16 mm film transfer

Hi,
I bought a 16 mm film projector on Ebay and captured old (1930's) film reels to my Sony HD camcorder by projecting the movies onto a screen and recording the images with my camcorder.
The images have noticeable flicker/strobe when played back on the camcorder and in FCP.
I used the Flicker Filter to dampen the flicker somewhat. I tried duplicating the sequence on the timeline and applying a compositing mode to it (fail).
Is there a trick to get rid of the flicker? I would be happy to recapture the films if there is a different method.
As always, thanks for all the help.
Brock Fisher
San Diego

Is there a trick to get rid of the flicker?
The trick is to NOT record the flicker to begin with. Use a projector with a variable speed motor so you can sync the projector's shutter (fan) speed with the camera's frame rate.
Or have it done professionally.
-DH

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Film Transfer question

Re: 16mm film transfer
Hello;
I have some vintage 16mm film that I would like to have transfered to an editable format. If I work in FinalCutPro what format should the 16mm film be transfered too so that it can be edited?
Any suggestions for a quality-reasonably priced -Manhattan based vendor who will do this work?
Thanks for your suggestions

If your system can handle HD, I'd ask for HD files on a drive since they'll likely crop the 16mm image to 16:9. That way you'll get as high a quality transfer as you can.
Andy

Home Movie Film Transfer File Format

What file format should I request for my home movie film transfers? I want to both archive the films in high definition and edit with Premiere Elements 8. Disc space is not a problem.

The commercial movie transfer companies are recommending HD AVI, AVI Black Magic, Motion JPEG (which they say are equivalent), and not MPEG-2. I didn't know that AVI could be 1440x1080. Can you give me some examples of 1440x1080 non-square pixel file names or could you refer me to an information source so I would know what I am talking about when I talk with them?

8mm Film Transfer Services- .avi Uncompressed Question

I am researching film to digital transfer services and most of them seem to have this scanner technology that ends up as uncompressed .avi files. One company claims HD scanning. My problem is I edit in FCP and want to convert to ProRes. One company would do this for an hourly fee, but I'm trying to figure out how I can do it myself. I want as lossless a process as possible. Thanks in advance for replies.

Where are you located? We have Pro8mm here in LA that will capture as Quicktime movies. And they charge hourly...but that is the way it is done. And these guys do it right...professional telecine machines like are used in feature films. NATURAL BORN KILLERS used this place. I did for super8mm home movies.
www.pro8mm.com
but I'm trying to figure out how I can do it myself
Get a projector and HD camera and project the image onto a white wall and shoot it. That is the VERY poor man's way to do it. Another way that many cheap film-to-tape places utilize is a special projector straight into a camera lens, then to tape.
But for the lossless as possible, go Pro8mm.
Shane

8mm Film Transfer

My family has several projectors and many, many reels of 8mm film, dating back to 1937. Any tips on how to transfer to a medium that can than be imported into a computer. I have Final Cut Studio so I would like to edit these myself rather than take them somewhere else. Thought you experts might have some suggestions. Thanks for any help you can provide.
G5 Power Mac Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Really depends on the end-quality that you want (and how careful you want your films to be handled.)
The simplest, crudest method is indeed simply filming the projection. This has a couple of problems, and de-generates the image quality much more than necessary.
The best & most expensive way of transferring S8 to video is with a machine that uses a wet gate technology. This is very gentle on the film, gets rid of dirt and scratches, and gives amazing results. But your wallet won´t like it.
The middle way is using a specialized projector, which makes it possible to scan each and every frame of your film. These are made by a small family run business, Movie Stuff in Texas (i believe) http://moviestuff.tv/transfers.html
I´ve got one of their machines and think they are marvellous.
(And yes, they work on Macs; doing the finishing in FCP gives that extra edge.) Always good idea to add projector sound on a low level.
Yet another option is of course paying someone to do it for you; that way you get an experienced operator to do the transfer for you. Do a Google on 8mm tranfer, and you´d be amazed at the amout of results. Don´t go for the cheapest option...
Quad G5, iMac G5 20, G4 QS 867mhz, iBook G4, Mac mini, PB 190 Mac OS X (10.4.6) DSR-570, DSR-11, 2x24" and some more toys.

Recommend 8mm Film Transfer Service

I would like to have our family 8mm films (and one 16mm from 1929) transferred to a digital format for editing in FCP. I don't want to spend a ton of $$ (I have 47 3-inch 8mm reels), but I want a good quality transfer. (One quote I got was for over $1,000) There are a bunch of companies that do this, but it is hard to tell who is good. Apparently there are several methods for transfer and it seems most result in an uncompressed .avi file. I am sorry to post this off-topic question here, but I trust this FCP forum and hope maybe some other editors have done this kind of project before.
Thanks in advance for replies.

