A while back I decided to build a telecine machine that would allow me to economically digitize my family’s old 8mm home movies to 4k quality video using a digital camera I already owned. After a lot of research and some trial and error, this is the result of my efforts. This is an old mid-60’s Canon Cinestar P-8 8mm/Super 8 film projector, converted into a 12v telecine film image capture device. It has variable speed control, with an average capture speed set around 2 frames per second. I use my Canon 90D camera along with a Venus Laowa 25mm Ultra-Macro Lens as the capture device. This compact telecine machine is capable of producing up to 4K resolution results and beyond. The results are superior to consumer machines on the market now, and with some meticulous effort and thoughtful post processing, your results can be absolutely amazing. As you can see with these results, you are now limited only by the quality of the original 8mm camera and film exposure. And even those things can be enhanced and improved digitally. But the capture is only part of the project. Once you get the film captured, you need some good software and post processing to take your home movie captures to the next level.

A few notes before I get started. If you are looking for a way to digitize your films with minimal “plug-and-play” type input, this project is probably not for you. At times this can be a somewhat tedious and involved process Even after your build is complete, the capture process itself is quite involved and can sometimes be a bit frustrating. But once it is all rolling, all you have to worry about on the capture is fuzzies on the film, and making sure focus is maintained. This is most definitely not a “load it and come back later and its done” kind of endeavor. As I said this is more for the serious hobbyist with a general knowledge of mechanics, who has a passion for film-making and video graphic artwork. Plan on spending some time on this endeavor to get the best results possible.

I will stress this a few times during this presentation, but I feel it is highly important to note that your digital camera needs to be capable of “silent” or “electronic” shutter mode. The electronic shutter uses no moving parts while it digitally captures each frame. When you digitize film you are capturing one RAW camera file for each frame of film. This gets up into tens and tens of thousands of exposures when you have several films to convert. Each 5 inch reel is 200 feet of film, which works out to over 18,400 exposures per reel. Using a camera with a mechanical shutter, you will very quickly burn through the mechanical lifespan of the camera. I DO NOT recommend using a mechanical shutter unless you are planning on using it as a throw away camera.

Also, a big shout out to Fresh Ground Pictures channel on YouTube. Watching his video inspired me and gave me the confidence to build my own machine. He was quick to answer some power supply questions I had, and did a great job on his build, and on his video presentation. I recommend checking out his videos for some great advice and knowledge on the subject, link is in the comments. The more you understand the entire build process along with the (sometimes strict) requirements for a solid transfer of film to digital, the better your chances of success.

So, here’s how I came to build my 8mm Super 8 Telecine Machine:

It all started last summer with a trip to the rolling hills of central Ohio with my dad to visit family, and the old family farm a few miles away. These were the hallowed grounds where dad grew up, and where my siblings and I had so many great childhood memories of Grandma and Grandpa’s farm.

After the passing of my Grandma in 1999 the farm was sold, and after several generations, was no longer in the family. We feared the worst as it had been many years since we had been there. We were thrilled to find the property immaculately restored and maintained. The current owners were very gracious and allowed us to look around and reminisce. They enjoyed hearing the history of their home, and dad was able to answer questions they had concerning the property like where the old cistern was located.

Video geek that I am, I had taken my cameras hoping to get footage of the property to show the rest of the family back home. I captured some great footage of the old farm house and property in its modernized and improved state. We were excited to share our findings with the rest of the family, so when I got home I got right to work on my video. As with most of my projects, the more I worked on this project of love, the more it grew..

As I put my film together, I decided I wanted to incorporate some old 8mm film footage we had of the farm for a “then and now” effect. This old footage was filmed on a Kodak Brownie wind-up movie camera way back in 1967, and has been an important piece of our family’s historical archive. I like to refer to this film as our “golden reel”; 200 feet of precious vignettes, moments frozen in time featuring my family in the summer of ’67, including a trip to the aforementioned farm. It’s the only video or film my brothers and I have from our early childhood. Many in the film are no longer with us, which makes it all that much more special to us. I remember a few times as a child, my mom and dad popping popcorn and setting up the projector to watch this film. It was always such a treat seeing some of our fondest memories flicker past on the screen! This handling came at a cost though. The old film was not without its physical problems. Though most of the film was good quality, there were a few overexposed and underexposed sections, and a few physically damaged areas with broken sprockets that caused jams if you weren’t watching.

