film --> DVD?

[DaveS]

have you guys ever converted film to dvd? My father in law has a bunch of reels of old film that I'd like to convert before they completely dry up.

I think tomshardware had a guide on this but it didn't go into much detail about the equipment, specifically the frosted glass thing that I can put my projector on one side and my dv camcorder on the other & video the film (then xfer).

Have you guys ever done this? Where can I get the frosted glass thing? Does it work? What advice would you give me (and buy a $150k sony telecine machine doesn't count!)

Thanks in advance - any feedback would be appreciated!

[sdlehman]

Hi DaveS,

I have transferred several reels of 8mm and Super 8mm film with pretty good results. You will need a projector (Duh) and you can use just a sheet of white paper as a screen if you want to. I tried using one of those cheap transfer boxes with the frosted glass but I didn't like it at all.

You will have to set the projector at a slight angle to the screen so you will be able to point your video camera at the screen also at a slight angle. If possible you will want to set your video camera frame rate so that you will minimize flicker caused by the difference between the film frame rate and the camera frame rate. Turn off any auto-focus also.

Once you have the film on tape, just capture with your favorite program and use whatever filters you may need. Virtual Dub has a lot of great filters that may come in handy. The deflicker filter is one I had to use because my camera did not have an adjustable frame rate.

Hope this helps.
Good luck
Stace

[DaveS]

thanks ...

- did the small angle difference between the film projecter and your camcorder make any difference inrecording?

- to adjust the spees to minimize flickering, did you do any of this on your film camera? would I see the flickering in my capture window on the PC or do I have to run through the whole process? did you try to get the film down to 15fps, then adjust the speed on the computer or how did you do this?

thanks a lot!

[sdlehman]

The angle made a small difference, but I was able to crop the frame so as not to notice. I tried to adjust the projector frame rate but was unable to make enough of a difference to eliminate all of the flicker. I could see the flicker on the flip-out screen of my camera while copying. I captured with my computer from my camcorder after copying. I used Premier to first crop and adjust contrast, brightness and color. Then I used Virtual Dub to eliminate flicker. All in all it worked pretty well for such a clumsy process.

There is a system at MovieStuff.com that looks very nice, but a little expensive. Maybe $1200 I think?

If you need to know anything else I'll try and help.

Stace