Home movie transfer to DVD

[Nymrod121]

A belated thank you for all of your replies. I've summarised the content and forwarded it to my relative (who has now been volunteered by the rest of our family to do the job!)
Regards
Guy

[Gulliver]

I hope your relative is able to get some fine images from those films.

When I transferred my late grandfather's films it was a labour of love. It took me three days to transfer about 4 hours of material to digital 8 tape (this was a few years ago) which was then very roughly edited to remove dead spots and finally output to VHS. The final results are OK but nothing spectacular. Certainly viewing the original films is far more visually satisfying.

Bear in mind that I am familiar with 8mm film having used it myself a lot. I don't buy into the idea that those "telecine" boxes with mirrors and frosted glass are "good enough" for home movies. Those movies may contain precious memories, sometimes of people now gone....of events dim in the memory. Treat the films with respect.

[emeritus]

This page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1xYoYiy3mk gives further information about how the transfer of #3 was done, including replacing the original projector lens with a 25mm Bolex camera lens.

I recall circa 1970 the magazine "Move Maker" being highly critical of a "Which" review of home movie films which gave Kodachrome an indifferent rating. "Movie Maker" used to review new projectors and none of the models used in the "Which" test had lenses that were capable of resolving all the detail of Kodachrome, which was generally acknowledged as being the sharpest movie film. Their experience was that the only projectors that had good enough lenses to resolve Kodachrome's grain structure were the "Switar" and "Angenieux" lenses respectively fitted to "Bolex" and "Som Berthiot" projectors.

I have several hours of my own 8mm films to digitise, so I guess I'll need to look for an old camera lens to get the best out of them.

[Nymrod121]

I feel a new thread coming on:
"Home video transfers to 8/16mm film"

[Gulliver]

Originally Posted by Nymrod121

I feel a new thread coming on:
"Home video transfers to 8/16mm film"

I've done it....frame by frame from a bright LCD in a pitch black room works OK. Obviously the camera has to be on a tripod looking squarely at the LCD.

With CRT you get banding on the image but the same procedure can be carried out.

Some people make titles on 8mm films this way, or even incorporate home made CGI into their films.

[Paul Stenning]

I think he meant FROM 8/16mm film.

[Nymrod121]

Originally Posted by Paul Stenning

I think he meant FROM 8/16mm film.

No, I did mean 'to' - I get the impression from replies that film is preferable wherever colour quality and storage life are important