In the late 80’s my brother had our “golden reel” of film transferred to the current video medium at the time, VHS tape. This transfer basically consisted of projecting the film onto a screen and video taping using a current-times VHS video camera. The quality was marginal at best, slightly off-center axis, fuzzy, poorly cropped, and dark with no exposure compensation to account for the over/underexposures. That tape was then dubbed for copies to family members, further degrading the quality. It was ultimately transferred from the original VHS tape sometime in the 90’s to a DVD. It was the vob file from that DVD which I attempted to use as the “then” footage next to the crisp, sharp 4k “now” footage I had just filmed back in Ohio. I used my best plugins and such which helped, but even then the quality was barely ok at best. The effect I was going for was largely lost.

At first I wanted to try to re-digitize the original VHS tape, but as I looked at it, I wasn’t going to gain much for that time-consuming effort. Luckily, my brother had the original 8mm film, along with some other old films from my Grandpa’s old camera in the 50’s. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to look at that film a little closer and see what shape it was actually in. Maybe, just maybe, we could have better quality footage if I could get it re-scanned with more modern equipment that is available today. It would improve my video of the farm for sure.

For context, I have an extensive background in digital photo and film scanning, as well as 4-color commercial book printing. I have a trade secret patent in my name for digital proofing process for nonstandard colors. I worked with film scanning and on-press color reproduction for publishers like Harper Collins and Reader’s Digest. I have a pretty decent understanding how this film scanning and reproduction process works, so I was anxious to put that professional eyeball on our golden film. Not sure why I had never thought about doing this before now. I guess I have only worked with still images, not motion picture film, so I never really thought about it.

When I finally got the old film and looked at it under a glass, I was amazed with how much detail was actually present in each tiny frame of the 8mm film. It was actually in much better shape than I feared. It was stored correctly in a proper canister and case, so that made a difference. It was clear that I needed to digitize this film with more modern equipment to capture this color and detail I was seeing on the film. As I stated, it had several bad spots of overexposure and underexposure, but overall the film was in good shape. All of a sudden it became more than just sprucing up a few clips for another family video. I now wanted to digitize and restore that entire “golden” film to its full glorious 4k potential for my family. What a great Christmas present that would be!

I knew that the quality and exposure variations in the film would require more than a standard generic scan that you can get reasonably from online commercial film scanners. And I really couldn’t afford to have each scene done separately to get the quality I was looking for, that I now knew was possible after seeing the film itself. So I looked online at machines to digitize it for myself.

After comparing a few consumer level products online, I settled on the Kodak Reels 1080p telecine machine. As I worked with the unit I became increasingly frustrated by the lack of any real color or exposure control, and the results were pretty inconsistent and unpredictable. It relied heavily on generically programmed auto sensors that were ok, I suppose, if you had optimal quality film, but any slight color shift in the film, this machine would spin out of control color-wise. The final product was, in my opinion, a very heavily compressed and highly over-processed, often times horribly off-color mpg video file. It might be acceptable, perhaps, for a generic dub of the film for the family album, but it wasn’t capturing the fine detail and colors I was physically seeing on the film. This unit is made for the “Start it and leave it” crowd, and is very generic in its color reproduction. It does a good job of generic transfer. However it was simply not capable of the more professional results I was looking for and knew this film could produce. I ultimately decided to return the Kodak unit and look for another way to digitize my golden reel. If only I could find something with the color and capture controls of my Canon 90D camera..

