Capturing 16mm

[whoisquilty]

What equipment do I need to capture 16mm film and put it on DVD? I've got Final Cut Studio and a Canopus ADVC-100. What additional equipment do I need?

[Richard_G]

Some means of getting it from film to computer would be a good place to start. To do it the manual way you'll need a projector, screenand a camcorder with manual control of white balance, shutter speed and exposure.

Your alternatives are a telecine machine, or give it to somebody that can transfer it for you.

[filmboss80]

Do an ebay search for "16mm telecine projector." If you try to use a standard 16mm projector, you will get a terrible flicker, due to the mismatched framerates between film (24 fps) and video (30fps) in the US. (Richard G's advice was fine for his native England as both film and video there run 25 fps). The cheap way is to project the 16mm movie on a white screen and videotape it, but I suggest you also try to find a film-to-video transfer kit, where you can aim the projector at a front-silvered mirror, which then bounces the image to a rear-projection screen for a straight-on view. (Am I getting confusing? You can do a web search on the film-to-video process for clearer instructions.)

That's just the FIRST stage. Once you get the movie on videotape, you'll need to capture it into your computer (most likely in the DV-AVI format.) There, you can edit in Final Cut Studio. Thereafter comes the process of converting the video to DVD-compliant MPEG-2, then authoring for DVD, then finally burning the disc. (No one ever said it would be quick and easy.)

If you find this lengthy process daunting, you may want to consider sending the film out to a service that specializes in what you need.

[GilbyGood]

http://jeffdod.tripod.com/alternaware/index.html

http://www.moviestuff.tv/

Check out these two sites and see if they will meet your needs.

[handyguy]

http://www.moviestuff.tv/

30 days turn around time? That's pretty long. Easier to just take it to a photo store.

[edDV]

Unless you are going into this business, just get the film transferred at a decent service bureau.