aj wrote:What happened to the dollar when such a machine at $2500-$3500 is considered as an end-user consumer price?
Well, $2500-$3500 is often as much as people spend to have film transferred with us. So I would say that being able to buy one and do it yourself is reasonable at that price if you have a lot of film. If not, then rent!
Wow! This Retro 8 transfer unit looks amazing. I really like the like the resemblance to the old reel-to-reel tape decks. And it may be "retro", but the technology to do this is futuristic. Great job Roger, it's a fantastic evolution in transfer units. Should be a good seller. The custom build eliminates the need for old projectors too. I'm wondering where the lens and camera are? I see a protrusion at the top of the unit. Is there a microscope style lens there?
mr.skull wrote:Wow! This Retro 8 transfer unit looks amazing. I really like the like the resemblance to the old reel-to-reel tape decks. And it may be "retro", but the technology to do this is futuristic. Great job Roger, it's a fantastic evolution in transfer units. Should be a good seller. The custom build eliminates the need for old projectors too. I'm wondering where the lens and camera are? I see a protrusion at the top of the unit. Is there a microscope style lens there?
The camera is 90 degrees to the film, mounted to the back of the bulkhead, and there's a first surface mirror in the small outcropping. Yeah, nice to get away from the projectors. I've already had several orders in the last 48 hours. Crazy.
Congratulations Roger - this machine looks fantastic - it just screams simplicity of use - I think it will be a great success
One question have you ever thought of doing one where you just plug a harddrive or memory card in and it writes directly to that - by passing the need to tether it to a PC?
Scot
Read my science fiction novel The Forest of Life at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D38AV4K
Scotness wrote:Congratulations Roger - this machine looks fantastic - it just screams simplicity of use - I think it will be a great success
Thanks!
Scotness wrote:...have you ever thought of doing one where you just plug a harddrive or memory card in and it writes directly to that - by passing the need to tether it to a PC?
It has to use the RetroScan-HD software so the PC is required.
Scotness wrote:...have you ever thought of doing one where you just plug a harddrive or memory card in and it writes directly to that - by passing the need to tether it to a PC?
It has to use the RetroScan-HD software so the PC is required.
Roger
Yeah I guess if you really want to go hardcore you could put all of that onboard as firmware, maybe running under Linux - or directly programmed on a pic or something - but then why bother?? Everyone will need a pc to edit on or do up DVD's etc so it's not really needed anyway
Scot
Read my science fiction novel The Forest of Life at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D38AV4K
Scotness wrote:
Yeah I guess if you really want to go hardcore you could put all of that onboard as firmware, maybe running under Linux - or directly programmed on a pic or something - but then why bother?? Everyone will need a pc to edit on or do up DVD's etc so it's not really needed anyway
Oh, yeah. I have no desire to get into the PC business. The Retro-8 is butt-simple with virtually no moving parts and I would like to keep it that simple. Besides, you can get a 64 bit laptop with 8 gigs of RAM now for around $350. That's practically free.
Scotness wrote:
Yeah I guess if you really want to go hardcore you could put all of that onboard as firmware, maybe running under Linux - or directly programmed on a pic or something - but then why bother?? Everyone will need a pc to edit on or do up DVD's etc so it's not really needed anyway
Oh, yeah. I have no desire to get into the PC business. The Retro-8 is butt-simple with virtually no moving parts and I would like to keep it that simple. Besides, you can get a 64 bit laptop with 8 gigs of RAM now for around $350. That's practically free.
Roger
Yeah agreed - I really think you've nailed the design/interface on this thing ~ taking a leaf out of Apples book?? I think this unit will sell really well because people will look at it and go "I can use that" -- as good as projectors are they are a little bit complicated
Scot
Read my science fiction novel The Forest of Life at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D38AV4K
Most awesome work, Roger!
Just a few days ago I was chatting with some other german filmers about how much a telecine machine should/could be designed like a reel-to-reel deck – it almost seems as if you read my mind.
I am *SO* tempted to get one of these units... if I wouldn't be broke right now (typical january problem, where everybody wants their/my money).
As much as I like it though and praise you for the awesome work and initiative (I really think this thing can change an entire market!), there is one detail I'd love to see different. I now that everybody has their wishlist and this isn't criticism, I just thougt you might be interested...
So: Have you considered using a line camera instead? There are some decent ones from e.g. JAI that offer 10 bit (not 8), a 2K line at 14µ pixel size... with 3 separate CCDs, so that there is no debayering necessary. That would actually allow totally continous film transport. Beside their quality, I think that 10 bits are the absolute minimum for a meaningful negative scan... Would you consider the new device as "upgradable" in such regards?
The other piece I'd love to see is a full size frame (either single frame or 3 sec of video) as it comes out of the device. The example pictures are downscaled, which is a pitty...
Technically, anything is possible. But this design services the intended customer base of home users and keeps the cost down. Using a line array would needlessly increase the cost of the unit. There are thousands of people that have limited funds but want to personally transfer their films. There is a very, very limited number if people that have a lot of money with the same needs and the professional market is getting saturated.
Thanks for the reply, Roger. I hear you.
Interesting that you say that the pro market is getting saturated -- maybe it is Europe, but I would say that really high quality transfers of Super-8 material are so rare. And even if one gets a high quality output, the results often vary from job to job...
Most of my home movies are S8 sound. How could sound be captured with this unit?
Also, the term Retro8 is used by Tak Kohyama when referring to his Retro Enterprise company. When I saw this term, I thought this might have been made in collaboration with Tak Kohyama