I went back online to look for another way to do it myself. I searched DIY 8mm film transfer and found a lot of complex and bulky contraptions. But then there were a few fascinating builds that utilized old 8mm home projectors, using standard digital cameras as their capture device. Here was my answer! This would give me the complete control over the capture that I was looking for. The more I studied the overall concept, the more I realized how simple it really was. After watching Fresh Ground Pictures video, I found the confidence to build my own telecine film transfer machine. This way I could capture this footage with my own equipment, using my own abilities.

And so it began.

Like I said, the overall principle of what we are doing here is simple. We are going to photograph each frame of the film, then import those single digital photos onto a computer and combine them to create a video file. That’s the whole concept. But as simple as that sounds, there are many challenges. We must make a machine that will place each frame of the film in front of the camera lens and hold it flat and still long enough to capture a crisp image. This frame of film must also be lit from behind with the proper amount and color temperature of light for the camera to capture a good exposure. Then the process repeats. Luckily, having an old projector takes care of a lot of the mechanical requirements, but not without some serious modifications. This is our project.

I liked the Canon S-400 that I watched Fresh Ground Pictures pimp out, so I looked for that design. After looking at what was actually available online, I opted a similar model, the Canon P-8 Cinestar projector online for $25. There were a couple of things about this projector I liked better, though, as I will highlight in a moment. Using some of the principals and part recommendations that Fresh Ground Pictures and others were employing in their builds, I set about my build, making some of my own adjustments for my particular machine. The result is a machine that allows me to capture each frame of film as an ultra-high resolution, high quality, fully adjustable digital RAW camera file. This gives me full control over the color, exposure, and physical blemishes of each frame of the film. The results far surpass anything I have seen at the consumer level. And frankly, far surpasses anything I could afford to have done professionally.

I was able to finish my film project from our trip, as well as the entire reel, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. My family was pretty blown away with the resulting quality of our “Golden Reel” video. We were able to see subtle details we had never seen before. I am so glad I went through the process and built this machine. I have a lot of film left to digitize and can’t wait to see what other hidden treasures I come up with.

And now a little about the build itself.

The projector itself originally ran on 120v for the high power lamp and the motor. As a film projector runs it places each frame of film through a pressure plate into a frame momentarily while the lamp projects the image through the lens out onto a screen to be viewed. The shutter blade briefly passes in front of the light while the machine advances to the next frame of film, preventing the black blur of frame movement from being seen. The process then repeats creating the classic motion picture look we see on the screen. 8mm and Super 8 are generally projected at 16 to 18 frames per second, respectively. We don’t need this type of speed for our purposes, though.

The mechanical function of the projector takes care of our most important requirement for digitizing. It flattens each frame of film into the frame of the pressure plate so that the camera focused on it can capture it, and then repeats the process for each frame of the film on the reel. Our mission is to convert this machine from projecting out an image, to merely lighting up the film from behind with enough strength to get a proper exposure on a camera set up right in front, focused on the emulsion of the film positioned in the pressure plate.

And on the subject of the pressure plate carriage. The Cinestar P8 is the first Canon projector with the capability to run both 8mm and Super 8 film. It does so by using separate “Aperture Units”, or what I call pressure plates. When the P8 is in the “off” position, the pressure plates can be interchanged as needed. It also makes cleaning and servicing the frame and carriage easier. The units that come with the projector are framed tightly for final display on the screen. However, we want to capture a larger portion of the film to give ourselves extra image to help with stabilization later, and to accommodate for wandering film frames as tends to happen with old film on old projectors. To do this I used a small file to carefully open up the frames on the pressure plate. Be careful with this, it only needs opened up a little, and this metal is typically soft. Try not to leave any jagged edges, they are fuzzy magnets.

Other projectors handle the 8mm – Super 8 switch differently, some employing switches or levers that change from one to the other on a specially designed dual unit. Regardless the specifics of your particular build, you will most likely want to open the frame up on your pressure plate carriage to allow more edge image in the capture and get the most from your film. Do this very carefully.

Also, any heat shielding or other materials installed in front of the carriage can be discarded as well. The only thing we want between the light source and the capture camera lens is the film itself as it moves through the pressure plate carriage frame.