Catherine
I think you have two incompatible requirements: "Good quality transfer" vs. "I don't want to spend a ton of $$." There is a high cost for a good quality commercial transfer.
A few years ago I got the bug to transfer family 8 and Super8 mm film to digital. My first attempt was to simply project the image on a screen and aim a camcorder at it. The result was not-so-great — flicker when projector speed isn't perfectly synched with camcorder speed, plus parallax and not perfect focus since the camcorder has to shoot the screen at an angle because it's alongside the projector, not directly in line with it.
Then, after a recommendation from this forum, I checked out MovieStuff (see Carl's post above). I ended up purchasing a WorkPrinter-XP and doing the job myself. (Click on the 'Equipment' link at the bottom of the MovieStuff page.) In simple terms, software on the Mac syncs the camcorder with the projector, capturing the film frame-by-frame, resulting in no flicker, no parallax, full-frame capture, and a sharp picture. Drop the file in FCP and edit to your heart's content, then create a DVD with music, a voiceover and/or closed captioning, and wow the family.
Other than having total control of all phases of the project plus the satisfaction of doing this myself, the next best thing is that, in the end, it cost me nothing. In fact, it continues to pay for itself. What would've been spent having the film commercially transferred, wasn't. As word spread, distant relatives asked if I could transfer their film. Yes, for a reasonable fee. Then word spread to non-relatives. You get the idea. In short, there is still a lot of 8mm film out there in canisters that people want to see but can't because their projectors don't work and many have heard horror stories of the product received when film was sent away to a commercial transfer outfit.
If doing it yourself interests you, one recommendation I would make is to splice the film on all those 3" reels and put it on 8" reels. The job goes a lot faster with fewer reels.
Good luck

RAID 0 film transfer from 3 drives to one

Have three daisy chained Lacies on FW800 to G4.
Want to transfer Final Cut 4.5 films on those drives to one Lacie drive.
How to do it? Not a backup. The three drives become the backup. Need logged film. Will be a working drive.

disk utility can set drives to raid zero. I have three internals raided together the same way. works well. I recommend posting in a forum other than final cut... but yeah, disk utility! yeah!

Film transfer from old PC to new iTunes

So a few years ago I purchased a load of films from iTunes (about 8/9 films). And they were on my iTunes account on my old PC which I now no longer have, I recently upgraded to an iMac and when I go onto iTunes I found that I didn't have any of the content I had on my old PC such as music files and films. It's kind of frustrating that there isn't a simple solution to this but let's face it there never is. So if anybody knows how I am able to get these films back it would be a great help. I know before when I was on the same account I was able to purchase something I bought before and I could download it for free but I dont want to accidentally download the wrong thing and have to spend a lot of unwanted money.
Thanks! - Chris
UPDATE: After being told to sign into iTunes with my account and go to the purchases tab I did so however I can only find about 2 purchases on there from the past couple of months and they were apps?! There was absolutely nothing from my old PC which I had purchased, even a music video I purchased a while back wasn't on there. And seeing as I can't contact Apple directly it seems that this forum is the only solution. PLEASE HELP!!

Refer to this article:
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527

Film transfer from COLOR

Hi,
I'm a student film maker just completed shooting my diploma project on RED ONE and planned the entire workflow on FINAL CUT STUDIO. It's just seemless but the final output should be delivered on FILM.
My questions:
Which FILM RECORDER should be used?
I have contacted a studio which uses baselight as they grading/coloring tool and AatonK as their recorder. Is there any recalibration of the recorder to be done to use it with footage corrected by color?
Which monitor / projector should be used to preview the exact output?
Is there anything else I need to know?
Thanks in advance ....

I can't say I've evaluated output from an Aaton.
You may find some economy trying to find a facility offering Celco film recorders, which is a CRT-based technology. If you can strike a deal with a company that offers ArriLaser, you won't get a better product -- but these devices are in demand and come with a premium price for services. As far as prepping the media for output to film - every facility will have its own secret sauce, as it will be utterly dependent on about a couple of thousand variables that you have no control over. Film stock varies slightly between batches, chemistry is mixed on a daily basis, bath temperatures can wobble depending on the time of day...you get the idea.
Firms that offer Baselight as a grading solution most often have alliances with film labs, if they aren't in fact the same company -- and with that integration they are able to offer a direct-to-fim path that takes all (or as many as possible) variables into account into the custom LUT monitoring that grade judgements are made with. That said, it is still very possible and at critical budget levels, practical, to grade with Apple COLOR (that was what Silicon Color Final Touch was created to do) and forward the media to a lab that understands that the grade was LINEAR, and that it needs to be migrated to a film colorspace. Those paths exist -- but they are unique to individual facilities.
Conceivably, your Apple graded project (dpx file) could be mounted on a Baselight for a final once-over if you do not have a reliable or calibrated monitoring facility.
Your next step is to find one of these businesses that are sympathetic to your situation.
You'll find most film grade theatres have a Barco installed.
Bon chance.
jP

