Freddy Van de Putte

Hello Adam, Thank you for appreciating my work! Yes, it can do all the footage at once with average settings. Then the result will be -say- 80% OK. I use this workflow for less important footage like old home movies. But for realy perfect results, we must work on scene level. The script can be set to analyse the entire picture or only a certain part of the picture. This can be useful if a big object is moving almost over the entire frame. Analysing a small part of -say- 100x20 pixels is enough to remove horizontal jitter. This way, the stabiliser will not try to follow the main object. But on the Vimeo E64T examples I have used the same settings for all scenes. The most problematic scenes to stabilise are those where the camera is following fast moving objects like race cars. No, I'm very sorry. Avisynth is not a plugin (actualy it's a frame server) and it wont work on a Mac anyhow. Fred.

Yes... it was invented for home use in the first place. nothing more. The bells and whistles came much later when the format was almost gone. Yes we can! The Canon 814 and 1014's for example are great camera's with fine optics. Loaded with E64T or 100D they still will give you a great looking result. Certainly! But then you realy must know what you are doing. And some artistic talent can help too ;) Fred.

Talking about jitter and shaking: Yes, many 8mm films are made without a tripod. Why? Well perhaps this is why: a few days ago, I wanted to film some wild cats here. At the time my tripod would have been installed, the cats where gone of cource. Because the 8mm camera's are so compact, you can take them fast everywhere, even on a roof like I did. Anyhow, I have made an Avisynth script that deals pretty good both with camera shaking and jitter. For my new films I try to film as stable as possible, but for old films, the stabilizing script is the only way to improve them. Also, with the Super-8 format, you will always have some cartridge jitter and even some projector jitter. This can be removed completely with my script. Fred.

I absolutely do not consider myself as an 'artist', but I do my best to make 8mm film as good as possible, both the filming itself and later the digital transfer. I have made this in my garden, april 2009 on E64T with my Canon 814 XLS: http://www.vimeo.com/4512385 And with good post processing, even very old R8 can be restored pretty good: http://www.vimeo.com/2823934 Greetings from Belgium, Fred.

You can have very good 8mm transfer quality at a very low price: Visit My Website (this is a free time project, not commercial) As for the software: Avisynth and VirtualDub are both free. Greetings from Flanders, Belgium Fred.

Hello John, If you realy have a true (progressive) frame-by-frame scan, then this file will behave like the original film. So the only thing you must do is set the play speed. This is only a number in the header of the digital file. Set it to 18fps and it will play at 18fps, set it to 24fps and it will play at 24fps... that's it. This is what I have done on my Vimeo example files. For AVI files, the most simple way to set play speed is with VirtualDub. All this converting stuff is only needed for DVD use, not for computer use. Fred.

It does not matter, if we are talking about a progressive frame to frame transfer. What matters is the play speed of the resulted file. Easy enough to change that in post. Fred.

OK, do you have a DV camcorder? It is possible to 'look' straight at the film frame with a 85mm slide projector lens, but I have never tested this. You need an adjustable 18-24fps projector anyhow and you will need to modify the light source. It is not rocket science :lol: Rock it Steve ;) Fred.

Hello Steven, Make your projector adjustable from 0 to 24fps, this can be done with a DC motor and a PWM regulator. Frame by frame is not overkill, believe me. 2K is overkill. What you need is a machine vision camera with trigger input. This trigger must be connected with an optical switch on your projector. Every time a new frame arrives, the projector sends a trigger pulse to the camera. The camera then sends a frame to the computer and the software is recording it straight to AVI. This system works at any speed, you can even change the speed while recording to AVI. You can even stop the projector while in recording modus, the software will wait for the next frame. The end result is always a frame accurate AVI file. Progressive. Frame rate from the resulted AVI file does not matter. It is easy enough to change this afterwards. This system can run in real time on a fast computer. But actualy, real time is a bit to fast. At slower speeds you have more time for adjustments between scenes for example. All machine vision camera's are C-Mount. Makes it very easy to test different lenses. I am using a 50mm Linos with extention tubes and I have also a nice Computar marco zoom lens. For now, CCD gives still better picture quality but this is changing fast. Easy acces to the gate is very important. Eumig has some models with removable gate. Here's my system: Visit My Website Fred.

I certainly will Saul! As an amateur, I am not focussed on theoretical '2K-4K' or 12 bits etc, but on the final result on my computer screen and on my TV. Together with an international group of internet friends, I have developed a good working workflow over the years. I can capture uncompressed at 10fps in full 1024 x 768 resolution -on an old HP Pavillion- and then I run the Avisynth script. The special degraining/sharpening does the magic. :) And of cource I do not show all my mistakes :o But that's all part of the learning process. Fred.

Thank you Saul :P Have you seen my other clips on Vimeo? There are some wide angle scenes there. Not yet... I need to modify a projector for this. Brrrrrrrrr.. :( I have done a few promising tests, but I need to learn it. Fred.

Yes, it is the format itself.... An 8mm film frame is very very tiny. 8mm grain is often to large for my taste. That's why I am experimenting with digital removing of all grain. (Avisynth) Fred.

Hello Steven, Yes, I am scanning frame by frame (machine vision camera with trigger input). I can capture at 8-10fps in full 1024x768 resolution, on an old HP Pavillion. Please forget the above frames. There was a problem with the monitor from my internet computer. They are looking horrible on my new monitor. I will replace those frames as soon as possible. Here is the clip: http://www.vimeo.com/1689844 Please download the full Mpeg4 version and watch it with a decent player. Mpeg4 needs some gamma corrections on most Windows systems. Mplayer classic + ffdshow is a great solution for this. Fred.

Hello everybody, I have posted an example clip on Vimeo to show the people the incredible power of Avisynth. http://www.vimeo.com/2823934 The example clip is showing the result of a special old film restoring script I have made. The filmtransfer itself was done by me, but that film needs a second wetgate transfer. There was a dirt spot on the CCD from my camera too. But that's easy enough to fix. I just could not wait to show you all these first results. PS: please keep in mind this is the old amateur double-8mm format..... Fred.

Any other opinions? I can have it.... If it looks bad to you, you can say it.. I am here to learn. But forgive me it looks like I'm hijacking this thread... :o This is realy not my intention. Fred.

Good feedback! Thank you, Alessandro. It looks like I have showed you all the wrong frame. The hot spot on the banana must be on the film. A tiny bit over exposed. Otherwise I would have seen it on my histogram while capturing, right? Here are a few other shots from that same E64T reel: I only have an Mpeg4 copy available here and there is a lot of Jpeg compression of cource. But it gives you an idea.... Personal, I like E64T a lot.. Very nice colors. Fred.

After applying an S-curve and some post sharpening it looks like this: Fred.

Thank you for your opinion! Are you judging the BMP file or the small one? Or both? I always capture as 'flat' as possible. A lot can be done in post (curves etc) But of cource I'm just an amateur. No way I could ever beat a 500,000.00 Spirit of cource. ;) I have no ambition for that, too. Fred.

Hello everybody, I am using a 1024x768 machine vision camera for my DIY transfer units. I capture in uncompressed RGB24.. 8bits. The camera has a trigger, I can capture at 15fps in full resolution. Progressive and frame accurate, so capture speed is actualy not important at all. Here's a full res still: E64T, Canon 814 XL-S, made last summer 2007. http://users.pandora.be/ho-slotcars/Linos/E64T/E64T_007.bmp With some minor post processing it looks like this: I appreciate your honest opinions.... Fred.