A new firmware modification for Chinese 8mm film scanners

[IrregularJoe]

Hello everybody

I managed to get my Somikon HD-XL 8mm film scanner producing high quality output during 2024 by making some modifications to the firmware . The modifications should work for Reflecta and Wolverine scanners as well. I've published a short post with downloads on my blog here.

I hope you find these useful.

Happy Christmas & New Year!

Joe

[dellsam34]

I don't have a film scanner but thanks for the effort, anything helps the video community is very much appreciated, keep up the good work.

[IrregularJoe]

Hi dellsam34, thanks very much for your kind words and encouragement! I'll keep an eye on the forum to find out if there are software tools that other folks need as I'd like to start writing those or maintaining old ones if the source code is available.

[Hunk91]

Hello everybody

I managed to get my Somikon HD-XL 8mm film scanner producing high quality output during 2024 by making some modifications to the firmware . The modifications should work for Reflecta and Wolverine scanners as well. I've published a short post with downloads on my blog here.

I hope you find these useful.

Happy Christmas & New Year!

Joe

Thank you Joe for the new firmware. I would like to test it on my Somikon 8mm / Super 8mm reel Scanner but my model is NX-4294-675 with firmare : 20221202C-PL03P-DE.

My first question is do tou you if this model is compatible with your modiied frimware?

My second question is do you no how I can copy the actual firmware to the sd card in order to reflash it if things go wrong with the new firwmare?

Best regards

[IrregularJoe]

Hi Hunk91

Your model number is exactly the same as mine so you shouldn't have any problems with the Somikon/Reflecta firmware. I'm not sure what firmware version my scanner had to begin with. It is possible to dump the current firmware to the SD card, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. I'm looking into that and a way to disable auto exposure.

Best,
Joe

[dellsam34]

Hi dellsam34, thanks very much for your kind words and encouragement! I'll keep an eye on the forum to find out if there are software tools that other folks need as I'd like to start writing those or maintaining old ones if the source code is available.

Sure we'll keep in touch if needed, thanks.

[IrregularJoe]

Thank you Joe for the new firmware. I would like to test it on my Somikon 8mm / Super 8mm reel Scanner but my model is NX-4294-675 with firmare : 20221202C-PL03P-DE.

My first question is do tou you if this model is compatible with your modiied frimware?

My second question is do you no how I can copy the actual firmware to the sd card in order to reflash it if things go wrong with the new firwmare?

Best regards

Hi Hunk91

I did further investigation into dumping the firmware to the SD card. The code for dumping memory and firmware is present in the firmware. However, it doesn't appear to be possible to trigger it by placing a file with a special name on the SD card like we do when flashing firmware. So, connecting to the serial console seems to be the only way to get the scanner to dump the firmware to the SD card and that involves opening the machine and attaching cables to one of the circuit boards. Sorry to disappoint you.

Best,
Joe

[Hunk91]

Thank you Joe for the new firmware. I would like to test it on my Somikon 8mm / Super 8mm reel Scanner but my model is NX-4294-675 with firmare : 20221202C-PL03P-DE.

My first question is do tou you if this model is compatible with your modiied frimware?

My second question is do you no how I can copy the actual firmware to the sd card in order to reflash it if things go wrong with the new firwmare?

Best regards

Hi Hunk91

I did further investigation into dumping the firmware to the SD card. The code for dumping memory and firmware is present in the firmware. However, it doesn't appear to be possible to trigger it by placing a file with a special name on the SD card like we do when flashing firmware. So, connecting to the serial console seems to be the only way to get the scanner to dump the firmware to the SD card and that involves opening the machine and attaching cables to one of the circuit boards. Sorry to disappoint you.

Best,
Joe

Thank you Joe for your research. I Will try to contact the maker of the distributor of this scanner to know if it is possible to have this stock firmware.

Without this I wont' take the risk of flashing a custom firmware even if I'm sure there won't be any problems.

Best regards

Edit : After contacting Somikon France and the French distributor ( http://www.Pearl.fr ), there is no new firmware and they do not share publicly the original firmware.
I also contacted Somikon Deutchland and the German distributor with the same request but haven't received a reply from them yet.
I doubt that it would be possible to get anything from them beside the documentation of the scanner (I have the French, German, Spanich and Italian instruction manuals available for those who would be interested)