DIY Telecine
The process of transferring your archival 8mm or Super 8 film stock to video tape is called "telecine." High-end transfers done at post-production houses employ telecine machines with "flying spot scanners." These scanners can color correct your film and adjust focus and exposure on-the-fly. These services are not for the hobbyist on a tight budget as they can cost upward of $600 an hour. A more cost-effective method is the do-it-yourself telecine. This method uses film and video equipment you may already have around the house.
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Things You'll Need
- Film projector
- Projection screen
- Film to be transferred
- Video camera
- Video camera tripod
- Video tape
- Lens cleaning kit
Instructions
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1
Set up your film projector and projection screen in a room that can be darkened.
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Clean the lens of the film projector with the lens cleaning kit, removing any dust or debris from the film projector lens.
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3
Load your film projector with the film you want transferred to video.
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Set up your video camera tripod and video camera.
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Load the video camera with the video tape.
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Clean the lens of the video camera with the lens cleaning kit, removing any dust or debris from the video camera lens.
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Position the video camera tripod and video camera as close as possible to the lens of the film projector.
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Project the film on to the film projection screen.
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Focus the film projector's lens until the image is in clear focus.
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Adjust the projection screen's position so that the film image fills the projection screen.
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Zoom your video camera in as tight as it will go and focus on the center of the image on the projection screen.
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Zoom your camera out until the projected image fits perfectly in your viewfinder.
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Choose tungsten light if your video camera has an option to set the white balance.
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Stop and rewind your film projector.
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Darken the room and start recording video.
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Project the film.
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Tips & Warnings
The closer your film projector and video lenses are, the better the resulting image.
Affordable film projectors and projection screens can be found at flea markets, thrift shops and at popular online auction sites.
Keep a close eye on your film while transferring; at times older film projectors may malfunction and melt your film.
References
- Photo Credit film image by saied shahinkiya from Fotolia.com
Comments
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Anonymous
Oct 31, 2011
Even better way is to project quite small image on regular white A4 size paper or cardboard. If you video camera has a long shutter function, set it at 1/25 sec. to reduce flicker. Also You may set sound rec level manually at 0, not to record projector noise
