5"&3" Reel 8mm & Super8 Roll Film Digital Film Video Scanner

This is an excellent little machine, I have now converted several rolls of film in various reel sizes and find the quality is very good. I had super 8 cine film converted by a professional serval years ago and can state that the quality of this machine is better. As stated by others users will need to be aware that the film joints should be in good condition otherwise the mechanism may stall when it encounters a bad one, it’s no problem though as it can be easily pulled forward to continue the capture but will leave a frozen frame on the capture file. The UK machine captures at 20 Fps (US versions capture at 30 FPS I believe) which means the 18Fps cine film is perfectly acceptable (if the user is not into film editing) although to get the best experience it’s always better to edit out any damaged frames and add music etc. There are several YouTube videos on how to get round reels larger than the 5” maximum and it doesn’t actually need the take up reel, it will just keep feeding the film through unless it encounters a bad joint or damaged film, however the film will need to be rewound by hand. The frames are captured in HD in 4.3 aspect ratio, however I found that when converted to the standard wide screen ratio they don’t look too squashed (to my eye) and they look fantastic on a 55” 4K tv, depending on the original film quality. It does seem overpriced for what it is but there doesn’t seem to be any other choice in the market at the price point. I’d recommend it to anyone who needs to digitise their cine film

I have previously transferred films in std definition and then HD by camera-projection methods (at 16 2/3fps using a variable speed projector) - but using a dedicated telecine is so much better and easier: I first came across this actual manufactuer's product a couple of years ago as a 720P model (with 1080 only available in japan as far as I could tell. Having waited and found the 1080P version available, I have now been using it for a week to re-transfer films dating from 1942 (colour and monochrome) Std8 to later Super8mm, with very watchable results which appear to be getting the best out of the film - obviously showing grain and scratches where they exist, but not obviously 'losing' any detail, and with no apparent exposure or flicker problems. No excessive Kodak Red.- natural colour as original. Obviously moving the completed file transfers to an editing program would allow a clean 'top and tail' of the transfers - which naturally start on 'leader' and end after the film runs out... (it does not stop automatically - so although the reels-size limit is 5", an overloaded or longer reel will continue transferring until you press the OK button again - the reel size setting appears to be more to preset the transfer-duration (countdown) guide for the benefit of th e user. Filenumber is incremented automatically - and the 'date' advances - but there is no real-time clock (or means of setting it). If the video output - to a larger screen but in std def - is used then the inbuiilt display is switched off - therefore I have been using it totally standalone. Different films/cameras may require reframing and this is easily done (for which the external monitor MAY be a benefit initially) Shot-by-shot colour correction would be best done AFTER transfer in an editing program - but overall adjustment is provided if required. The transfer takes place at 2fps - and the software then effectively uses a microscope camera (HD 1080P in this model) to photograph the frame, and then move it on by stepper motor. The take-up reel motor then tales up the slack. THE FILE IS FLAGGED AS 20fps - and so will play back at his rate on suitable software (or the telecine itself) at that speed - which is certainly 'acceptable' as a compomise between 16, 16 2/3, 18, 24 or 25fps possible originals. 'Free s/w' was provided to change the frame rate setting - but I have not been successful with saving from this (Win 7 Pro 64bit - so that is still ongoing - other free fps s/w is available - but many of these try to change the resolution too ! - best left to your editing software when cleaning up the ends or joining reels together.... The 'DOWN SIDES': With no motor on the supply spool, rewinding involves swapping the reels (180 turn on old metal reels!) and using the 'Fast Forward' option with the film not passing through the gate, to do it for you ... alternatively 'bulk users' might have a separate spool-winding set up. 2 adapters are provided for Super 8mm hubs - but nowhere to store them when not in use 8-( . Switching between Super and Std 8 is a simple slide switch which relocates the gate slightly and triggers the other size settings to be used. ONCE OUT OF WARRANTY (or this conversion will do that anyway!).... I see no reason why the take up reel motor should not be relocated by a competent person to a box mounted on the side allowing for 7" (or larger?) reels - and equally for the unpowered supply reel on the left - in fact this could then be given its own motor, switch and variable speed controller /power supply to offer rewinds of larger reels. (Although I have not yet done this modification, I HAVE left the transfer running for several hours past the end of the 5" reel - and the file continued to be recorded as if a film was still running [ Approx 1GB for a 200ft reel ] - therefore I verify the countdown does not stop a film transfer at 0. ). Obviously, those with sound-striped films will need to do their sound transfer separately, and use editing software the match them back together. JAMS?: a couple caused by (as predicted in the manual) some tape splices which were 'over width' and 1 old join came apart .... far fewer problems than when running through a projector at 16fps or more ! - this is why they recommend 'attended transfer' as the film is a valuable, irreplacable archive: any 'jam' can have the gate opened, and/or be pulled through without interruption - to be removed in editing - or, by pressing OK to stop - and continuing the recording (automatically with the next filenumber) by pressing OK again.....