For our process we don’t need the shutter blades on the projector. They need to be carefully clipped off with tin snips and filed to remove sharp edges. This frees up the lamp to do its thing with no interruption, and the remaining wheel itself gives us a base mechanism to use to trigger our camera.

In the process of digitization we are limited by the time it takes to properly capture a frame of film on the camera. As I stated, a 8mm projector runs at 16-18fps, which is way too fast for our needs. We want more like 2 frames per second. Yes, you can technically do it quicker, but at some point you will start to get a blur from capturing too fast. I like to be patient, take my time and let all the mechanics have a chance to work. The results are just better. This being the case, we don’t need a 120v motor to do this, we can use a common 12v stepper motor to run the mechanics of the machine at the speeds we need.

Since we won’t need the 120v system for our purposes, all that 120v transformer and motor stuff gets pulled out to make room for our 12v setup.

One of the selling points for me on this particular model of projector was the retractable power cord and the fact it had an extra power jack on the back. I wanted to utilize these features in my build. The retractable cord is just plain convenient. The extra power outlet I use to power my camera, saving wear and tear on batteries and solving the issue of battery management, simplifying the overall process.

I installed a 120v to 12v power converter where the original transformer was located. I was able to use the wires coming off of the extra power outlet to power the transformer, keeping the extra outlet powered. This converter powers the stepper motor and the LED light.

Speaking of the light source, after much consideration of how to rig it, I decided to replace the original lamp bulb with a home built LED lamp that fits into the original lamp socket. Very convenient. This was made by breaking the old lamp bulb and rewiring the base with a 12v LED light bright enough to light up the film from behind for a proper exposure on the camera. I borrowed an idea from another video I saw, using a cut up ping pong ball for a diffuser. It works amazingly well. The resulting LED “bulb” fit perfectly and kept the original base intact, which means less physical retooling of the machine. I wired the lamp socket to the power supply, but I kept the original lamp switch in the loop so the main control dial switch on front of the machine could still control the lamp.

The stepper motor is a common 12v motor you can get for around $10. It is run by separate driver, and drive controller units. The wiring is relatively simple. Using the diagram shows how to make it all work. The driver switches must be properly set as well. Here are the settings I use. Once all wiring is in place, one button makes it all work.

We now have a 12v machine that feeds the film through the pressure plate at the rate we can determine with a potentiometer dial. The film is lit from behind. Now we need a way to trigger the camera shutter to automatically capture this lit up frame of film each time one is placed in the pressure plate frame.

This projector, like most, uses internal mechanics which rotate 1 revolution for each frame of film that is placed in the pressure plate frame for projection/exposure. This is an important fact when considering how to trigger the camera shutter at the precise time required.

For this I used the recommendations from other builds and rigged up a trigger switch from a micro momentary switch, using the old shutter wheel that we removed the fins from earlier. I fashioned a brace to mount the switch in just the right position to work with the shutter wheel. I glued a small wooden “speed bump” on the wheel at the exact place in the revolution where the film was sitting solidly in the pressure plate frame. This positioning can be determined by watching the mechanics to see exactly where this occurs in the cycle, and also requires a bit of unscientific fiddling. I had the trigger timing set nicely up front, it triggered at the exact right time. However, I had difficulty getting a good, solid signal to the camera in earlier builds because the switch wasn’t depressed long enough for a full signal blast. This resulted in lots of dropped frames in the capture. This was completely unacceptable. Upon testing with an ohmmeter the needle would never reach full open as it should to work properly. So I fashioned this extended speed bump out of wood and glued it on the shutter wheel so it would hold the switch open for just a moment longer, which completely solved the problem. It no longer drops any frames.

This is how it works for me on my P-8, but I must note that no matter what your particular projector looks like internally, as long as it operates with one revolution per frame, you should be able to rig a micro switch somewhere along the drive shaft of the machine in this or a similar manner which will trigger the switch at the correct time. You can be creative in how you rig it. Bottom line is the timing of this switch MUST coincide with the precise moment the film has been placed and is motionless in the pressure plate frame. Poorly timed triggering will result in blurry footage. Take your time with this to make sure everything is timed correctly. You will thank yourself later.