Help on film transfer choices

I am producing a documentary. I am using interviews I shot on a Panasonic DVX100A NTSC and I'm using lots of archival footage. I am well into the editing process as my project is already well over an hour.
I am having film footage trasferred to Mini DV tape to I can capture into FCE. I have been asked the following two questions by the lab.
1. Specify time code preference: drop frame or non-drop frame.
2. Indicate whether you want speed correction for any footage that may originate from pre-sound or silent era or if you prefer any such items to be transferred at 24 frames per second.
I have not shot any interview using 24p. And all the footage is from the late 1950's and early 1960's. Any suggestions as to what I should do?

1 - for your purposes, I don't think it matters. Tell them non-drop frame.
2 - Your film footage isn't old enough to need the speed correction they're talking about. I don't think I would adjust the speed. If your main video sequences are NTSC (29.97fps) that's what you want the lab to give you.

Optical Film transfer

I need some help. I’ve worked on this project for about a month now and cannot figure out what I’m doing wrong.
I had 16mm Optical film (projector print) transferred to DV. When I capture the video into FCP it appears stretched, not up and down but side to side. When I view the tape on my monitor it looks fine, normal 4:3 ratio. In the “capture window” it looks fine, but when I drop it in to FCP it stretches it. I looked at the “items properties” it tells me that the clip is anamorphic, which makes no sense I didn’t roll it in anamorphic why would it read it that way? And how do I make it not anamorphic. I’ve asked everyone I know and read through the book twice, I can’t figure this out. Help!

Because it thought it needed to to make it "normal" for your sequence...
I guess I should add this now:
New Discussions ResponsesThe new system for discussions asks that after you mark your question as Answered, you take the time to mark any posts that have aided you with the tag and the post that provided your answer with the tag. This not only gives points to the posters, but points anyone searching for answers to similar problems to the proper posts.
If we use the forums properly they will work well...
Patrick

16mm film transfer to mini DV tape

I feel a little embarrassed about asking this question, as I have asked it before last year but can't remember how to fix the problem and can't find the print out of the answer,so here goes again.
I have had some 16mm film shot at 16fps transferred to tape After capturing the footage into PE 3 I need to change the speed to 24fps to match other film transfers I have captured.
I remember it involves open the "INTERPRET" frames I think but I can not find this option.
So I am hoping the kind person who answered my question before is still reading the Forum.
Ken

HI steve and Junoflydog,
Thank you for your replies to me question.
Juno, I did as you suggested and it worked fine, thank you for your help.
Steve, applying Frame Blend did nothing to correct the problem, I entered Frame Blen into PE3 Help (keyboard) got no result as what it is used for.
As I am thinking of going up to PE7 I was looking for books PE7 and found your "The Muvipix.cpm Guide to PE7, looking inside in the Index under "I" i saw Interpret Footage I entered that into Help no result,although I have been able ti fix my problem using Time Stretch I"m annoyed that I can not correct the speed of my clip as I did last year from a reply in this forum. I clicked somewhere a windo oped asking to enter FPS and bingo it was fixed.
I thank you again for your help.
Ken

Shoot and edit 50i or 60i for final transfer to film?

Hello:
I'm sure this is an often asked question but...
I am shooting a short film that hopefully will have a film transfer for the festival circuit. The short may become integrated into a feature length project if feedback for the short is positive.
I am shooting with a Sony HVR-Z1U in the HDV mode(audio recorded to DAT) so, given that I hope to eventually transfer to film should I shoot at 50i (PAL) or 60i (NTSC)?
I have already been warned off using the cineframe/film-look modes.
I intend to edit in the ProRes format on FCP.
All thoughts and suggestions welcome.
A

Hi,
you can start reading at this section of the online documentation:
http://documentation.apple.com/en/finalcutpro/usermanual/index.html#chapter=91%2 6section=7
Regards,
Armando.

