I transferred some 8mm analog video to digital today.

[Hulk]

My in-laws asked me to transfer their old 8mm video to digital.

I know I pretty much did it all wrong but they were happy with the results. Here's what I did for those interested in reading.

1. Played the first tape from their machine that had been in their cellar for 25 years. Looked horrible. Took out the lens assembly and noted the lenses were incredibly clouded. Took apart the whole assembly and cleaned the lenses. Played the video on a white wall so the image was about 3 feet across.

2. Placed my Canon Optura Pi as close to the projector lens as possible and framed the image in progressive mode with image stabilization off.

3. Began recording and noticed auto focus "pulsing." Turned off auto focus and set auto focus. No more pulsing.

4. Noticed video was pulsing from light to dark and back again. Turned camera controls to manual and locked down exposure and shutter. I don't remember the settings but the pulsing stopped.

5. Transferred to computer, quick beginning and end edits, some background music here and there. I also captured some pretty good projector noise to use in spots, like the opening of the disc menu. Kind of sets the mood.

6. Burned DVD in DVD Workshop and tested on my DVD player. It's looks good, for what it is and they are really happy.

Well, that's my hack job!

- Mark

[Brian Ellis]

Mark

I presume you mean 8 mm chemical film and not video

I intend doing something similar for the double 8 film I took from 41 years ago (my daughter's first steps!) and super 8 from about 30 years ago. I've got a retroprojector system which avoids some of the problems with screens, walls etc. but I haven't used it yet. I think it cost me about ε70 and has a small translucid screen, a surface silvered mirror and a window with an adjustable rubber "lens cap" against which the lens is placed to avoid ambient light from entering.

[Hulk]

Yes, chemical film. It's funny, at first the whole process of threading the film, focusing, etc, seemed very quaint. After and hour and a half I was tired of the quirks of the machine and the low resolution of the format, or the out of focusness of the original tapes.

I did sample the noise of the projector when it was making a really nice whirring sound, if anyone wants the sound I'll post it on the MS Pro test website.

[Ted222]

Mark,
Thanks for posting. I have an Optura PI and am going to do the same thing when I find an old projector.

Ted

[Hulk]

I got a chance to fool around some more and took note of the settings that seemed to work well. I used a large aperture since depth of field isn't important in this application. This way I could get the best light sensitivity while still keeping the shutter speed high enough to avoid flicker.

- Mark

[Ted222]

Thanks for the info, gonna print this thread out and put it in my files.

Ted