Break-even cost point apx 1000 feet (@ $20 for a 50-foot roll; 25 cents per foot).

Recording time apx 10x the actual movie time.

WARNING: NO CLOCK support!!!
clock is off by more than a year!!! Always starts at 1/1/2022 @ power-on.
have to use my TOUCH program to set the file timestamps myself (to current)

WARNING: no 'trouble-shooting' section in User Manual
when error occured, no explanation of what happened or how to fix it
except in the brief message itself!
error screen doesn't stay for long
no log anywhere of all error messages that occured

WARNING: if a power loss occurs during recording, the file on the SDXC
CANNOT BE DELETED via the machine, even after a subsequent power-off/on;
get 'please restart' message ??? Must use a computer to delete it
(the file is empty).

WARNING: this machine does NOT support an NTFS-formatted SD card !!!
Says 'SD card is damaged'.

---

To record Reg8/Super8 film to drive:

. insert "working" SDXC (in my case, a 64G card, formatted as ex-FAT)
. machine may say 'SD card is damaged' when trying to record
. MAYBE(?) due to Win7 destroying the file system (see 128G SDXC below)?
. erasing SD card on machine apparently works, but does NOT fix the problem!!!
. must re-format on a computer; then card should record OK
. power-off/on

For each reel:

. clean lens/track w/cloth
. fold the leader tip (so it doesn't slip out)
. ensure adapter, if used, is snug and fits correctly
. the lip edge goes in the back
. may have to hold reel on adapter with a piece of tape
. also to reduce wobbling
. ensure film is under the 4 tabs (for focus); use fingers/flashlight to know
. hard to see if in Capture mode; switch to Menu mode
. a white leader works best
. film should be in very good shape
. if kept in metal canisters or a box, s/b OK
. some got errors or got "stuck"
. MUST thread properly on R thread screws (follow solid line), else center
may "jump" occasionally during recording
. wrap take-up reel apx 2x (may lose some film conversion if not enough leader)
. for "fast forward";
. keep lid open, do NOT thread film in R thread screws, wrap take-up reel
apx 5x or so
. OR, using fingers with lid open, hold down film at end tabs and rotate
take-up reel to get to start of film to record
. adjust/zoom/picture
. should RESET all B 4 each reel
. center/make bigger w/zoom (to avoid getting frame overlap during recording)
. too much Tint may cause purple-ish frames
. if film itself has poor color, won't be able to compensate much
. slide 8mm switch to other side, then back
. may or may NOT(!!!) prevent "sticking" on some films?
. ensure alignment,etc is still OK; repeat if not
. film goes from left to right
. rewind also (must swap reels to do it; isn't very tight)
. apx 3min for 5-inch reel
. no pause available (creates a new file if stopped!!!)
. at start, may have to repeat a few times to get it right
. delete any "failed attempts" files (BE CAREFUL!!!)
. once recording starts, adjustments are "locked in"
(ie: can't change any) if want in 1 file (ie: no pause)
. should baby-sit entire process:
. make sure picture is always framed OK
. usually OK after initial adjustments
. may NOT stay in center (top or bottom frame border may move downward or upward?)
. at start, can either:
. guess which way to move the frame border (up or down from center, or not at all)
. re-do the reel
. put up with it
. poor-quality film may get "stuck" on frames?
. homemade splices may get "stuck" in the R thread screws
. have to pull on film (CAREFULLY!!!) to get it through
. after too long, machine may stop on its own, causing multiple files
. film may break during recording (take-up reel will spin faster)
. can maybe tape together while recording
. film may un-wind on R thread screws; not sure why or how?
. maybe after a poor splice?
. may stop recording for some unknown reason ???
. error screen barely stays, so if not seen immediately, don't know why!
. tape a small post-it square on take-up reel to see it from a distance or
in darker conditions, to easily know if it is still moving
. listen for sounds; un-usual, none, or different than "normal"
. at end, do Playback/Fast Forward (R arrow 2-3x) to ensure the file(s) are OK

