Hi erisajd:

I did not have as much footage as you do (only about 400 ft. once edited), but I did do the transfer myself to Video 8 around 10 years ago.

I was fortunate enough to have my projector in sync with my Kyocera Video 8 camcorder so did not get any flickering as grisetti pointed out. I essentially set up my camcorder on a tripod right beside the projector and filmed the screen as the movies were projected onto it. I have since transferred the Video 8 tapes to DVD.

I am sure that have a professional service will result in better quality transfers than the way that I did it, but money was very tight for us back then.

Best of luck with whichever method you choose.
Al

First, the flicker problem grisetti mentioned: Video is produced at 30 fps while amature film is produced at (usually 18 or 15 fps, so they are incompatable. If the film projector has a speed control reduce the 18 fps speed to 15 fps. This will avoid the flicker and really is not very noticeable in the result.

If you have to go the route of projecting the image to a screen and taping it with the camcorder use a matt white screen material. A piece of matt white Formica works well because it has no grain to it's surface. Project an image about 8 X 10.

Place the projector and the camcorder as close together as is physically possible to avoid as much keystoning as possible. Have their lenses on the same level.

The Telecine units mentioned by grisetti are very difficult to set-up and don't give very good results.

If you are clever at building things you can make one. Get a piece of first surface mirror about 5 X 9 (do not use regular mirror; you would get a double image) ( Edmond Scientific used to have it.) Mount it at 45 degrees to the projector lens. The projector will probably be about a foot away from the mirror but that can be adjusted.

Fasten some fine grain tisue paper to an 8 X 10 picture frame for rear projection. Mount it 90 degrees to the projector's lens and about a foot from the center of the mirror.

Mount the camcorder so it's lens is at the same level as the projector's lens.
The camcorder will need a +2 or +3 CU lens.
It is helpful to connect the output of the camcorder to a VCR which is connected to a monitor so you can see what you are doing.
Use manual focus and manual exposure.
To adjust the focus hold a piece of newsprint against the tissue paper it is better than trying to focus on the moving image.
If you have a lot of 50 ft. reels splice them together into at least 200 ft. reels; it's easier.

That's it.

For a fascinating look at what I believe is the best process that you can do yourself, check out Roger Evans' series. He's modified some projection equipment so that your camcorder looks right at the film through an enlarged gate as you capture 720x480 DV at about 1 frame/sec with specialized software. The images are stunningly clear and easily surpass the "local store" productions, not to mention that you're left with DV that can be stored on tapes and edited/burned to DVD for distribution to your friends and relatives.

It's not cheap, but it's first-class -- and fun. I was fortunate enough to be able to borrow a WorkPrinter Jr., but have toyed with the idea of purchasing one. I think it could pay for itself if you took on a few outside jobs to finance your own project.

We use this equipment for transfers at our store. Not only does Roger create nice equipment, his after-sales support is excellent.

The effective transfer rate for 8mm/Super8 is actually about 8fps, not 1fps.

--Scott

Scott -- I'm not sure what you mean when you cite the "effective" rate. Are you referring to pulldown and/or differences between 8mm at 15/16/18 fps vs video at 29.97?

The WorkPrinter Jr. that I used actually runs the film through the projector at about 1 fps, which was the basis for my description. The Sniper is faster, according to Roger's advertising.

To add a note to the original poster: this is a pretty slow process, taking nearly 2 hours per 50ft reel. But if you have the time, the results are well worh it.

http://members.aol.com/filmtotape/index.htm

I recently used this company for some Super8 transfer. It came out OK.

http://www.goaggressive.com/convert.html

Before that I had some "regular 8mm" film that I did myself This is what I did:

I projected about 5 feet out from my 8mm film projector onto an 8.5x11 sheet of flat white paper. I sped up the projector from its regular 18fps to approximately 20fps. I put my DV camcorder on a tripod right above and behind the projector and zoomed on the image. I set the framerate of the camcroder to 60fps since this is divisible by the 20 I was projecting at.

The images that came back were excellent and flicker-free, but too fast. I was using Pinnacle Studio 8 at the time and when I made the DVDs I chose the option to run the video at 90% of the regular speed.

My homebaked transfer came back better than the telecine wetgate transfer I paid for from the professionals. It surprised me and my family when I gave them copies. I now have an Infocus X1 and a Da-Lite screen and these transfers really hold up to the big screen.

Sorry, I forgot that Roger has some different lines of equipment. The equipment we (WorkprinterXP) have actually does 8fps though it's rated at 6fps.

The site mentioned by ronaldf looks promising. Has anyone had experience using this company to transfer their films?

I have not tried this company, but while googling found
http://www.film-to-video.com/tutorial.html .

His "tutorial" is wordy and repeats itself, but does provide some interesting views. You may find it worth a read...

Jerry L

I used film-to-video.com (Bruce Mayfield) to transfer 10 450' reels of my Dad's 8mm film (circa 1959 to mid sixties). After I finally finished editing and making DVDs for my relatives, I had him transfer my own similar quantity of super8 film taken from 1976 to 1990. I wouldn't have had him do the second batch if I hadn't been completely happy with the job he did on the first load. If I had any more film to transfer, I'd go right back to Bruce again. There is no way to do the job cheaply (not if you care about your film). Bruce offers a range of prices depending on how fast you want the job done. If you are content to let him do it when he gets to it, it's about half the price. (That's what I did.) Based on my own searching, I don't believe any place that would do half as good a job would be a lot cheaper. His primary output is MiniDV. I paid a small extra fee for a Digital8 copy, as that's the kind of camcorder I have.