I want to complete the video conversion for Contingency soon. This week I did some preparation to try again.
I had worried that I had damaged the film the last time I tried to do the transfer. This week I did an inspection of the films I found some damage. Fortunately, it was only minor damage; about 24 to 30 frames. I could cut that out and still have a film I can project.
I will use an optical printer to do the transfer. I messed it up the last time, which is why I have to redo it. The process is quiet slow and finicky. I have to advance the film frame by frame and then photograph each frame with a digital camera. Some of the shots were from earlier projects and were already available on video. When I checked the print, I identified those shots. That will cut the number of frames I have to transfer in half.
The main problem in my first attempt was that I did a poor job with the focus. When I set it up, the focus looked fine to me. When I got home and looked at the image files, they were all out of focus. I want to run some experiments with the equipment before I try the transfer again. I learned quite a bit from my first attempt. I expect that I’d learn more from a test.
I do wonder if it would have been better to get the film transferred professionally.
I am Conan The Accountant