I've been shooting 8mm and super 8 film since the mid 80s, and am custodian of my late grandfather's output of 8mm film from the 60s and 70s. That's a lot of film, and I'm still shooting the stuff. This is not aimed at serious film makers, it's definitely aimed at amateur home users. That said, it does have sufficient features to permit accurate framing and exposure of the scan. It worked "out of the box" but my workflow tends to be to adjust the framing to include the sprocket hole and frame lines in the scan and then use editing software to finalise the cropping and speed. I recommend setting the exposure to -0.5EV to avoid blow out of the skies and highlights such as people's faces. What this scanner actually does is take a still photo of each frame, at a speed of 2 frames per second. So a standard 50 foot roll takes around half an hour and a full 200 foot reel two hours or more. It's quite reliable unless you have particularly dodgy splices in your films so I sit it in the bedroom and let it do it's thing. The first 10 days after Christmas it was running 10 hours per day solidly, and reliably. You have a small colour display which you can occasionally check to keep an eye on the scanning process. The machine basically ticks rather like a mechanical clock. It's not an intrusive sound but you may want to have it in another room if you don't like ticking clocks! The package has been put together with some knowledge of home film making. It comes with a take-up spool which is decent quality and of a type I've seen used with "package movies", it's even packed correctly with polystyrene inside the reel to keep it from flattening. You also get the machine of course, cables to hook it up to a PC or TV, a power adaptor and a USB stick with some basic software to alter the frame rate of it's output. You also get two reel spindle adaptors to allow the machine to accept either super 8 or std 8 reels. The actual scanner is a 3MP digital camera sensor which gives 1080HD output, and that is almost certainly sufficient for all but the most serious of film makers. Given that this is aimed at people who want to view "old" films made in past decades it's possibly even overkill. The only issue is that there's no control over the compression of the video files the machine outputs, or the format. You get relatively compressed MP4 files and that's it. About 200Mb per 50 foot reel, 700-900Mb for a 200 foot reel. Sounds a lot but a professional scan of a 50 foot reel can be 3Gb. But the caveat is that this isn't a pro device, and even with the compression artefacts the resulting video files are good enough for a 44" TV, for example. They won't look as good as digging out your projector, but nothing will - not even the most expensive 4K pro scan. For most users, this is likely the next best thing. I was expecting lower quality video files and would suggest that this is actually suitable for semi-serious film makers getting started. The price isn't bad at all when one considers that the machine seems reliable and well made. Even a basic 1080 professional scan will set you back £20 per 50 foot reel, so if you've got 15 reels (I've got hundreds) it pays for itself. The next option up costs over £1000, which is certainly not likely to appeal to the same market as this little device. For the basic user who just wants to look at old films, the unit can play back it's own files to it's internal screen or via composite output to a TV but this playback is limited to 20 frames per second. Most amateur super 8 was shot at 18, and std 8mm at 16fps. There is basic software provided to alter the frame rate, which I did not try as I have full editing software. It also has a "fast forward" feature which allows you to fast wind, or rewind if you reverse the reels. It's not that fast but it does work, and probably winds a 200 foot reel in 3-4 minutes rather than the 12 minutes regular speed would take. The unit does not come with a SD card, so you'll need one to store your video files as it has no internal memory. I had a couple of 2Gb cards lying around which is adequate as each card can store two full 200 foot films. The machine can take up to 32Gb cards if you want to scan lots of movies onto one card. Some TVs will play the movies directly off the cards too. In three weeks I've had no reliability issues at all, other than the fact that some 35 year old splices caused the machine to stop on two films. For 10 days I had it running 10 hours per day, and it's allowed me to share precious memories with family and friends. In these days of social distancing it's not even possible to have people around for a film show, but I can put the videos from this little machine onto facebook or send download links to people. Recommended as long as you're not a super serious user. Better than I expected.