Workprinter XP to Sniper (Kinda)

[BigWorm]

Does anyone know if the new Canon VIXIA HF200 will provide live HDMI output to the Blackmagic Intensity Pro card for use as a capture device? I've looked all over the internet and can't seem to find any sites that say it does. I know the Canon VIXIA HV30 does but it really pains me to buy a camera with a DV tape transport...

[mr.skull]

I have a HF100, the predecessor to the camera you are talking about. It does indeed have a live HDMI output, so I presume the new HF200 would as well.

Like you, I have a workprinter and wonder how it would work out with my Canon HD camera. If you get the HD transfers going with a Blackmagic card please report back on how it all worked out.

I love my Canon HF100 camera by the way. Incredible quality from such a tiny device.

Best Regards,
Joel

[BigWorm]

Joel,

That's good news! I'll let you know as I move down the road to getting my "planned" configuration up and running. I should have all of the COTS parts integrated by Mid Jan 2010. I'm planning on minimal custom machining of parts to make it happen. I'd like to do it completely with COTS pieces so the design can be used by all. This mod has been on my mind for over a year now. I'm unable to manage the camera/condenser lens configuration with the WorkPrinter. It works well but takes more physical space than the CFO will allow

Tom

[JhnZ33]

I'd check with Roger on this, but I think you'll need a lens in front of the camera to be able to zoom into the frame of 8 and super 8mm film. You may also need to modify the chassis to allow enough room for the lens to get close enough to focus on the film. It certainly can be done, as I have modified the chassis on a few GAF chassis' (which the Workprinter is based on).

JP

[BigWorm]

Yes, you are correct about the lens. My plan in to use the Raynox MSM-505 (37mm) attached to the front of the camera (also 37mm) to take a close up image of the film gate. From all of my calculations it should fit without modification?? Not sure yet as I don't have the camera or lens in hand until next week. I may be WAY off the mark with this trial but at least I'm having fun doing it.

It would be nice if Roger had a kit available to make the jump to using an HD camera without having to sell my Workprinter and buy a new sniper... I'm not looking to sell telecine units but I need a smaller package that can sit next to my desk without having to worry if the setup getting bumped and/or misaligned. Set it and forget it is what I'm looking for.

For sound films,I'm modifying an old Sankyo projector. For the light source, I'm using a Lighting Science Group (formerly Lamina) Development kit DK-04D0-0394. The kit comes with two LED light engines attached to heat sinks with lenses and the power supply. Not a bad deal for a one-off configuration. I just need to transfer about 15k ft of sound film and If it doesn't work out, I'll use them as reading lights

[JhnZ33]

Yes, you are correct about the lens. My plan in to use the Raynox MSM-505 (37mm) attached to the front of the camera (also 37mm) to take a close up image of the film gate. From all of my calculations it should fit without modification?? Not sure yet as I don't have the camera or lens in hand until next week. I may be WAY off the mark with this trial but at least I'm having fun doing it.

It will be close for sure, but it should work.

... I'm not looking to sell telecine units but I need a smaller package that can sit next to my desk without having to worry if the setup getting bumped and/or misaligned. Set it and forget it is what I'm looking for.

The alignment and space was the issue for me as well, which promted me to make modification on my machine.

For sound films,I'm modifying an old Sankyo projector. For the light source, I'm using a Lighting Science Group (formerly Lamina) Development kit DK-04D0-0394. The kit comes with two LED light engines attached to heat sinks with lenses and the power supply. Not a bad deal for a one-off configuration. I just need to transfer about 15k ft of sound film and If it doesn't work out, I'll use them as reading lights

I just did 3000 ft of sound film and it wasn't all that difficult to sync up the sound with the frame by frame capture. Mind you, I didn't have to worry about lip sync, as this was all railroading film, so it was more of basically sound effects.

Is your plan to capture both image and sound at the same time?

John

[BigWorm]

DId I say Raynox MSM-505? Wow, was I ever wrong about this lens working. The lens could potentially work with the Workprinter IF I could get it to within .5 inch of the film gate which is just not possible. I've moved on to the Raynox DCR-150 & DCR-250 lenses to see if one of them will work. The Canon HF-200 is a nice small camera that seems like it could work. I'm a little concerned as it doesn't seem to have a MF mode and I'm worried about focus wandering during capture.

[BigWorm]

I finished the conversion of my standard WorkPrinter-XP to WorkPrinter HD and I am very pleased with the results. The WorkPrinter-XP is an awesome machine and my main goal for the conversion was to reuse as much of the original WorkPrinter as possible and integrate other COTS products as needed to make it work. The conversion is near perfect and I couldn't have wished for a better configuration to take my captures to the next level (HD). I have posted a guide that details everything I did to make the WorkPrinter-XP to HD upgrade. Click the link below to download the .PDF document.

http://files.me.com/tom.houston/ewsk5p

Happy New Year!

[lealar]

Super writeup! Clearly written and very helpful. Many thanks!! Any issues with the MF mode?

Art

[BigWorm]

Thanks Art!

The Canon Vixia HF200 has a manual focus mode so there are no issues. There is also a noticeable difference in image quality between the Canon HV30 and Canon HF200. To my eye the HF200 looks sharper.

The configuration I show in the document was actually my second attempt. My first re-configuration used the Canon HV30 and the Horizontally Adjustable Condenser Base Plate was fastened about 1" from the GAF projector mounting plate. Unfortunately, this configuration allowed for movement (flex) between the camera and GAF projector mounting plate. So my second reconfiguration attempt as shown in (Step #5) shows the Horizontally Adjustable Condenser Base Plate butted tight to the GAF projector mounting plate. You'll also notice that in (Step #8) I've replaced the standard two (2) screws with heavier #12 screws and added an additional two (2) of them for a total of four (4) screws for added image stability. The larger size screws together in addition to the plate being butted give the mount the needed stability for image capture. The best configuration would be to have the projector and camera mount together on the same mounting surface but my goal was to reuse as much of the original WorkPrinter-XP as possible while still providing a stable image.

[prtprt]

Your document is really great! Very good information!

Would be interesting if you could post some transfer examples, stills or movie.

/Charlie

[BigWorm]

As requested some still images. I won't have any full movie captures for a little while.

http://files.me.com/tom.houston/g615pt

It's a .ZIP archive. Click to download to your local drive.

[Chris-B]

I enjoyed your stills.
Which film stock is it?

Chris.

[BigWorm]

Thanks Chris!

The stock is Ektachrome 64T shot with a Nikon R8 under partly cloudy skies.

[lealar]

Just received a Raynox lens and ran a quick test using a Panasonic AG-DVC60 camcorder and some old Ektachrome 100D footage (pardon the condition of the film).

The right side of the image is a bit out of focus (probably because I supported the camcorder with a book). I'll need to build the support for it, but I wanted to give it a quick try first.

Footage is not progressive, only real time.

Thanks again for the info Tom!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5-OA9NoDIs