Super 8 to MPEG

[aidan.f]

does anyone have some good tips / means of helping to transfer Super8 to digital?

If it comes to it we could pay someone, but that's no fun!

[Valiant]

I use Stanleys Productions for film stuff. Not worth the hassle of doing it yourself lol.

[gordon taylor]

We projected our films onto a screen and just filmed the image with a camcorder on a tripod. We also had a some tacky (Hovis) music playing in the background. The soundtrack includes sounds of people moving around, lots of "shhhhhhhhing," the phone ringing, rude comments and laughter.

The quality is awful, but they were just ancient "family on the beach" films.

The results are amongst our most treasured posessions.

[Really Ancien]

Here's one I did earlier, it's 8 mm, so less quality than Super 8 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/7xVZ-vcSJB8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/7xVZ-vcSJB8&rel=1</a>
I just projected it and videoed it. You have to use 1/50 sec exposure to avoid flicker. Also use manual focus as the autofocus will struggle. I dread to think how much it would cost to scan each frame, so a transfer company will do much the same.


Damon.

[redshift]

Here's one I did earlier, it's 8 mm, so less quality than Super 8 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/7xVZ-vcSJB8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/7xVZ-vcSJB8&rel=1</a>
I just projected it and videoed it. You have to use 1/50 sec exposure to avoid flicker. Also use manual focus as the autofocus will struggle. I dread to think how much it would cost to scan each frame, so a transfer company will do much the same.

That depends.  If you can find a facilities company with a proper telecine (TK) machine, it'll be done electronically.  Super 8 gates were available for Rank Cintel machines, although they're few and far between, and probably will be expensive these days.  I would estimate somewhere north of £100 / hour.

[aidan.f]

'love the my first bike video - suggestions as always from this forum have been useful
A.

[Jaded]

Just a point to consider. When Dad had all his 8mm and his dad's 16mm film transposed, the person that did it used some pretty mediocre PC DVD software to put it on DVD. The upshot is that the DVDs don't play in some machines. If you add the fact that converting to DVD loses quality (accepting that the input material is pretty low quality anyway!) then I'd suggest that however you end up converting it you keep the original converted files on an external HD as a sort of Master.

[Really Ancien]

Another point to consider is that well kept Kodachrome lasts a long time. More than 40 years in my case, so look after the originals. I'm not confident of being able to play a DVD in 40 years time.
The priority with image archiving is to get old videos digitised as soon as possible, the image bleed and print through are very noticeable. So if you've got a choice of spending time digitising film or videotape, do the video first. Especially as you will need to use a VCR to do the job and you probably haven't used yours for a while.

Damon.