Sneak peek at the new RetroScan Universal

[catalano]

Very nice looking product, Roger.

By any chance would the new tension mechanism be able to be adapted onto the current RetroScan-16? As you may recall from our recent conversations I've had a bit of a struggle trying to get stable transfers from 16mm film with clear edges. I'm finding the tension to be a critical factor in getting solid registration on these films, especially larger reel sizes like 12" and 14".

Thanks,
Chris

And, finally, the tension spring common to the all the previous Retro units has been eliminated with an auto tension mechanism that maintains perfect tension all the time without need for adjustment.

[catalano]

We're working on a large project now where every reel is 16mm sound. The basic process is that we run through a sound projector first with the output running to a firewire audio interface into an old Mac Powerbook. We capture 16bit mono, 48k files. We project the film on a small piece of foam core and record the first 30 seconds and last 30 seconds onto an iPhone. This way we know exactly at what point the sound is supposed to start (before the title, after the title, etc.) and where it is supposed to end. We then capture the reel in the RetroScan unit. We'll then take the exported RetroScan file and the sound file and marry them up in our NLE. Since we have our reference clips to know where the sound starts we'll line up the beginning to get good sync. Then we'll find the point at the end where we know the sound is supposed to end and we'll place a marker. We can then trim the audio file (you will usually have captured the film running past the end of the actual content) to the proper end of the soundtrack. Now we can apply a speed change so that the end of the audio track ends at the marker we just created. We'll usually fine tune a bit from there. Then we'll do some spot checking throughout the film. Sometimes we'll need to adjust by a few frames here and there. But its generally pretty accurate.

Hope that helps.

Absolutly beautiful piece of equipment. A work of art. But my problem is that 90% of my S8 and some R8 is sound. Any thoughts on transferring sound to the digital image? I suppose the visual could be digitized then a second pass with a sound projector to add the sound to the digital image. Maintaining sync might be a problem but if done on small pieces might be acceptable.

[prtprt]

Nice to see your new product, very interesting!

Well, this unit presumes that the film is flat and not warped. So there may be some films that simply will not run on the normal gates but we are working on some specialty gates specifically for warped film.

If I understand your words above and the pictures correctly, the film is not pressured against anything when it is in front of the camera lens, it is "hanging in the air". I guess this means that the film has to be stretched so it wouldn't come out of focus.

When I transfer old 8mm film my experience is that it is quite common that the films are warped. So maybe the speciality gates for warped film can be the "normal" gate, so it wouldn't be necessary to change gate because of the condition of different film rolls.

Charlie

[MovieStuff]

Nice to see your new product, very interesting!

Well, this unit presumes that the film is flat and not warped. So there may be some films that simply will not run on the normal gates but we are working on some specialty gates specifically for warped film.

If I understand your words above and the pictures correctly, the film is not pressured against anything when it is in front of the camera lens, it is "hanging in the air". I guess this means that the film has to be stretched so it wouldn't come out of focus.

When I transfer old 8mm film my experience is that it is quite common that the films are warped. So maybe the speciality gates for warped film can be the "normal" gate, so it wouldn't be necessary to change gate because of the condition of different film rolls.

Charlie

When I say "warped", I am talking about film that is very cupped and dried. Based on my experience, most films are pretty flat and warpage is the exception but your experience may be different. Producing a gate with a pressure plate would make the gates more expensive for the majority of users. The film on the current Universal gates doesn't hang but is actually pretty taut and flat. I've tested a lot of films on the Universal and I would say that 90% of them go through with no problems.

Roger

[MovieStuff]

For those that are interested, I just posted introductory pricing on the website.

http://www.moviestuff.tv

Roger

[Paul Thrussell]

Looks incredible!

[Will2]

Would the 8mm gate handle regular 8 and Super 8?

[MovieStuff]

Would the 8mm gate handle regular 8 and Super 8?

Yes, sir! It is a dual 8 gate. Regular 8, Super 8, Max-8, SuperDuper-8, Atomic 8, most-any-8. I'm actually trying to get my hands on some Chinese 8.5mm film to see if it would fit. Probably tight but, maybe.

Roger

[Will2]

Yes, sir! It is a dual 8 gate. Regular 8, Super 8, Max-8, SuperDuper-8, Atomic 8, most-any-8. I'm actually trying to get my hands on some Chinese 8.5mm film to see if it would fit. Probably tight but, maybe.

Two for the price of one! Guessing the 16mm gate will see the whole frame edge to edge and you crop in software or after the scan? I have some "Ultra16" footage I've never been able to scan between sprocket holes because I'm usually using a Spirit.

Price is excellent as usual too.

[MovieStuff]

Two for the price of one!

Yes! I guess I need to make that clear on the website that the 8mm gate is dual 8.

Guessing the 16mm gate will see the whole frame edge to edge and you crop in software or after the scan? I have some "Ultra16" footage I've never been able to scan between sprocket holes because I'm usually using a Spirit.

The cropping is variable by the way of extension tube length. So, yes, you can see the entire width of the 16mm film, if you wish, or crop into just the picture area. Likewise, the Dual 8 gate has two extension tubes so that you can cover both regular 8 and super 8 at full resolution. Or you can remove a ring and get the entire width of the film, including the sprocket holes. I guess I should make a notation about variable cropping, as well.

Price is excellent as usual too.

It's tricky to keep it down, that's for sure. When we offered the 2fps Retro-8 units, we figured we would have maybe a 5-6 orders a month from retirees looking to transfer their personal films. But, within a month, we had like 250 orders. It was nuts. We had to learn very quickly about volume production on a limited scale. We've got a pretty smooth operation now but the margin on these units is still slim because it's still all hand built, which takes time.

Roger

[catalano]

Hi Roger,

Wondering if the new tension mechanism would be able to be adapted to existing Retro-16 Pro units?

And, finally, the tension spring common to the all the previous Retro units has been eliminated with an auto tension mechanism that maintains perfect tension all the time without need for adjustment.

[MovieStuff]

Hi Roger,

Wondering if the new tension mechanism would be able to be adapted to existing Retro-16 Pro units?

It's something I'm looking into. It actually involves also changing out the rewind motor to a different one, so the conversion isn't just confined to the gate area. It's rather invasive but I'm scratching my head over it.

Roger

[catalano]

That would be great. You may recall from our recent conversation that on clear edge film it's taking a bit of finessing to get the pressure and sensor just right to get a stable transfer. Sounds like this new auto tension would solve half that problem. If you need a beta tester…

Hi Roger,

Wondering if the new tension mechanism would be able to be adapted to existing Retro-16 Pro units?

It's something I'm looking into. It actually involves also changing out the rewind motor to a different one, so the conversion isn't just confined to the gate area. It's rather invasive but I'm scratching my head over it.

Roger

[Davideo]

What about UltraPan8 footage?

[MovieStuff]

What about UltraPan8 footage?

Yep. Sure will.

Roger