---

. computers/programs tested with a created .mp4 file:
. older WMP on Win7 (12.0.7600) FAILS; WILL NOT(!!!) OPEN FILE !!!
. newer VLC on Win7 (3.0.4) works
. newer iPad (15.6.1) KINDA(!!!) works
. reads OK from ex-FAT, and NTFS file systems SOMETIMES ???!!!
. for NTFS: sometimes it finds the drive, sometimes it doesn't ???!!!
. when it does, sometimes it doesn't find any DIRs or files ???!!!
. then, when it does, some files work, while other times it just sits there ???!!!
. KEEP HAVING TO POWER OFF AND ON TO GET IT TO FIND THE DRIVE ??? !!!
. Windows doesn't have any problems like this !!! Quite frankly, this is
why I rarely use the iPad for anything!

. on computer, move(!) file(s) from "working" SDXC to "master" SDXC/USB (128G as NTFS(!!!))
. file name is 'Movie????.MP4'
. '????' is a number (0001) after power-on which may increment
. rename file on "master" drive to something that describes the reel
. make an associated .TXT file w/content to describe the reel even further
(ie: ThisIsOurLife01.MP4 and ThisIsOurLife01.TXT)
. at apx 20G, Win7 apparently DESTROYED(!!!) the ex-FAT file system on this 128G card:
. "The operation could not be completed because the volume is dirty."
. "Corruption was found while examining files and directories."
. "Corruption was found while examining the volume bitmap."
. "The volume does not contain a recognized file system."
. re-formatted as NTFS; restored from NTFS backup; now OK!!!
. however, after formatting another 64G card as ex-FAT, then restoring (apx 50G)
using robocopy, it worked fine, and the card was readable? Don't know why.
Perhaps an initial load is OK, while changes aren't?

. a 3-inch "normal" reel is apx 13 meters/50 feet
. takes apx 30 minutes to record
. file size apx 200M
. movie length apx 3 minutes

. a 5-inch reel is apx 40-80 meters/132-264 feet
. takes apx 1-2 hours to record
. file size apx 400-800M
. movie length apx 6 1/2-12 minutes

. a 7-inch reel is apx 160 meters/525 feet?
. takes apx 4 hours to record
. file size apx 1.5G
. movie length apx 24 minutes

In summary, this machine is good to save and make multiple copies of all your
old memories, but, it ain't easy. It's certainly MUCH cheaper if you have a LOT of
film to digitize. In my case, I and my parents had over 10,000 feet of film.

Good luck...

---

circumventing this incompatability problem

FYI

It took a while, but I FINALLY figured out a way around this!

Using the VLC player, I was able to convert/save these Kodak/Reels
.mp4 files, which would NOT play on my older WMP, nor on my phone,
to compatable .mp4 files that now DO play on each!

Using the EXISTING 'Android SD High' profile, not only do they now
work, they are 1/10th the size of the Kodak files!

This digitizer delivers outstanding, clear results! But you'll need to pay attention to it while running.

I have a film library of about 20 large (7" reels, 400 feet of film each) Super-8mm film reels plus a few regular 8mm. These were all produced by me in the 60's and 70's before the advent of video. Most of them were produced with loosely-sync'd sound tracks on a tape recorder to provide audiences of my sporting activities with memorable performances. In 1978, I converted them to VHS using a rear-projection screen and recording to tape with a high-end industrial video camera. The results were okay, but clarity was severely reduced, plus there was a flak-storm of dust particles on the film that only appeared worse on the VHS tape. It took many years, but I finally found a better solution.

This Kodak digitizer produces viewing results that are much, much clearer. This is not equal to modern digital cameras, so don't expect what you see on your Smartphone these days. But, given that you're starting with Super-8mm film that has a picture width of way less than a quarter of an inch of 60-year old consumer film, the clarity is astounding!

This is why I bought the Kodak product. It has a digital camera that has over 8 megapixel resolution, all focused in on this tiny square of film. All the competitive products in this range (most of which are identical to each other, with just different brand names), have cameras with only 3.5 mp resolution. THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT: THE CLEAREST AND BEST IMAGES FOR YOUR YEARS OF MEMORIES! This is more important that putting up with some minor annoyances during the recording process. Which is fortunate, because the Kodak does have a few behaviors which might annoy you. Fortunately, I have some suggestions for you.

