A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Kodak Reels Film Digitizer-- in Kodak Vision (5 Viewers)

[Desdinova]

I've had outstanding results transferring home movies with a little work. In a dark room (duh) I project the films onto a white screen with the image no larger than 10"x10" and capture the clip using a Sony EX1. Since the Sony's recording at 24p and the film was shot at 16 FPS, by running the film in slow motion on the projector, it's running at 8 FPS so I then compress the final clip in Magix Vegas by 2/3 and it restores the normal speed while also compressing any flicker to virtual invisibility.

I then upscale the output to 8k using Topaz Video AI and then compress that down to 4k to radically trim the file size.
The result loses a little of the grain but enhances the details naturally and provides detail way beyond the original clip.

I'm still tweaking the process and future captures will be in 4k using my Sony A7SII and playing with frame interpolation to smooth the image a bit. They'll never be perfect but with some grading they're coming out quite nicely. So for a modest investment in a camera and projector and some simple playing in an editing program, you can easily convert the movies yourself.

The next task will be capturing the 16mm home movies my grandfather shot in the 1920s. The films have rarely been run, are on Kodak safety nitrate and are perfect: no scratches, no torn sprockets, and no fading. If folks are interested, I'll post the results of those (but it won't be any time soon, unfortunately; not enough time to resume the hobby).

 

[Robert Harris]

I've had outstanding results transferring home movies with a little work. In a dark room (duh) I project the films onto a white screen with the image no larger than 10"x10" and capture the clip using a Sony EX1. Since the Sony's recording at 24p and the film was shot at 16 FPS, by running the film in slow motion on the projector, it's running at 8 FPS so I then compress the final clip in Magix Vegas by 2/3 and it restores the normal speed while also compressing any flicker to virtual invisibility.

I then upscale the output to 8k using Topaz Video AI and then compress that down to 4k to radically trim the file size.
The result loses a little of the grain but enhances the details naturally and provides detail way beyond the original clip.

I'm still tweaking the process and future captures will be in 4k using my Sony A7SII and playing with frame interpolation to smooth the image a bit. They'll never be perfect but with some grading they're coming out quite nicely. So for a modest investment in a camera and projector and some simple playing in an editing program, you can easily convert the movies yourself.

The next task will be capturing the 16mm home movies my grandfather shot in the 1920s. The films have rarely been run, are on Kodak safety nitrate and are perfect: no scratches, no torn sprockets, and no fading. If folks are interested, I'll post the results of those (but it won't be any time soon, unfortunately; not enough time to resume the hobby).

Your grandfather’s films are most likely on diacetate safety stock. If you open the original cans (presuming you have them) you’ll find a small mesh screen in the lid. Place a small cloth with a bit of camphor behind the mesh, and it will help soften the film base.

Do not attempt to project the film without first measuring for shrinkage. You may destroy the film

 

[MielR]

I am looking for something or some service that can convert Super 8mm Sound format. Any recommendations are appreciated.

I don't trust anyone but CinePost to do this type of work for me. The owner is Myron Lenenski. It helps that they're in the same city as I am, but if you're not fearful to ship material (assuming you live outside of the Atlanta area), they do great work.

 

[Desdinova]

Your grandfather’s films are most likely on diacetate safety stock. If you open the original cans (presuming you have them) you’ll find a small mesh screen in the lid. Place a small cloth with a bit of camphor behind the mesh, and it will help soften the film base.

Do not attempt to project the film without first measuring for shrinkage. You may destroy the film

Thanks for the head's up. They do indeed have the mesh screen you described and an initial eyeballing of the sprockets didn't SEEM to reveal any signs of shrinkage (but my eyes are not a microscope, lol), but I'll certainly follow your advice.

I ran them back in the mid-90s when I transferred them to Hi8 and had no issues, but that was also 30 years ago.
Fortunately, granddad took the concept of back-ups seriously: there are the original smaller reels; larger master dupes of the small reels on which he edited in title cards; and finally dupes of the edited reels.

Obviously, the original reels would have the highest detail but I like the presence (and clarification of what's being watched) of the title cards so I'll probably capture the original reels and then edit in the title cards from the dupe.

 

[John Knowles]

I recently used a local service (Minnesota), Saving Tapes, for some Super 8 (both sound and silent) and they came out very well. They did frame by frame scanning to 2k and it looks, to me anyhow, as good as the format can deliver. It was certainly more expensive than some of the larger companies that use more automated systems but I only wanted to have this done once and it was worth the cost for me to have it done right.