Hello! Wondering if anyone could kindly help me

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ClearOut

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James
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Hi there.
My in-laws have just downsized and whilst helping clear out their loft we found a lot of old film reels and equipment, which I know zero about. It may even have belonged to the generation before, so pretty old stuff.

I was hoping to explore the best way to view the content before destroying it.... perhaps even digitizing it thereafter....


Would anyone here be able to offer any help or advice please? I can take some photos of the stuff if that would be of help. Based in Surrey, UK.

Many thanks in advance for any help

Best regards,
James
 
Welcome James, glad you followed the link. Photos would be useful and here we can mention digitizing unlike certain other forums .
 
There are various companies that convert film to video formats. Search for "film to video conversion uk" in your chosen search engine.

If there is a projector and screen among the kit, you can always view the films using that and, depending on your skill, you could video the screen.

Be warned, however, that old film can be fragile. Depending on how much you are prepared to pay, it may be sensible to hand over the conversion to people set up to do it properly.
 
not sure if these pics are any good but there is a bunch of film reels like this I need to view / decide whether they're rubbish or of sentimental value and worth keeping.
The old family member apparently had a keen interest in films and film equipment - I'd need to drag it all out of the garage to photograph it in it's entirety which I will do soon.
 

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The projector is from a very well respected manafacturer and looking at the storage of the reels it looks like the original owner was a little more professional than the avaerage film hobbist.
 
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RaglanSurf said:
The projector is from a very well respected manafacturer and looking at the storage of the reels it looks like the original owner was a little more professional than the avaerage film hobbist.
Click to expand...

Were you a tiny bit drunk when you typed this....:-)
 
Hi all! Really tardy reply on this so apologies and thanks for your input thus far.
My In-Laws are sadly not doing too well (dementia) so I'm trying to focus my attention back on this. Basically I'd like to be able to view the content of all of the (many) reels of film here in the hope there's some sentimental stuff somewhere they'll enjoy (and remember).
My biggest challenge is time at the moment, But I'd like to try and figure out how to load a reel and see if the projector (lamp and motor work) can display the content so I can then take the projector to their house with any film which may be of interest

Problem being, I doing know how to do it. (But could learn) Nothing on the internet or you tube I could find..

There's so much content it'd probably cost a fortune for someone to digitize it all - for all I know 90% of it could be unusable / not relevant hence giving it a go myself if someone can put me on the right track. Basically please teach me how to load film into this projector...


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Looks like you’ve got a whole load of Super 8 film and a projector, there are a few companies out there that will digitise it for you but it’s not cheap.

Also, think twice about destroying it, as long as the content is not to personal there are local history groups that do collect such things and may well be interested, and maybe even the BFI (British Film Institute)
Im not sure they are still taking submissions but I would contact them before destroying the film. https://www2.bfi.org.uk/archive-col...ons/bfi-mediatheques/great-british-home-movie
 
I am sure many of us here could work out how to lace the projector but like me it could have been a long time since we have used a film projector of any kind, as such I am very reluctant to offer advise because memory fades, it must be thirty plus years since I used a projector.

What I can remember is that the inside of the side cover / film path cover, which you have already removed, often had a diagram of where the film runs and various basic info on how to use it.

When you do get it running, don't try 'pausing' the film, you will quickly burn the film in the gate, then you will be asking how to use a film splicer.

Good luck.
 
I googled the projector and found this: 8mm Forum discussion about it. We don't normally like to mention other forums on our own, but this one is sufficiently different and looks like it might be of assistance to the OP
 
I found a similar forum, but the information was less helpful.

I did find a few places selling the pdf of the instruction manual which you might want to look at, but no free downloads (I could find anyway). At least with these older things, there is actually a manual rather than a hyperlink to a website.
 
The manuals I found were all Dutch or German (or possibly both in one volume!) I did also see a video which made it look as easy as feeding the start of the film into a slot and it auto-loading. Not sure how it clips into the "take-up" reel.
 
Nod said:
The manuals I found were all Dutch or German (or possibly both in one volume!) I did also see a video which made it look as easy as feeding the start of the film into a slot and it auto-loading. Not sure how it clips into the "take-up" reel.
Click to expand...
You just push the end of the leader into a slot and give the reel a turn or two to retain it, the film is not actually fixed to the reels as it fully leaves the reel at the end of the show and flaps merrily around the take up reel.
 
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Many thanks for all your replies - I think if I can only 'lace' the film somehow I'll be away..... whilst I'm sure it's not rocket science, I'm looking at the side of this thing thinking it may as well be the space shuttle or something :eek:

I'm guessing the film goes in one side and out the other (not sure which way) via some sort of auto-feed process... and I'll need an empty pick-up reel to load the film back onto


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Update: Found this video on you tube
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGUTEO1gZ5I


I gave it a try and the first few times the film bunched up inside the projector. I then remembered that lever at the front - from the video it looks like it has to be pressed down prior to loading. By this time the film was a kinked in places but it did actually make it through!!! Yippee!!

Next question there is a knob on far left in the picture above. Seems to adjust something in the light path - looks like a metal disc with a cut out or something.... not sure what it's for....

Anyway... progress!!
 
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ClearOut said:
Next question there is a knob on far left in the picture above. Seems to adjust something in the light path - looks like a metal disc with a cut out or something.... not sure what it's for....
Click to expand...
That is the shutter which spins around as the film passes through the gate such that you only see one still frame at a time, the magic called persistence of vision tricks the bran into thinking you are watching a continuously moving image.

On better projectors it could often be adjusted to match the actual frame spacing of the camera used to make the film eliminating or reducing flicker.
 
I hope you get some film you can transfer to digital and keep James. Good luck with it and happy viewing.
 
My SO had some super8 film she wanted digitizing, got it out of her mothers loft along with a projector.
It took a while to figure out the threading, it got stuck a few times and burnt the odd frame if it was left in front of the light too long but we got it projecting on to a screen and ended up filming that with a camcorder.
I wasn't expecting much but it came out quite decent, its super8 res so hardly 4k to start with but if you can make the image small, say 18inch sq and get good focus, it looks at least as good on a camcorder as a 3ft projection.
Couldn't go much smaller than 18inch, it was too intense/contrasty for the camcorder...:)
It was family cornish holidays in the 70's, all sideburns, mk1 granadas and funky orange and brown bungalow tents....lol
 
I had a bunch of old super 8 films, screen and projector from my fathers Estate. Most of the films were of places and people unknown to me and whilst I take the point that they may be useful towards social history, it may be an expensive path to find out. Out of the 30-40 reels I had there were just a few minutes of my family and very little that would have been worth transferring.

My advice would be to try to have a look at it first and mark the reels worth keeping. It is fairly easy to splice the film back together when it splits and once you thread the projector, pretty straight forward.

In the end I projected the films and recorded what was useful on my iPhone. I had forgotten just how bad the resolution was and, bless him, just how awful my father was with a cine camera.
 
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