8mm & Super 8 Films Digitizer Converter, Film Scanner
8mm & Super 8 Films Digitizer Converter, Film Scanner Converts Film Frame by Frame to Digital MP4 Files,with 2.4″ Screen, Viewing, Sharing & Saving on SD Card(Included) for 3” and 5” Reels
Convert film to digital in just a few clicks
It works like a typical projector, you install a 3″ or 5″ reel, insert a memory card, press a few buttons and the instrument plays the movie and scans it frame by frame, creating a digital MP4 movie file that you can Play, edit, upload to the Internet or burn to DVD on any computer.
| Weight: | 2.03 kg |
| Dimensions: | 33.02 x 12.7 x 19.05 cm; 2.03 Kilograms |
| Brand: | Mersoco |
| Model: | M127-S |
| Colour: | SILVER |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | Mersoco |
| Dimensions: | 33.02 x 12.7 x 19.05 cm; 2.03 Kilograms |
Item is great works well but there is no speed adjustment and the videos come out a little fast. It is however a great gadget if you need to transfer your movies to digital in a cheep and easy way. Very pleased with the results. It’s great to get the home movies saved before they deteriorate any further.
Easy to use, does the job well.
In one day I have recouped the cost of the machine in processing films that I would have had to pay at least 20 each for.
It’s been working overtime over the weekend converting both 8mm and Super 8, 50+ year old cine films from a generation gone by. Obviously the machine cannot rectify degredation of the films quality and the results are as would be expected but the memories flood back. Nice piece of stand alone kit the only possible hint of problems that I am encountering is that the frame movement has started to slip, this may be the films, although I now wind them from reel to reel prior to recording as they have laid dorment for so long. Fingers crossed that it is a minor glitch. Been happy with the results so far and with computer video editing you can improve the films considerably disguising some of the film degradation. The cost is as good as the product results and in meeting my expectations which so far is good. It is easy to use just a bit fiddly loading the film in the scanner and the controls are resonably easy to get to grips with. On the whole good bit of kit to date.
I’ve already converted a few 8mm films, so far it’s gone well. Quality is good, lining the tape upnin the guide is a little tricky but once it’s running its perfect. Very impressed
Easy to use (once you work out where the 3 tabs to hold film are) compact size is great but does mean it doesn’t hold larger reel sizes – upload and transfer is very easy
fifty years . It is pure joy to see how we all were fifty years ago .
Now then , several reviews mention the frame scan speed and this may be an issue if your films have lots of fast moving content , mine don’t .
What’s happening is that the scanner records faster then super 8 was ever recorded at , so that in the play
back everything is slightly speeded up . If you think this is going to be problem , you will be better off
going for the more expensive 20 frames per second model .
Another issue is that the manufacturer has only painted one tab on the film gate when they should have painted all three tabs on the film gate . But it is very obvious where the film should be threaded and the instruction book is clear enough .
So for the price it’s a great little machine . It certainly does me . Super 8 was never ever high fidelity .
One last tip , I have changed the large SD card that came with the machine and record to a micro SD
card , then pop that card into my phone where the playback is really good and I can do all sorts of
editing tricks , like even makes GIF’s
I bought this despite some of the rather negative comments on it from other people.
I have been pleasantly surprised just how good it is. Most 8mm films I have copied are fine with the colour and sharpness better than I expected.
It does take a while to copy the film, as it takes an image of each frame but the results are worth the wait.
I have noticed in some places that there is a slight jitter and running that part of the film through a standard projector it isn’t as obvious but is still apparent.
I think this is down to the fact that on the recording each frame is an image and playing back the recorded video on a TV screen reveals the poor registration that the cine camera has done.
On a standard projector this ‘Jitter’ isn’t as obvious because we have persistance of vision which tends to hide it. I tried recording the same part with the frame set lower so I could see the top edge of the frame and that showed that it was the image that was jittering as the top bar remained still.
I’m going to see if there is any software available that can correct this on the recorded video but I don’t hold out much hope.
All round a very good buy but I will wait to see if the copier remains working after a few months. As some others have reported problems of reliability.
If I could make one improvement it would be to have a white LED pointing down alongside the camera to light the area where the gate is, to make loading the film easier, probably down to my ageing vision but still worth doing IMHO. This could come on automatically when the gate is open and turn off when it’s closed.
After a faulty SD card caused a few issues, a replacement sorted it out and now (so far) all is good. I can only say that after digitizing 2 old 50ft cine films, it appears to be working well. I need to get to grips with some of the intricacies of the system like judder etc but I am sure I can get that sorted with experience.
