Tweet
I started out by a friend giving me a copy of The Big Reel back about 1980. I always wanted to collect films and so did just that and started with a pair of Motiogrtaph AA's I bought from a guy in Toledo. They turned out to be drive in projectors and had the wrong shutters... one thing led me to another, to Charlie Wolk to Abbott Theater Equipment Co. Abbott sold me a nice Super Simplex head they had used as a loaner because parts for the Motio were NLA. So I learned to dismantle and assemble a projectror on my own using copies of the manuals Abbott provided. Well, things kind of just went wacky from there and I wanted to get out of Broadcast TV. So Abbott Started using me for minor sound system and projector repairs. That led to Classic Cinemas and then working on movies and equipping multiplexs. By the late 1980's I was the dealer/service guy and then decided to move West , but it continued on for about another 22 years from there, 42 in all.
-
-
I advertised in the Big Reel back in the 1970's.That brings back memories. I used to clean the trash out of of theaters and poster supply houses - as in movie posters - oh, my, I wish what I still had. I've pulled things like a Creature From The Black Lagoon one sheet out stuff headed to the trash heap. Most all sold and gone into keep my house going and paid for - I guess the creature's now permanently in my woodwork. The things people used to throw away when it came to theaters!Comment
-
When the time and the money comes, I would spend the time to clean and repair when needed those old films myself, but spend the money for having them scanned professionally. Scanning technology has improved dramatically the last 10 years and nothing you can try with 8mm projectors and video cameras even comes close. I shot a lot of super8, and I still have to have them digitized too (also for funding connected reasons), I would like to be able to project HD video files in the correct frame rate. That way you'll probably not get all the amazing Kodachrome colors on your screen but you also don't have to worry a bit about damaging your unique film. And let's be frank, almost all of the 8 / super8 projection lenses, even in the more expensive machines, are not really good. In what I consider a good digital transfer you should be able to see the grain sharply all over, it's part of what a super8 image makes a super8 image, therefore I don't think it's mad to scan super8 in 2K, or higher...Originally posted by Randy Stankey View Post
And getting film for your camera is easier than you think:
https://www.kodak.com/en/motion/page/super-8
Super8 is alive and kicking. (and yes, relatively expensive also) Unfortunately Kodachrome isn't made anymore, but there is Ektachrome 100D reversal, and Tri-X black and white reversal which should give you the joy of shooting and projecting original as in "the old days". That Vision3 stock is negative film, meant to be digitized. It's the main stock for 16 and 35 now, in those formats you can have it contact printed, but you don't get those FILM colors anymore that way: Vision3 renders the colors much more softly, which is better to handle in the digital pipeline... As I learnt some 4 years ago, when I was disappointed with the colors and the contrast of the direct print we made of some short and joky experiment we did (speaking of the Creature...) :
mitch3.jpg
Comment
-
Yes, I had thought about getting my Super-8 scanned and digitized.
There are a LOT of films, though. Even at 25¢ per foot, it would be expensive to get them all transferred.
There are several mini-movies that my father made. Those are on 100 ft. reels.
There are some vacation & holiday reels that are were nicely done.
There are a bunch of birthday & family picnic reels of the usual things like aunts and uncles waving and aping to the camera.
Then, there is a whole lot of just "stuff." Some of it is outtakes and clippings from the mini-movies. The rest is probably just film that was viewed once or twice then put away.
It's going to take a lot of time to sort it all out and decide what is worth digitizing. I'll need some way to view the film and make decisions.
I have a hand-cranked editor/viewer but it needs a good cleaning and some TLC before I dare to put film through it.
My plan was to project the film and use a video camera to record it. After I have viewed enough of the reels, I can make decisions on which films I want to pay to have digitized.
I have a half-decent video camera that can record in 1080 and I have FCP-6 on my computer. I don't need to worry about sound. I could probably dub in some music if I wanted to. ("Yakety Sax" by Boots Randolph comes to mind... AKA: "Benny Hill Theme Song."
)
I've done this sort of thing before. I do understand that scanning is the best option but, sometimes, you have to piss with the cock you've got.
I know about Kodachrome. I shot a lot of stills with it. I've got a couple of Cibachrome prints hanging on my walls that I shot with Kodachrome. I love color but 90% of my photos are in black and white. When I "see" a photograph in my mind, I see in black and white. Most of the time, I find color to be too distracting unless the image is "about" the color.
Did you know that there was some guy (I think from Australia) who claimed to be able to develop Kodachrome in his home lab?
Right after Duane's shut down their Kodachrome machine, there were a lot of people wanting him to do their film but he refused most of them claiming that he couldn't get consistent results.
It's good to know that I can still get film for that Minolta.
Maybe I can get some Tri-X for the Bolex, too.
Comment
-
I know somebody who is also sorting out his huge amount of 8mm and super8, with a good hand-cranked viewer you can at least speed up without being afraid of damaging the film. Most editors/ viewers are crap unfortunately, dangerous to film and an image which is just not really visible. Those metal Zeiss-Ikon regular 8 viewers from the 1950's do work, an there must be other good ones too. And videotaping the films to sort them out in FCP might be an even better idea indeed. I think here in the Netherlands somebody still offers the service to develop Kodachrome, but he developes it to black and white...Comment
-
There is a machine - about $400 as I remember - that acts as a projector that captures images digitally - that's not cheap, but is a good option if you have a lot of material. AlanComment
-
That's it! If anybody has or buys one of these - after they do the reels they have (and probably won't have more since it's that same box of reels you've had for 40 years) - then you can sell the machine and get half your money back - maybe folks on the forum could just keep it going - I buy it from you and do my box of reels - sell it down the line to the next guy - and all of us get our films transferred for a few bucks a reel vs. the current pro rate which is prohibitive. One question at this point - anyone who has one of the machines - how do you like the job it does for you? AlanComment
-
Read the ratings on the link I posted. Some, myself included, have built our own film transfer systems using a highly modified projector that runs at between 1 to 2 fps.
This is a photo of a 16mm projector that I modified to create a mouse click for each frame. It projects the image directly on the sensor of a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 which outputs an uncompressed 10 bit 4.2.2 signal at up to 4K via HDMI to a Black Magic 4K capture card. The frames are saved frame by frame to an AVI file.
PXL_20201201_010505831.MP.jpgComment
-
Brilliant! You guys really know your stuff!Comment
Comment