[Frameworks] film scanner

[Dave Tetzlaff]

I found the instructions for older models on the MovieStuff site. Roger Evans had produced three different lines based on Eiki projector mechanism before going exclusively to the “made totally from scratch” ‘Retro' units. 

The earliest and simplest of these ran at standard projector speed, with modifications to eliminated flicker and insure even illumination across the frame. Capture was done with a standard camcorder the user attached to the base. So, basically these devices were similar to shooting the image from a telecine projection aimed at a wall, but with all the kinks worked out.

The later and more expensive ‘Sniper’ line, however, were self-contained 6fps scanners with an HD video pickup installed in the film path and capture controlled by computer software.

It was these ‘Sniper’ units I had recalled, wondering if used ones might be a lower cost alternative to the Retro for yielding reasonably high-quality results… if used ones could be found. 

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For cheap DIY HD 16mm transfers, you can project onto a flat white surface in a dark room with a conventional projector (I used a Pageant), and shoot the image (manual exposure, experiment for proper setting) with a camcorder capable of 1080/24P. I used a Canon XH-A1, which has a ‘Clear Scan’ feature allowing you to make fine tweaks the scan frequency if you wind up with any flicker, but I never needed to use that with the Pageant. I mounted the camera next-to/behind the projector as close to the center-line of the projection beam as I could get. That left just a tiny bit of parallax that I did not find objectionable, as it was very hard to spot even if you knew it was there. The one problem is that film has a wider contrast range than the video camera, so on some footage you’d lose details in either deep shadows or bright highlights. But that didn’t muck up the vast majority of student footage I was transferring, and overall, I was quite happy with the results. I’d have to imagine the results were a lot better than you’d get from the Wolverine, since one of my students had a short produced that way (camera original rushes transferred to HDV, captured and edited in FCP) accepted at a competitive festival.

I never did this method with Super-8, though I’d assume it would work fine with a projector that held a steady speed close enough to 24fps to land within the range of the Clear Scan tweaks.

Of course, a real scanner would be easier on the stock, and depending on the camera head, capture at higher rez than 1080P. If I was going to do another DIY transfer with the Pageant, I’d try using a Panasonic GH4 in 4K video mode instead of the XH-A1.