90° Microscope view of Super8 Gate
Working on a digital-to-Super 8 output setup, a project aimed at getting new content into the handheld Movie Player cartridges (outlined in the link below).
Registering the image on the gate and controlling the geometry and focus is critical, and having a live view of the gate beats trial-and-error exposure on film. The approach here is to use a digital microscope focused on frosted Scotch tape, with a 3D-printed cartridge block to hold everything in place. The grain on the tape is coarser than ideal but gives a good read on the focal plane at the gate, a clear view at 90 degrees. This is around mid magnification, useful for aligning the image on the OLED screen.
https://www.reddit.com/r/8mm/comments/1u71btl/digital_to_super8_film_recorder
u/xjets20 — 14 days ago
Digital to Super8 Film Recorder
Starting up a project to make a film recorder, take a digital video and frame by frame record it onto Super8 film. The opposite of film scanning 😄, the opposite of the modern digital age! I like the idea of filming with the modern tools, getting things right and then commiting it to Super8 film. If anyone has any feedback, would love to hear it.
The current basis is the Nikon Super Zoom 8, nice mechanicals and lens. I have the first donor models in hand here in Japan. Junk models due to battery corrosion.
The working concept is to remove the light metering, remove the shutter, aperature blades, power zoom and tungsten filter, to keep everything in a fixed, stable state. They have been removed and the camera re-assembled and working. Nice tank-like mechanicals to work with.
The aperature blades will be replaced by hole with a fixed dimension. 0.1mm brass plate, blacked. Exposure will be controlled by turning on and off an OLED screen for the determined interval. The system will be built into a light-tight box. Once focus has been calibrated it will be locked.
The lens to film light path is always open. The single-frame cable release control port at the back will be connected to a solenoid control. The program will be advance the film, wait for vibrations to settle, illuminate the current digital frame on the OLED display and expose the film, turn off display, repeat.
At the point now of ordering the OLED display in order to determine the size of the box and optics and build the test exposure program.
If you have any suggestions, obvious things I might have missed to look at, please let me know.
u/xjets20 — 20 days ago