Why isn't this a product

scharky

scharky

Veteran
Why hasn't this been invented? I love to shoot film, mainly super 8 and 16 when I can afford it. but I also love to edit digitally. So why has no one invented a film scanner that can take full reels of super 8 or 16, or even 35mm. My idea is this. Have some sort of 6MP or even 4MP CCD imager, like that of a digital camera, full manual exposure adjustment, and a RAW CCD file. The imager would take a frame and then advance the reel to the next frame. This could be done at 2 - 3 fps even, but I would be happy with 1fps. Now I know that there are the large film transfer machines that do just this, but there is absolutly no reason that this would cost more than $800 for the consumer. Probably only a couple hundred to manufacture. We don't need a super high resolution imager, and by shooting RAW color adjustments could be made later, thus allowing large batches of film to be done at once. You could even rig this up to be shot with a DSLR, hooked directly to the computer. Does a device like this actually exist? If not. Would you guys be interested in something like this? It really would get me out shooting film much more often. I hate bringing film to a transfer house, and getting super compressed footage back, and not at the resolution that it could be, as well as being really expensive. What do you all think?
 
I'm working on a documentary and just transferred some old 16mm of a 1959 high school football game to DV by projecting it and shooting it. The machine you mention sounds like a great idea to me. I've never heard of anything like that.
 
Sounds like a good Idea to me Scharky. That would start an indie filmmaking revolution, Why don't you invent it?
 
Those do exist. A number of transfer houses have rigged up DSLR's to shoot film as raw files. The idea isn't new, but places have their own proprietary methods.

This would be a great DIY project, much more useful than another damn 35mm project. Anyone have any ideas on how to do this cheaply?

One of the challenges is that you need to either create a box/device/or room to shoot the film with no light leaking. Light leak would make it a nightmare for color timing later on. I know from experience. :cry:
 
Didn't I see that last month? Someone was looking to copy some footage in Russia or something?
 
I might just try and rig something. Thanks for the many links, I think this would be a great project. of course I'm not apposed to anyone else inventing it, so if you have the inclination, feel free :). I'm not too inventerly, but maybe I can work something out.
 
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