$0.08/ft Frame by Frame Transfer - Click NOW! Or click the flowers to see what a HD camera can do with a frame transfer machine! 8MM FILM - HOW TO TRANSFER AT HOME WITH WHAT YOU ALREADY OWN.

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EQUALS A VERY LOW QUALITY RESULT.

why? The white matt they used in the 70's was extremely cheap and does not dissipate light evenly. I have tried 3 different models and all three were terrible. WARNING - quite a few small companies that claim to perform state of the art transfers use these boxes as they are convenient. We do not. We stand behind our transfers with a guarantee of quality and price, and a $200 coupon if you find better quality at a better price. Period. Ask the competition before buying if they can do the same.

Feel free to print this or reproduce it with terms of supplying a link to this page and disclosure of the authors. Click highlighted words to see pop up windows with further notes and definitions.

REQUIRED

• Working projector (lens is the weak link here, a cheap projector will blur on the edges)
• High quality DV CAMERA  WITH  MANUAL focus
• Spare large cardboard box, black paint, tape, wood strapping and nails
• 2 long days

An analogue camera cannot capture at 60 frames per second. Manual focus is required to force the lens to focus on the screen and ignore the in focus out of focus errors the original camera struggled with. Setting your DV camera at 60 frames allows a few things. It allows you to set the projector speed for 18FPS and slightly speed it up to 20 using a variable dial and get a real clean capture - IE 3 frames for each frame of film, very little to no flicker. 24fps also works, as there will be exactly 2.5 frames of DV video for each one frame of film. The idea is to have the ratio STAY FIXED.

Step by Step. Read this article carefully. Our demo on the home page was produced using this method, and it is very affordable, and quick.

DO THIS

Film the projected image on the screen using a camera greater than $1,000 in price and a small piece of heavy matt photo paper, not glossy. Best is smooth cloth, but it must be very fine fiber and very smooth. Image max size 10 inches wide. Best is 5-6 inches. Do not film it using a projector screen. Do not use a "transfer box" as sold in the 1970's. Try to use a Digital rather than Analogue Video camcorder.

ENEMIES

The enemies of a good transfer are -

• light refraction from the screen
• light refraction from neighboring material
• light wandering in from third party sources onto the screen and into the lens of the DV camera
• hot spot created by the bulb on the screen
• out of focus edges of the projected image because it is close to the projector
• fluctuating speed of the projector

SOLUTIONS

How to defeat these enemies of a great transfer -

• Use heavy matt paper, not glossy, or a piece of authentic projector screen
• paint the inside of the box FLAT BLACK - do not use glossy paint
• project into a long rectangular box with a sealed end where the photo paper screen is
• tilt the paper 1-2 degrees to force the hot spot off the screen
• warp the paper slightly so it is a parabola - experiment until you find the needed warp to force the edges to be in focus
• use a variable dial projector - or take yours apart, cut the black wire going to the motor, buy at Radio Shack a 24 volt (examine your motor and wires, you need to find a stamp of some kind indicating how many volts it runs on) variable dial, connect it to each end of the black hot lead you cut that powered the motor. Now you have a variable dial machine.

What we have done that works well

Build a black cardboard box, project into it with the inside sides painted FLAT black. Must be 1 foot wide, 1 foot or so high and about 2  1/2 feet long. Do not skip the flat black paint - I learned this via trial and error.  It reduces light distortion in the camera. Paint the edges of your photo paper FLAT BLACK leaving a white square 6X8 inches. This reduces white glare. Attach the paper screen at the end of your box opposite your camera. Connect to the bottom of the photo paper screen a long piece of cardboard , like a handle, so you can gently pull the bottom towards you a bit to angle it, or push it back slightly. Aim your projector STRAIGHT on - if it is tilted even a bit, the edges will be slightly out of focus. The idea is to have the projector lens perpendicular to the screen. Aim the Digital camera as close to the projector line of sight as possible. Do not use ANALOGUE camera. A DV camera will allow you to set the shutter speed. You need to use 60FPS for film that plays at 20FPS. (You can film 18FPS film at 20FPS to get a good DV capture and slow it down in your DV Video editor. Filming at 18FPS will produce a lousy capture) Set up your capture program and view the camera on screen. Now set your camera on AUTO FOCUS. Attach a piece of printed paper to a long stick. Shine some light into your long box 1 ft wide, 1 foot high and 2 1/2 feet long with the photo paper taped onto the other end facing the camera and projector. Push the stick up against the screen with the camera on, let it focus. Now turn off the focus. Put it on MANUAL while it is still focusing on it. Take out the piece of paper with print on it you used to focus the camera. Cycle power on the camera leaving it on MANUAL focus. Now run your film thru. At first, slightly move the bottom of the screen forward or backward until the little white spot from the bulb is off the preview on your monitor.  Constantly adj the speed of the projector to minimize the white flutter. OR - take off the back cover of the projector and spray slick 50 air grease onto the gears. That will help it run smooth. LEAVE it on MANUAL FOCUS. When done and in PC, run a professional AUTO LEVEL filter through it immediately. This will get rid of some of the white flutter. Do not use COLOR CONTROL or any other filters at the same time. The detail is lacking to run multiple filters even if you use a $3,000 camera. Run a COLOR CONTROL filter thru your clip after you run the auto level first. That is as good as you will get using telecine and a cheap regular projector.
 

Practice filming a small 50 foot reel a few hours. The only way to minimize the white phasing flutter is to adj the speed of the projector manually during capture. GOOD LUCK! If you are lacking a camcorder in the $1,000 class, give us a call. Or fill out a form for a free 50ft transfer so you can compare your result to ours. Depending on the use, sometimes a lousy transfer done at home is all you need. Usually people want a high quality transfer for future generations, wedding videos, growing up videos, and more.

We have upgraded to a FRAME BY FRAME scanner that scan each frame of HOME MOVIE like a photo as of March 31, 2005. We use STOP MOTION PRO to capture 5 digital frames for each frame of movie then the software averages them together to result is smooth surfaces and color. The result is the exact same as what you would see on Discovery Channel. Guaranteed.