Converting 8mm film question

Not sure if this is the right forum, but here goes. I have acquired the old family 8 mm film reels (no audio) and the projector, a Kodak Brownie 8 Model 10. I would like to put them into digital format and edit in FCE.
I have searched the web and local businesses to have someone else do this, but I'm cheap and would rather do it myself. Plus, I have read so many differing opinions on the best process (wetgate vs frame by frame, etc.) that I don't think I would trust a "transfer mill."
I am hoping I can set it up to capture the projected movie into the Canon, then download and edit in FCE. The final output doesn't have to be of pristine quality, I just want it to be as good as I can get using my current equipment. I like the ambiance of the old film look. I plan to keep a copy on MiniDV for future editing.
1) Is this really a feasible idea? 2) If yes, what am I looking at in terms of frame rate adjustment? What sort of settings do I potentially need on the Canon and in FCE? I thought I had found a few threads on this before, but can't locate them now. Please feel free to point me to those threads, if they do exist in more than just my imagination.
Thanks!
iMac 20" Intel Core Duo 2Ghz 1.5gb RAM Mac OS X (10.4.7) FCE 3.5HD, Canon Optura 50 NTSC>
iMac 20" Intel Core Duo 2Ghz 1.5gb RAM Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Hi Lisa,
Been there, done that.
A few years ago, as a favor, I set out to convert to digital all 8 and Super8 film shot by various relatives as far back as 1946. A variable speed projector is essential, and projecting on an off-white surface is best. Using manual focus and manual exposure worked best for me. Also, connect your camera to a tv — the larger the better — while you're filming. It helps a lot with focus, determining proper exposure, and correcting flicker. Much better than using the camera's small monitor.
No matter what, you still end up with some amount of flicker and a hotspot. Then, because you cannot get the camera directly in line the image, there is some amount of distortion created by the camera offset and you also end up losing some amount of the projected image.
In the end, you will have lost some quality and part of what was actually filmed, but will have preserved the captured memories and re-saved them to disk. Of course, with a dvd it's a whole lot faster to find a specific scene than having to set up a projector, find the reel, etc. So, that's good, and better than not transferring at all.
I've seen some of the results of the film transfer factories, and, for the most part, the do-it-yourself methods discussed here produce better results because you're working on something you care about, rather than have a min. wage person being bored processing other people's boring home movies.
I appreciate the desire to do this with minimal expense. My wife has described me as someone who can make Lincoln scream by squeezing a penny so tight. However, in the end, I just wasn't satisfied with the result. So, I shopped around a bit and ended up at www.moviestuff.tv and purchased the equipment to do my own frame-by-frame transfer.
The result is incredible. Full-frame capture of the original film frames, no hot spot, no flicker, true colors, sharp focus. And, as word spread to the friends of relatives, and to their friend's friends, I started getting requests to do transfers for them — for a reasonable fee of course. Consider that possibility when you look at the cost of the equipment. Just thru references, my setup has already been paid for.
Good luck with your project.
Tom T.
MBP 17" w/max memory; and a souped-up G4 that's still useful Mac OS X (10.4.8) FCS, CS2 pkg

Best settings for film based 25fps PAL to Progressive 23.98fps NTSC?

I'm trying to get the best possible results for transcoding film-based 25fps PAL to 23.98 progressive NTSC. However, I'd also like to add back in the 4% slowdown to make the NTSC file look as close to an NTSC derived film transfer as possible.
I've tried various settings, but when I attempt the slow down the audio goes out of synch. Can anybody help? Are there any reference guides for such things?

Well it must be 24 over 29.97 then because it is working with it. I have been able to create timelines and export quicktime movies, etc. The item properties (in FCE Browser) of the clips definitely say 23.98fps-- as I would expect because I know I had the camera set to 24p. However, the frame rate of the sequences i've been editing on say 29.97. This is without me having made any conscious effort to manipulate any settings for the sequences at the outset-- I didn't even know the sequences had settings for this when i started. I just began dragging and dropping footage out of the browser and it must have automatically set the sequence to 29.97. Who knows what I had the Easy Set up set to when i brought the footage over from my camera two years ago. I knew even less then. Are the settings on Easy Set up critical when bringing the footage onto your computer from your camera? What processes are the Easy set up settings governing?
Even with all of that said, you would recommend burning the DVD as an NTSC? An NTSC in a new PAL DVD player will look better than an NTSC burned as a PAL? I suppose I could send them both versions and see which one looks better.
Thanks for you help Tom.
P.S.
On the true 24p issue, I did find this:
There are many posts out there about the Canon XH A1 not having "true 24p".
I think much of that misinformation out there maybe stemmed from (correct me if I'm wrong):
Canon Frame Mode on the standard DV cams was a "simulation: of the 24 frame look.
The Canon HDV 24p actually records each single frame progressively, but using an interlaced method.

16 mm film transfer

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