First introduced by the Eastman Kodak company in the 1930s, 8mm film offered a low-cost motion picture format suited for the home hobbyist. Most amateur movie makers used the format to preserve family memories. The format grew in popularity and was upgraded to a "Super 8" format that offered both color and sound at its peak in the mid 1970s. Aging 8mm movies now offer a rare glimpse into family history. Use this guide to archive 8mm films to the latest digital video formats for future generations.
Instructions
1. Clean and lubricate your library of 8mm films to be transferred. Apply methyl chloroform or perchlorethyline to a soft, lint-free cloth. The cloth should be damp, but not saturated, with the cleaning solution. Use an 8mm film editor to wind the film onto the take-up reel while gently pressing the film with the damp cloth as it passes through your fingers.
2. Mount your video camera on a tripod level with your telecine projector. Locate your telecine system so the condenser lens is perpendicular with your video camera location.
3. Thread the telecine projector with an 8mm film and place the projector in the "Forward -- Lamp" position to project the film image onto the condenser lens.
4. Focus the lens of your video camera onto the projected image that appears in the condenser lens of the telecine. Make sure the film image matches the viewable video image. If using a high-definition camera, you will have a margin on either side of your viewfinder, since 8mm film is not a wide-screen format. When focus and zoom adjustments are made on the video camera, lock down the tripod so the camera does not move during film projection.
5. Rewind the film threaded in the telecine projector and resume projection after you begin recording with your video camera.
6. When the film is finished, stop the recording on your video camera.
7. Log all information available about each film into a document for future reference. Unedited 8mm films were about three minutes in length. Your tape log will provide a guide to the multiple 8mm films archived onto your video recording media.
Tags: video camera, your video, your video camera, condenser lens, telecine projector, with your, film image
