Converting 8mm movies
 

I have to do the old conversion of past 8mm films. There are companies that sell "boxes" that you face the projector into and then record the image that appears on the other side. does anyone have recomendations on what box to buy? If you have done this before, any things to take into account or avoid? Also, not sure how close I can zoom into this small ~ 4inch image that appears on the other side of the box. Your comments will be greatly appreciated!

These little transfer boxes are alright if all you're focusing on is family movies. But I wouldn't use them if you're transferring some old short films you made where picture quality is an issue.

The biggest problem with these boxes is controlling the exposure. You may have a dark scene inside a house and then it'll cut to a scene in the front yard and the exposure goes sky high. So that's the number one challenge.

The second challenge is that many 8mm movies are shot at 18 frames per second. So you'll need to play with your shutter angle in order to avoid flickering.

Conversion to achieve good quality
 

What method do you suggest for "better" quality? You are right that these boxes are inexpensive and "okay", but I am interested in a better method. BTW - what is shutter angle?

The shutter setting on your camera is usually set to 1/60 (if in 60i mode) or 1/48 (if in 24F mode). So you might want to switch it to 1/30th or 1/24th respectively in order to reduce the flicker.

If picture quality is a concern then you're best sending your 8mm reels to a place like Pro8mm in Burbank and have them use a real telecine machine.

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