DIY 16mm Telecine – Part 1

Telecine – only really a term used since the advent of Television.
Television programmes were usually broadcast live; and with no such thing as videotape- items were shot onto film.
But how do you show filmed pictures on a TV?

The usual way to show film would be to project it onto a screen.

Early trials used a camera to record pictures from a small screen- but due to a number of factors- Flicker, Focussing and image distortion another way had to be established.

Early Telecine machines were nothing more than modified Cinema Projectors; with the first purpose built machines being built by Pye (owned by ATV) during the start of ITV.

These featured a low power lamp, and a vidicon tube which scanned the film gate- converting the electronic pulses into a picture.

Over the years machines have advanced somewhat- some using laser scan, some using intermittant lamps instead of a shutter.

(The lamp is programmed to flicker on and off at the correct frame rate- thus replacing a shutter).

A proffessional machine these days would cost in excess of £30.000 – to hire the services of an outfit to transfer film to Video/DVD starts at around £1.00 per foot.
So- to transfer a collection of 16mm film to DVD would be quite expensive.

This is where I considered looking into building a DIY version myself- by modifying a 16mm film projector- pretty much what was done 50 years ago.

After a little research, it turned out that numerous people around the globe had also attempted this idea- using 8mm or 16mm projectors, and each come up with different methods:

Frame-By-Frame Scanning:
Normally achieved on the cheap by ripping to bits an old Flatbed Scanner- using the CCD to scan each frame of film individually.

This also involved modify the projector, so at the click of a mouse, it increments the projector forward 1 frame- which is
then scanned in to the computer using specialised capture software and dropping the complete scan to a video timeline.

This is the best method for removing any flicker- as there is none at all!!
Also this is a good method where films have lost colour balance, or even frames have blemishes that need removing.

However- this is quite a lengthy task- even to transfer a simple 4minute roll of 8mm film.

In 16mm terms; assuming the film is shot at 24FPS (not 25), and runs for 30minutes- (24x60x30= 43,200) that would be 43,200 individual frames that would each need scanning. Life is way too short for all that. Even if the results are near broadcast quality.

Projecting on a wall / card /  one of those transfer box thingies you get from Jessops:
All that would be required is a suitable camera; ideally one with settings you can manually set (such as white balance, shutter speed, exposure etc).
However- projecting to card/wall- you are never going to get a straight image, as the camera would always be slightly off angle to the projected image (captions would appear distorted for a start).

The Telecine box thing from Jessops; would be a possibility- however they are (for what they are) expensive; and also the internal mirror can easily become scratched with dust and blemishes.
A good move if you have a suitable camera and a handful home movies.

The Aerial Image way:
A possibility- as this was one of the many methods used with early pro-Telecine machines.

A projector – projects the film in the traditional way, but onto a large convex lense – a floating image inside the lense it produced- and this would be recorded by a camera with the appropriate settings.

I did experiment with this method- but gave up as there were way too many variables involved- compromising the quality of the final image; not to forget, the final device would be about the size of a chest of drawers… and I’d proberly be sent packing!

Modifying a 16mm projector:
This is quite a daring method- though the one I adopted, as with modifying a projector- I had the most complicated bits readily made (the mechanics, gate assembly and synchronous motor).
Also- I had total control over everything I did- bits could be removed, altered, added as required etc.

This also requires a bit of patience too. Though an option that suits me down to the ground….