16mm film to Digital (Flicker Problem)

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jac Colon Author

Level 1

24 points

16mm film to Digital (Flicker Problem)

I am transferring 16mm film by projecting it to a screen and then capturing it with a Cannon XL2,

These are very old family films that are not the greatest quality to start with so quality is not an issue.

We just want to keep the old movies but not to go to the expense of having it done professionally.

We can even live with the flicker but if there is a way to reduce it some, that would be nice.

I have searched the forum but all of the posts dealing with flicker are old, like 2006 or so.

I am wondering if FCPX has some kind of filter available that would help.

Thanks for any input.

Jac

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3), MacPro 8 Core, 16gb Ram

Posted on Feb 23, 2013 9:33 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Karsten Schlüter

Level 7

34,098 points

Feb 23, 2013 11:21 PM in response to jac Colon

a) a projection usually creates issues with socalled 'hot spotting' - that's easy to fix in post

b) projection and video-cam are never in synch - which creates flicker; theoretically, you could try to set the projector to 30fps, and slow down the 'Keystone Cops'-effects in post. but your cam is electronics (and, to be precise 29.97), a projector is mechanics ... never in synch, neverever .......

c) your camera records 'lines' of pixel - which could miss part of the frame, which is fully projected; this creates the annoying 'running bars' - so, the shutter speed of your cam has to be 1/30 (if 30fps projected). And has to be in synch with your projection .... 👿

jac Colon wrote:

… We just want to keep the old movies but not to go to the expense of having it done professionally.

all that would be 'solved' if done professionally - no projection, but each frame gets scanned = time/costs.

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I remember a product, kinda box, two holes, one for pointing your cam into it, the other to 'beam' into with your projector; the tiny 'screen' inside was sort of 'phosphorized' material which had a split-second of 'afterglow' .... came up in the 80ies, when first home-video-cams appeared, and people tried to transfer their 8mm stuff; perhaps you can find such a Magic Box (no idea, what the correct term is/was) in some garage-sale ...... 😁

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Answer 2

jac Colon Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 24, 2013 8:24 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Thanks Karsten,

Looks like we will just have to live with the flicker. 😟

But, like I said, these are just memory films.

They are my father in law's world travelogs that he used to present

in public meetings years ago.

I did find several boxes similar to what you mentioned. Am checking them out.

Thanks again for you help.

Jac Colón

Also found a projector set up for copying film to digital.

It is too pricy for me ($2,000) but if someone else is interested it can be seen here:

http://www.moviestuff.tv/16mm_telecine.html

The software needed can be seen here:

http://www.bensoftware.com/capturemate/

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Answer 3

Feb 24, 2013 11:34 AM in response to jac Colon

I know you are not interested in this, but I thought I would mention that I have used a company that can convert 8MM, Super 8, and 16MM into ProRes at 1080P in the original framerate (18fps). They did a great job for me.

http://www.mymovietransfer.com

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Answer 4

fox_m

Level 6

12,595 points

Feb 24, 2013 8:23 PM in response to jac Colon

The "conventional" wisdom says to use a high shutter speed/shutter priority... been there...

I recommend: 1920x1080 60/i (p if you got it), 1/60th shutter speed (slowest, and already more than twice as fast as the projector frame rate), best ISO, f/5.6 or smaller — fixed (at wide open, you'll have focus issues due to the parallax forced by the projector/screen/camera angle setup). Do not use aperture AE. I find the aperture tends to "bounce" on a bright flash and it will take out several more frames trying to readjust (compounding the normal flicker).

Move the projector close to the screen and shoot a smaller image (6 to 10 inches at most -- zoom in with camera to fit) [better saturation for color, less "bright area" risk.]

Good luck.

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