Recording Super 8?

F

firehawk

Veteran
Wanting to transfer old super 8 to DVD.
Many years ago we set up the projector and pointed a VHS camcorder at the screen to record the super 8 films to VHS.
It worked out well.

Today I want to capture those old super 8 films but I don't want to break out the old VHS camera. Since I passed up the chance to get a transfer device it looks like I'll be doing the old camera pointing at screen technique again, but want to use a file-based camcorder to cut out the intermediate step.
So...
Is a global shutter camera better than a rolling shutter camera? What frame rate should I use? 24P 30P? 60i? Shutter?
 
I just helped someone through else through this; your results will not be perfect no matter what you do.

Shoot the same frame rate as the film. Assuming it's 24 fps, the best results seemed to come from a 1/24 shutter.

The problems you'll have, of course, is starting both simultaneously, and there's really no way your film projection speed is going to be as rock-solid consistent as your camera record frame rate. Plus, if you're shooting 23.976 and the projector is running at 24.000, and both run perfectly, you'll eventually go out of synch.
 
Thank you David.
Will I be able to tell on the LCD if the sync is bad or only once I get back to the edit computer?
 
I used to do some transfers years ago, and the one tip I have is don't use a screen - rather, get a piece of white poster board for a buck and I believe it was the dull side you want to use. It can be positioned just a couple of feet from the projector and camera, so the image will be less than 12" probably. A screen has the reflective beads/texture and the posterboard provides a better image to capture with a camcorder.

HD wasn't around when I was doing this, used a MiniDV camera at the time.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
 
Let's assume it is 18fps, then what is a person to do?

I would make some sort of scanner, probably with a web cam and a way to advance the film one frame at a time and that would also trigger the computer to grab a frame. Not entirely simple. There is an open source telecine that uses a similar method, could be built for a few hundred dollars if they have the 8mm spools built. I forget the name but google should provide the website. Raspberry Pi, still camera with remote trigger, and a computer to process the results.
 
Thanks everyone. I think I'll try the white board also.
I have no idea what frame rate the old family super 8 is. 18fps? 24fps?
I'm about to go over there now so I'll look at it and see if I can tell.
My FS700 can do variable frame rates so I could dial it in at a weird fps.
I think I'll mount the Ninja blade on top to monitor.

The other cameras I have to choose from are HCM150 CCD (24P,30P,60P,60i)
a consumer AVCHD camera (60i)
and NEX EA50 CMOS (24P,30P,60P,60i).
I also have some tape cameras but don't want to use those.
 
We watched a few reels and I set up a camera and Ninja Blade but didn't record any footage yet or see any flicker on screen.
Watching the film in a dark room it looks a little slower than 24fps because the motion looks a little jerky.
Like Jeff said, I can see the texture of the screen on the film so I plan on using a white rigid poster board I have and moving closer.
The projector is a Bell and Howard 357B so I don't know if it can play different frame rates or what. They can't find the camera yet.
Kind of neat to mess with this old school stuff again...and see myself at 1 year old plus footage before I was born
 
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Though making a scanner would be best result I don't wish to invest that much extra time and $$.
So, given that it's 18fps, set my fs700 to 18fps and try to sync them up? I'll be able to tell on my LCD and ninja blade monitor if it's off right?
Or try 60p instead?
 
Tried a scanning service? I had all family super 8, double 8 and single 8 films transferred for about $ 1.50 per minute, professional scanner, almost no quality loss.
A box of memories on a single 16 gig. usb-stick
 
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