I've had work transfered on MovieStuff gear in both the SD and the HD versions.
A friend had a small transfer business with an SD "Workprinter" it gave great
results and was very easy to use on a Mac. At one point we were transfering at
his house and his computer went down. We were able to easily set up the machine
at my place using my own computer with minimal trouble. The hardest problem is
aligning your camera and projector to get a full frame. Its very finicky work
and its best that you have a space for a permanent setup.I've also had 16mm
transfered to HD at a different post shop. Again great quality for the price.
I'm not sure what his exact setup was but he was using a Moviestuff machine.
The machines are reasonably fast and work best on reversal film and with
footage with consistent exposure. Once you've got your settings up you have to
let the machine run the whole roll. Its not very easy to stop in midstream &
rewind if you need to change your camera exposure for some challenging footage.
Negative can be done but it requires more attention to keeping the film and
workspace free of dust.
As for the bad part. At Cineworks we purchased a unit for HD Super 8 transfers
last year. It turned out to be an enormous headache on the tech end.
Moviestuff's software was designed for computer specs that are no longer on the
market (and the HD unit is not Mac compatible) and we had all sorts of issues
between the PC hardware and the software. We built our setup as close as
possible to their recommendations but could not find all the exact parts. The
owner, was very helpful in assisting us and certainly gave us the top flight
tech support you could only get from a small business owner who cares about his
reputation. However, a small business can only do so much in providing support
for the endless variations of glitches that PC hardware can create. He really
needs to update the software and getting Mac support would be even better. If
you've got a person with experience building PCs then I would say go for it, if
not then consider a stand alone unit
like the Tobin transfer system.
The Moviestuff design is very popular and many owners regularly frequent
message boards dedicated to super 8 shooting and collecting. You might want to
check around for more information on their experiences with the machines.
John
________________________________
From: Caryn Cline <carynycl...@gmail.com>
To: Experimental Film Discussion List <FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2012 11:53:34 AM
Subject: [Frameworks] 16mm to SD transfer equipment
Hi Everyone,
I'm writing in my capacity as the Film Equipment Center Manager at The New
School to ask whether anyone on this list has worked with the MovieStuff High
Def and Standard Def 16mm Telecine Equipment. We are considering purchasing
something like this that would allow us to do quality in-house 16 to HD
transfers. If you have other suggestions (besides filming off the wall with
an HD camera, which we currently do sometimes), let me know. We are trying to
offer students an alternative to the expensive lab transfers where the minimum
is difficult for a student filmmaker to meet.
Many thanks.
CC
--
Caryn Cline
Filmmaker and Teacher
New York City and Seattle, WA
vimeo.com/carynyc
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