8mm Movie to Digital Service? (was: Re: Computing the old way - Is it a thing of the past?)
16 Apr
2013
16 Apr
'13
9:16 a.m.
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:59:23 -0500
From: John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com>
To: <cctech at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: Computing the old way - Is it a thing of the past?
Some processes are better today. I recently had some
old (1940s to '70s)
8 mm family movies scanned digitally.
The service cleans the film and uses a wet-gate process to reduce scratches.
They scan each frame digitally at HD resolution (1920 x 1080) using
even LED illumination. They scan the entire film edge-to-edge. Many
old cameras exposed the entire width of the film while the projector
only showed the majority of the middle, so you see more image than
ever before. I asked for a digital movie file for editing, so I sent
them a hard drive. The results are astoundingly dramatically better
from what you got from an old projector. No playback jitter
from worn sprocket holes. Bright, even illumination.
It's far better than the film-to-VHS transfer I paid for in the early 90s.
(Private YouTube example links available on request.) All this for a
dime or two per foot. I'll be able to edit digitally and provide
family members with DVD or Bluray copies.
The same is true for restoration and duplication of old family
photographs. With a digital process, you can undo damage and
easily multiply copies.
As with the classic computer avocation, it can come with regrets, too.
I wish I would've rescued 1930s family films from a distant cousin
who passed away a decade ago. I had a VHS copy of some of his films,
but not the originals.
- John
John,
Which "film to digital" service did you use? I have a box of 8mm
family videos taken in the '60s-'70s that I would really like to save.
It sounds like you are very happy with the results.
Please contact me offline if you don't want to publically advertise the service.
Thanks,
Bob
18 Apr
18 Apr
7:09 a.m.
On 16/04/13 12:16 PM, Bob Vines wrote:
Coincidentally, I found this in my inbox today.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/save-small-gauge-film
Their scanner sounds like the cat's pajamas.
--Toby
Date: Tue, 16
Apr 2013 05:59:23 -0500
From: John Foust<jfoust at threedee.com>
To:<cctech at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: Computing the old way - Is it a thing of the past?
> Some processes are better today. I recently had some old (1940s to '70s)
> 8 mm family movies scanned digitally.
>...
- John
John,
Which "film to digital" service did you use? I have a box of 8mm
family videos taken in the '60s-'70s that I would really like to save.
It sounds like you are very happy with the results.
Please contact me offline if you don't want to publically advertise the service.
Thanks,
Bob
8:52 a.m.
At 09:09 AM 4/18/2013, Toby Thain wrote:
Coincidentally, I found this in my inbox today.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/save-small-gauge-film
Their scanner sounds like the cat's pajamas.
So he wants other people to pay for a high-end scanner for his business,
because he promises to rescue old footage?
- John
9:28 a.m.
New subject: 8mm Movie to Digital Service?
On 04/18/2013 11:52 AM, John Foust wrote:
Far, far stranger things have gotten huge amounts of money via those types
of campaigns.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
Coincidentally, I found this in my inbox today.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/save-small-gauge-film
Their scanner sounds like the cat's pajamas.
So he wants other people to pay for a high-end scanner for his business,
because he promises to rescue old footage? 
19 Apr
19 Apr
6:16 a.m.
New subject: 8mm Movie to Digital Service?
At 12:28 PM 18/04/2013, you wrote:
On 04/18/2013 11:52 AM, John Foust wrote:
Far, far stranger things have gotten huge amounts of money via those types
of campaigns.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
While I don't doubt that a $100 K scanner can do good work
with well shot home movies, about 90 percent
of the footage I have seen in the thirty five years I have been
transferring this stuff has been out of focus, poorly lit, scratched,
badly framed, (upside down even,) and so far no one has complained of
the quality I get with my projector
to Buhl lens system to video camera. Sooner or later we are going to
run out of 8mm films to transfer. and it
would take a long time to recover $100K at ten cents a foot for film.
Cheers
Charlie Fox
Charles E. Fox
793 Argyle Rd. Windsor Ont.
519-254-4991 N8Y3j8
www.chasfoxvideo.com
Coincidentally, I found this in my inbox today.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/save-small-gauge-film
Their scanner sounds like the cat's pajamas.
So he wants other people to pay for a high-end scanner for his business,
because he promises to rescue old footage?
8:14 a.m.
New subject: 8mm Movie to Digital Service?
At 08:16 AM 4/19/2013, Charles E. Fox wrote:
While I don't doubt that a $100 K scanner can do
good work with well shot home movies, about 90 percent
of the footage I have seen in the thirty five years I have been transferring this stuff
has been out of focus, poorly lit, scratched,
badly framed, (upside down even,) and so far no one has complained of the quality I get
with my projector
to Buhl lens system to video camera. Sooner or later we are going to run out of 8mm films
to transfer. and it
would take a long time to recover $100K at ten cents a foot for film.
By "video" you mean NTSC? On tape? What resolution is that? What
is the resolution of a good-quality exposure on 8 mm or 16 mm?
What's the resolution of film from a poor 8 mm camera?
