were digitized in that way then I'll have to talk someone into lending me their PD150 every now and again! ;)

Thanks guys

[stevefromNewcastle]

I would suggest getting a few films together, and doing them all at the same time, saves time and energy, but I love super 8 footage, it is definetly some of my best content.

[michaelheap]

borrow mine if you need to.

[drmo]

marky you could always use these guys:
http://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/

they do it properly but you have to pay...

mo

[texas62]

Walgreens was transfering 2 hours of Super 8 to DVD for $24.99, the y might still be doing it.

[LEVLHED]

walgreens? no shit?

[LEVLHED]

or if you have $3-grand+, get one of these Elmo TRV units
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/dvdxpress/trv%20s8%20elmo.jpg
http://www.mondofoto.com/cameras/Elmo_TRV-S8_a.jpg

or one of these Tobin (http://www.tobincinemasystems.com/page46.html) transfer systems...

yikes.
but hey, it DOES give you super8-to-svideo (after you develop the film of course)

[videobrian]

he only digital camera I've got is a Fuji Fine Pix f601zoom.

i think super 8 is 18fps?

if your super8 projector doesn't have a speed knob you can plug it into an ordinary light dimmer to slow it down a bit... the lamp with dim a bit but should be bright enough for close range.

do what mondo said for set up... slow your projector down to about 15fps and then use your camera to capture 15fps movies (what is it? 4 minutes / 128mb card?)

if you have a projector which has single frame advance then you're looking at a world of possibilities regarding automated proceedures!

damn!

i have some b&h 16mm prjectors which have single frame advance (well... somewhere)
had plans to hook the advance trigger up to a sound activated relay and have a timelapse software grab one frame at a time...
you know i might just do that!

actually given the amount of audio content on the 16mm i wanted to capture, a 5 blade shutter would be a much better solution. (ntsc land btw)
but for the stuff i shot, single frame grabs be best.

[myogenic]

marky, i digitised all the laroca footage by setting up in the way mondo etc suggested.. its dead easy and good fun getting different angles to project against!

fancy a day in london sometime filiming? I've 2 super 8's that i've never used and wouldn't mind wasting a few films having a go..

[machv]

Originally posted by myogenic

fancy a day in london sometime filiming? I've 2 super 8's that i've never used and wouldn't mind wasting a few films having a go..

now that sounds like a plan. :) when?

[syzygy]

I heard some bad news recently about super 8 - kodak are set to stop producing their cheap super8-with-development-included cartridges at the end of this year.

I'm not sure how long they're going to keep honouring the free development deal on existing cartridges - I need to check out the story and get some more details.

[asterix]

Ummm... you can buy super8 to vhs (or composite output) systems cheap as chips on ebay. That will give you the best image transfer quality. Sometimes you can get them for $100au.

[LEVLHED]

cheap as chips? really?
the few I've seen on US ebay aren't cheap.

[asterix]

If I see any I'll post it. I nearly went out and bought a fairly modern unit for about au $140