To connect this remote switch wire to the camera, I have rigged a plugin jack system for my setup. Originally it had a wire that came out of a small hole from the inside and plugged directly into my Canon camera, which uses a standard two-wire RCA mini jack and plug making it easy. As I later worked with the machine in operation I realized I needed to be able to disconnect the camera shutter while I was setting up a capture, otherwise I was burning up frames and SD Card space unnecessarily. At first I just unplugged the wire from my camera. But then I found that when I would reconnect the camera it was enough movement to ruin the tedious focus I had just set up on the film grain. So I installed a jack on the machine so I could unplug and plug it from there while doing the tedious setup. But even that was enough to throw it out of focus. I ultimately installed a small lever switch which works perfectly. I can now quickly and easily shut off the camera shutter without affecting the focus as long as I am careful. This takes care of the camera shutter trigger.

Some other builds use fancy arduinos and extra programs to trigger and control everything, but to me that’s just more stuff to go wrong. I like to keep things simple. No arduinos or programming necessary for this build. Just a simple mechanical setup that is easy to manage once you get it set up and running.

The camera is mounted in front of the pressure plate using a couple of Z Mount Brackets and a 2-way macro focusing rail. The original lens of the projector must be removed as well. I had to carve on the body a bit to get the camera lens to sit perpendicular, but this may or may not be an issue for other models. The P-8 needs a little attention. It’s not the prettiest, but it gets the job done. You want this camera base to be as solid as possible. The P-8 case provides a kind of shelf allowing you to place a brace for the lens to set on. The more solid and steady you get the lens and camera the higher quality your final result will be. It’s that simple. I use a paper towel rolled up and wedged in to give it solidity.

The machine itself is actually not mounted on my base. It is heavy enough to stay solid, especially since we put down high grain sandpaper under the feet of the machine for added friction to prevent movement. There are times when other adjustments need to be made. I have found that slightly moving the machine to get proper framing is preferable than trying to move the camera, especially side to side. This system works well for me, I have had very little focus issues on the capture run once it is initially set. But you may find other ways that work better for you as you go. Again, don’t be afraid to be creative, and most certainly don’t be afraid to make your own designs and modifications to your build.

The lens is really important. This Laowa 25mm f/2.8 2.5-5x Ultra-Macro Lens fills the frame nicely and has solid optics which have little to no edge warping. I find when I set it at a 3.0-1 ratio and f-stop of 4.6 it does its best work. I start with a shutter speed of 1/125 and an iso of 640, and adjust from there. I capture RAW files though you can get amazing results with jpg files which saves disk space. The choice is yours. Everything on the camera is set to manual, and again I can’t stress the importance of using Electronic Shutter controls for this, and not the mechanical shutter.

To mount everything on, my dad made a relatively heavy wooden drawer base unit for me to use. This serves as a solid base and has worked perfectly and conveniently for my project. I have very little focus issues with it. I also have room up front to clean and work on film, using detachable reel arms from another viewer. It also has a convenient drawer to keep cleaning and splicing supplies in. Very handy. The important requirement here is a solid base to mount the machine and camera on which will be solid enough to stabilize the very delicate and sensitive focusing task. Early attempts without a solid base resulted in the files rattling out of focus as the capture proceeded. It can’t be overstated how sensitive macro focusing is. It seems if you breathe on it it will go out of focus. Very touchy. A good, solid, stable base saves a lot of headaches later. Don’t skimp on this.

