Flatbed scanning ingenuity

Click the image above for detailed step by step instructions to make your own automated flatbed telecine/scanner for Super 8mm film... amazing!

[Thanks Kyle]

Whispering transfers

Michael Ryan, some time writer for Super 8 Today, has started his own Super 8 and Regular film transfer company called 'The Film Whisperer' using a CineMate unit from MovieStuff.

This new venture is aimed squarely at two distinct groups - those who want to transfer their home movies to DVD, and those who make independent films.

With the latter in mind, Michael has launched the innovative "eFree8" programme. Open to independent filmmakers worldwide everyone has the chance to "pitch" their film to Michael with the best each month getting 100 feet of Super 8 or Regular 8 film transferred for free.

Click the link to find out more on The Film Whisperer including pricing and how you could get yourself a 100 foot transfer for diddly squat!

Lego Super 8 Scanner

As a teenager in the 80s I was actively shooting films with my Super8 camera. Most of the stuff was just documentary about my family and friends but I had also more ambitious projects. As so many other in that age I even dreamed of a career as professional film maker before choosing the easy way of playing for my strengths in physics and IT.

Read on for more about the Lego + Epson scanner hybrid and its surprisingly good results...

For more on the related open source Freecine PC software and improvements to the telecine project, click here.

[Via Harri Kaimio]

HD scans from Pro8mm

Hot high definition telecine news from Pro8mm...

The movement to HD has been taking place at electric speed at Pro8mm and many systems are now up and fully functional. The M2 scanner [pictured above] is working beautifully with scan capacity to 3 high definition standards, 1080i, 1080p and 720p along with putting out the most amazing quality standard definition 525/625 (NTSC & Pal) we have ever seen from small gauge film. Scan's can be done from Regular8, Super8, Max8, 16mm and Super 16mm to HD Cam, Hard Drive or Disc

To see a full size 1080 frame for yourself - click here - note this is a 75% quality jpeg, we had to keep the bandwidth down!

Red One and Super 8mm at last!

It was bound to happen - it was just a matter of time...

The image above shows a pre-prototype arrangement for what might just be the ultimate desktop Super 8mm telecine system. Yes - as unbelievable as it seems - that is a Red One Camera and a Movie Stuff Workprinter XP set up to capture 8mm film images!

Unless you've been living in a DV cave for the last 18 months or so, you'll know that the Red One Camera, with its super high end specification, is making waves in professional movie making circles - harnessing phenomenal digital quality (up to 4k at 30fps) with system flexibility and high portability.

That's all well and good, but point that thing down the barrel of a Workprinter and the results will be extreme (in probably both good and bad ways) showing the Super 8mm celluloid frame like never before. Remarkably the Workprinter's trigger out will interface directly to the Red's GPI input to trigger capture in stop motion mode (up to 30 single frame captures per second in the Red's 4K mode), all that's needed now is some optical wizardry to sit between the Red and Workprinter.

We're grateful to Matthew Greene for letting us in on this experiment (and using the photo) and we'll keep you posted as results emerge...

New telecine kids on the block

Down on S Van Ness Avenue in Los Angeles 90004 there are some new kids on the telecine block!

Cinelicious are now offering direct to drive and tape transfers using a Cintel Ursa Diamond and daVinci DUI color corrector Super 8mm users now have the option of data only transfers in DVCPro (for NTSC and PAL), skipping the tape stage, as well as the option of online previews.

Also in their TC arsenal are Diamond Clear HD transfers - based around a 1200+ line oversampling technique developed for the URSA Diamond which, it's claimed, gives 95% quality of an HD Spirit Transfer for a fraction of the prices.

These are exciting times indeed in the world of small film telecine and we welcome Cinelicious to the Super 8mm fold!

Pro8mm HD near

The latest from Pro8mm on progress with their HD small film scanner...

After years of research and negotiations with several vendors, Pro8mm has just taken delivery on a High Definition Film Scanner. The brand new MILLENNIUM II was manufactured by Cintel International Ltd, in England, and arrived at Pro8mm in Burbank on December 22, 2007. We will be spending the next few weeks waiting for the custom gates to arrive, training the colorists, and doing a variety of tests so that we can optimize our end results.

The MMII will scan Super 8, Regular 8, MAX 8, 16mm and Super 16mm. The first jobs are anticipated to be scheduled sometime in March, with several eager clients already in the wings working on notable commercial jobs.

For more on this, plus details on their Vision 3 product in Super 8mm and a roundup of recent commissions, see their latest newsletter (.pdf 982K download)

French Telecine Developments

It's all too easy to forget that the world does continue beyond those English speakers and it's to France we're looking with a couple of exciting developments in the world of Super 8mm telecine.



The image above is of the Memory Telecine machine produced by French firm CTM Debrie. This small (ish) machine can transfer 8mm, Super 8mm, 9.5mm, 16mm and super 16mm film to a variety of file formats and even comes in a choice of groovy colours - for more click the orange machine!

In Paris, Media Capture are offering Super 8mm transfers to both standard (SD) and high definition (HD) in a variety of file formats using the 'Memory' machine illustrated above. Their French language website has a number of telecine samples including Quicktime files of the popular Kodak stocks. For more, click here

[Thanks Thierry]

High Def for Pro8mm

Big news from Pro8mm, small film HD is coming...

It's official! After years of research and negotiations with several vendors, Pro8mm has just ordered a High Definition Film Scanner. The brand new Millenium II will be manufactured by Cintel International Ltd, in England. We are expecting to take delivery on the machine sometime in January. We will be spending the winter months training the colorists, and doing a variety of tests so that we can optimize our end results. The MMII will scan Super 8, Regular 8, MAX 8, 16mm and Super 16mm. The first jobs are anticipated to be scheduled sometime in March, with several eager clients already in the wings working on notable commercial jobs.

One of the reasons we picked the MMII was that Cintel International was willing to build a custom MAX 8 gate for us. Since introducing the MAX 8 format in 2004, we have seen a tremendous growth in the number of clients who are shooting it to be HD READY. MAX 8 is the perfect Super 8 format for High Definition because it is widescreen. The format was designed to create 16 x 9 images from 8mm film. We will soon be introducing more models of MAX 8 cameras along with inexpensive gate only modifications. This will make the shooting in 16 x 9 super 8 more affordable to more people.

More on www.pro8mm.com