The place I mentioned scans at HD 1920 x 1080 pixels - quite a bit better
than NTSC resolution. The $100K scanner guy wants to go to 2K, arguably
2048 x 1556, unknown pixel depth. With deeper bits-per-pixel, you get
more leeway to massage poor exposures.
Maybe you're more careful than the guy I used in the early 90s,
maybe your projector has better lenses, (did I know you back in
the Amiga days or when I was writing for video magazines?)
but take a look at the difference between 1990s projector-to-VHS
and today's digital HD scan. Watch at full-screen.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f08K0Co3l5s>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f08K0Co3l5s
One of my films was flipped horizontally and plays backwards. It was
an easy fix in digital. Look at the sprocket jitter in the example
above. How do you fix that with a projector?
I think there's plenty of interesting films that would be worth preserving.
I am tempted to help my local historical society with such a project.
I'm sure there are home movies that would be worth keeping as a
historical record, and that would be of interest to others.
- John
20 Apr
20 Apr
7:05 a.m.
New subject: 8mm Movie to Digital Service?
At 11:14 AM 19/04/2013, you wrote:
The place I mentioned scans at HD 1920 x 1080 pixels -
quite a bit better
than NTSC resolution. The $100K scanner guy wants to go to 2K, arguably
2048 x 1556, unknown pixel depth. With deeper bits-per-pixel, you get
more leeway to massage poor exposures.
Maybe you're more careful than the guy I used in the early 90s,
maybe your projector has better lenses, (did I know you back in
the Amiga days or when I was writing for video magazines?)
but take a look at the difference between 1990s projector-to-VHS
and today's digital HD scan. Watch at full-screen.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f08K0Co3l5s>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f08K0Co3l5s
One of my films was flipped horizontally and plays backwards. It was
an easy fix in digital. Look at the sprocket jitter in the example
above. How do you fix that with a projector?
I think there's plenty of interesting films that would be worth preserving.
I am tempted to help my local historical society with such a project.
I'm sure there are home movies that would be worth keeping as a
historical record, and that would be of interest to others.
- John
You are right and I am impressed, but the example shows a
bit of optical sound track
so was probably professionally shot in the first place. Most of my
clients through the years
have been people who would spend hundreds of dollars on film and
never think of buying a light meter.
Cheers
Charlie Fox
Charles E. Fox
793 Argyle Rd. Windsor Ont.
519-254-4991 N8Y3j8
www.chasfoxvideo.com
8 a.m.
New subject: 8mm Movie to Digital Service?
At 09:05 AM 4/20/2013, Charles E. Fox wrote:
You are right and I am impressed, but the example shows
a bit of optical sound track so was probably professionally shot in the first place.
The noise on the right edge? You've got to be kidding. I assumed
that was simply scratched film. This is 1944 8 mm, not circa
1970s Super 8. Family camera, not pro. As I said, they scan the
film frame edge-to-edge, not just the middle that you'll see with
a telecine or projector.
(I do come from a long line of tinkerers, but I realize it was unusual
for people to be shooting home movies in the 1930s and color in
the 1940s.)
I've seen audio on film edge, but it's normally center-amplitude
and not edge-amplitude, correct? They put it in the center of the margin
to avoid noise fromedge scratches. And there were several higher-end
variations since then in analog and digital.
It would be wonderful if there was sound here, but I don't think there is.
If so, you've pointed out an excellent point about this digital scanning
of a film. I wonder if any of the services have a digital way to grab
analog sound from scanned frames, or if analog capture is the only way.
As always, I'd guess someone's done it. It's astounding what can be
recovered digitally. Here's how a lost 1899 record was recovered
from a photo in a book:
<http://gizmodo.com/5922410/this-is-the-oldest-vinyl-album-in-the-history-of-the-world>http://gizmodo.com/5922410/this-is-the-oldest-vinyl-album-in-the-history-of-the-world
http://vimeo.com/iuvas/review/43913573/0e6cac2eb9
Having associated with computer graphics and 3D animation folks
for years, I know many of them used single-frame film cameras to
record their screens until other methods were developed. I look
forward to what will be rescued by digital scans.
- John
19 Apr
19 Apr
10:25 a.m.
New subject: 8mm Movie to Digital Service?
On Fri, 19 Apr 2013, Charles E. Fox wrote:
While I don't doubt that a $100 K scanner
can do good work
with well shot home movies, about 90 percent
of the footage I have seen in the thirty five years I have been
transferring this stuff has been out of focus, poorly lit, scratched,
badly framed, (upside down even,) and so far no one has complained of
the quality I get with my projector
to Buhl lens system to video camera. Sooner or later we are going to
run out of 8mm films to transfer. and it
would take a long time to recover $100K at ten cents a foot for film.
'twould seem that the MAIN use would be for large collections of 16mm.
4265
days inactive
4269
days old
8 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
bobvines00＠gmail.com -
cfox1＠cogeco.ca -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
jfoust＠threedee.com -
mcguire＠neurotica.com -
toby＠telegraphics.com.au