I am really looking forward to seeing so many old films my late Father took in the 60’s and early 70’s before transferring to video.
It wasn’t straightforward out of the box at all and it took an evening to fathom everything out. It’s smaller than I expected and I worry from the noise whether the build quality makes it very long-lasting. Setup has taken a while to get it sorted out; the main problem was in trying to fathom how the on-screen menu worked and in the threading of the film through the gate. Neither the instructions nor the diagram painted on the front of the scanner matched what was actually there; two small black lugs and a single white tab. Once that was sorted the challenge was to position the frame within the viewer in the right place. Trial and error through the menus proved the best way, using films that weren’t so important as the ones we were really intent on scanning.
It has coped with 8mm and Super 8, but seems happier with 8mm.
As for results; it’s not HD but it’s better than trying to film these using a projector, and a heck of a sight easier. See the attached clip – bear in mind the film was sixty odd years old. The .mp4 files straight off the card are usable, but they run at 30fps instead of 15 or 16. I’ve used FCPX to stretch them (for some reason 64% seems to work best); I also use it to do the framing and tinker with the colour balance.
Couple of tips; always change or select the film type (8mm or super 8) BEFORE threading the film in; switch off before removing or inserting the SD card; keep an eye on the light and the gate – they get dusty very, very quickly. And you have to swap the reels round and rethread the scanner to rewind, using the ‘fast forward’ function.
The film was jamming and juddering badly producing files which were useless. However, closer examination revealed that there are now a total of three tabs, one at each end of the front edge of the film guide (they are not marked in white) and one central tab (marked in white) nearest the machine. It’s a little tricky at first to feed the film in but once completed it feeds reliably and produces a pleasing result, worth persevering.
The instructions and film path on the machine need updating, in fact the booklet makes quite entertaining reading with some of the translated descriptions.
Overall, a useful unit which will digitize your home cine films, though at 30 minutes for a 3 minute film it’s not a speedy process – fortunately once it’s set in motion it can be left to its own devices as long as you don’t have too many bulky splices.
The overall appearance of the unit is very plasticky and cheap looking but it functions well enough so I feel that can be forgiven. The output mp4 files have to be slowed down but there’s lots of free software out there which will accomplish this very speedily. Well worth considering.
Film joins can cause a stoppage so it is important to be in attendance during whole process just in case. A 5inch reel can take a few hours to complete so waiting can be a problem. Another problem I found was after adjusting the initial frame position after a short while the frame advance centring drifts off producing a video usually out of vertical alignment. Mostly transfer is trial and error with each spool of film, but at least this is the best chance of preserving old memories.
Having said that, this is clearly an “early” home scanner. If there proves to be a large enough market for such things then the quality will no doubt improve in future models. (and if there were other options available I’d probably be giving this 3 stars instead). I have to point out that …
The manual is pretty awful and very brief, but it is understandable given a few read throughs whilst playing with the scanner. You will undoubtedly end up scanning (at least part of) the first few films a few times before you get the hang of everything.
I had one occasion where the teeth which wind the film forward seemed to struggle to make make a good connection and thus it regularly kept a frame in position twice or even three or four times as long as it should, leading to a very jumpy output video. However on running the film through again it worked fine. Otherwise it does seem to still “slip” and keep a single frame in shot for twice as long as it should do VERY occasionally, but it is rare enough not to bother me – I only know because I’ve seen it happen live a couple of times, I’ve never noticed it on the output videos.
The output video will run at 30 frames per second as opposed to the 16 or 18 fps of the original, so you need to convert it.
This does need a bit of tweaking to get the best results. It may take a few passthroughs to get the calibration right but once you do it is spot on. The film is easy to fit if you follow the instructions.
It comes with its own SD card which works well. Obviously if you want to record more stuff get a bigger storage card.
You can connect to a tv or monitor via a composite cable.
You can also connect to a computer via a mini USB cable too.
TOP TIPS:
Change the language straight away to English if it isn’t on that already. It’s in menu under the ABC icon.
There are 2 different adapters for smaller reels make sure you are using the right one. Especially for rewinding
Great value if you are setting up a transfer business like me.
You can also watch the film on the built-in LCD screen or do what i did and project onto your television to make it a little easier to watch / keep an eye on.
The added bonus to doing this was that i had a number of family members who came over with various formats i could convert asking to pay me to do them, which i could do there and then whilst i wait, so all in it’s actually paid for itself easily and i have my conversions. Not only that i can keep buying the old super 8’s without any worries about not being able to view them repeatedly or damaging them.
Next step will be connecting it onto my pc for direct transfers so i don’t have to keep removing the SD card, every little bit of time saving helps.