The most tedious and critical part of the entire capture procedure is simply framing and focusing. It is also the least scientific part of the process. Don’t rush this. It is just a matter of focusing on the film grain itself, but it is VERY touchy. It is important that you focus on the grain of the emulsion. I did a run where I accidentally focused on a scratch on the non-emulsion side of the film. I had to recapture the film because the image on the emulsion side I was actually capturing was out of focus. Yes, it is that sensitive. You can see the grain when it is in focus and your eyes will become accustomed to the procedure with practice and experience. By all means use the macro rail for its designed purpose. Once you get the lens itself set at 3-1, don’t touch it. Use the adjuster on the macro rail mount to move it all in and out to focus. As for actual framing, it is ok, and I would even advise leaving lots of room around the intended final framing of the image on your capture. This gives room for the film to move around in the pressure plate frame as these old films tend to do. Plus it gives you extra border image to work with which comes in handy for steadying the footage later.

That’s pretty much it. The concept itself is quite simple. Place the frame in the plate and trigger the shutter, repeat. The things that need changed on the original projector are the light source and motor speed and control, and rigging the trigger switch. Also the original lens is removed to accommodate the positioning of the capture camera in front of the pressure plate. The details change with different projectors but the concept and what needs to take place to correctly digitize film are identical no matter the type of projector you decide to use. The Canon line of projectors seem popular for this type of build. And my P-8 has very convenient extras with the retracting power cord and extra power outlet. The worst part of it was grinding off part of the case so the lens could fit properly. Beyond that the changes necessary are not too difficult, just apply common sense and a little creativity.

All said I have around $100 invested in the machine itself and conversion parts. The camera and lens are by far the most expensive part of the equation. Next would be the software. It can be expensive as well, but is so worth it if you intend to get professional quality results.

The post process is the most time consuming part of the entire procedure. Taking your time here and going the extra mile will always give better end results. This is also a part of my earlier statement that if you are looking for a quick scan that requires minimal input from you, this process is not for you. Lots of involved post processing makes the difference.

My post processing goes something like this, however you may create your own style with software and plugins you like.

After the scan, I take the RAW files and separate them into “scenes”. These scenes are determined by when the camera was stopped and started again. From scene to scene the exposures can vary greatly, especially on home movies. On problematic scenes I will even stop and alter the camera capture settings while doing the capture to get the best exposure of the film. It is much easier to deal with the necessary exposure and color corrections when doing so scene by scene, as opposed to all at once. One size fits all color/exposure corrections never actually works out. This is why I take the time and trouble to separate each scene to process. Plus the smaller sized scenes are easier for the computer processors and my time budget to manage.

I use Adobe Lightroom to import, crop, and do the initial color grade and do big blemish removal. I do this scene by scene. I export .tif files from Lightroom for each scene. I then import the tifs into the free DiVinci Resolve software where I can do further color adjustments and then output 4k video at 16p. I then import the resulting video file into Topaz Video AI software where I upscale to 30p, stabilize the footage, and do an initial enhance/sharpen. From there I go to Final Cut Pro where I can put each scene together how I need, add sound tracks, music, special effects, sharpen, titles, etc. Then I can output the entire film as one file, or separate however I need. On occasion, I have put this final video back into Topaz for a final sharpen, and enhancement, which puts the final shine and polish on the film.

So there it is. My version of the DIY Telecine Machine. Hope you found this video useful. I am overall thrilled with how my project turned out, but it wasn’t accomplished without a struggle of trial and error and some intense problem solving. I’m not an electrician nor am I an engineer. If you have basic mechanical skills and understanding of electronics like me, this will be a satisfying build for you.

If there is interest, I will make a more detailed video of the bulb build and some of the more intricate details. I am hoping to inspire other hobbyist to create their own unique build by providing the basic requirements to get a good transfer. Problem solving is a must. You will run into small details that will trip you up and frustrate you. It took a couple of frustrating weeks for me to figure out the trigger switch problem and the resulting dropped frames. I relied on the folks at the Canon Forum website for help, and ultimately figured out the switch was not physically depressed long enough to make a good trigger signal. Once I figured that out, it was an easy fix. Point being, when you run into problems, don’t give up, and don’t be afraid to ask someone else, it’s likely a very simple fix.

Please like and comment. Let me know your thoughts, likes, dislikes, etc. on this build. And most of all, have fun on this project. The results of your patience and efforts will be amazing footage brought back to life from old films long forgotten.