SUGGESTIONS

First, be sure to read and follow the Owner's Manual, plus a number of YouTube tutorials. Otherwise, you might miss important tips like ensuring that the film is loaded beneath all four (2 on your side and 2 on the far side of the film) little black metal tabs; failing to do so will result in woefully blurry images.

Second, keep the camera window clean. You can use a lint-free rag, but I prefer a shot of compressed air from a dust-off can, which can be applied both before and during processing.

Third, take the time to study how the machine works. I've been running projectors since I was a member of the A/V club in high school, but some of this old film technology might be new to you. Film is moved through the machine by a motorized sprocket (think of the pedal sprocket on a bicycle) with a single pin (sadly, not 2 or 3) which rises up, engages a square hole in the edge of your film, moves forward exactly one frame, drops down, and returns to its starting position. This is the "clatter" that you hear with a projector. Each time a new frame is held stationary in the exact position, the Kodak camera snaps a high-quality image of it for storage on your SD card. At about 2 frames per second, it will take about 10x the movie time to process (yes, about half an hour for a 3" reel and five hours for a full 7" reel).

Film from the lefthand (supply) reel is fed to the sprocket mechanism; be sure not to cause any interference or drag on this, or the sprocket may fail to feed forward. Similarly, the righthand (take-up) reel maintains a light but steady pull to bring the processed film from the sprocket up onto and around the reel; this film goes through a labyrinth of 4 grey plastic posts to smooth out the clatter and jerks to prevent wear on the machine or jiggling the camera image.

Problem #1 and solution. The machine sometimes spills film all over the floor because the take-up reel doesn't have enough power. This happened badly on the first product they sent me because it had a partially-defective take-up motor drive. Gladly, Amazon and the vendor were terrific in acknowledging the problem and immediately sending me a replacement which worked MUCH better! For you, this may not be a problem if you use 3" or 5" reels. But about half way through my 7" reels, reel-pauses and spills can occur because with a larger diameter of tape acting as a pulley, it has less torque. My tip helped considerably: reroute the film so that it skips grey post #3; with less friction, the take-up motor can more easily prevent pauses and spills. Pauses are more likely to happen near splices, which place extra drag on the film. Keep an eye on things during the process (see below).

Problem #2 and solution. Even on unspliced film, with any size reel, the sprocket mechanism can decide to stop advancing the film. Keep on the lookout for this and when it happens, lightly grasp the film with your thumb and forefinger just to the right of the sprocket and tug it very gently to get moving again. Yeah, annoying, but it's worth putting up with for the high-clarity results of the Kodak camera vs other brands. If it stops long enough to be a problem with your finished results (family viewing of grandma may not be a bother if there's a brief stoppage, but it might matter with other audiences), you can either stop & restart the recording and use your video editing program to join the program on either side of the stoppage, or I use Adobe Premiere Pro (available from Amazon) to just remove the stopped frames.

So, the good news is that you will end up with higher quality and clarity images than with other products. The bad news is that you can't just start the machine and let it run by itself for hours. I set it up on the side of my desk while I'm working or playing on my PC. Keep it well-illuminated and make it easier to spot pauses or spills by using white background paper and white tape on the Kodak below the grey guide posts; also white tape patches on the righthand reel to more quickly show that it is stopped. Listen, and you will hear it when it starts to misbehave.

If you aren't patient enough to do this, then get a different brand. But if you want the best quality, get this Kodak!

That's all you need if you are just showing movies of grandma when you were a baby. But if you want to produce much better movies, do the following.

One: use Adobe Premiere Pro (from Amazon) or similar to slow down the frame rate in your finished version. Super-8mm was shot at 18 frames pers second (FPS), and 8mm at 16. The Kodak (and others) output at 20 FPS. This will show up as slightly faster/jerkier on playback. Use your video editor to change it down to its original.

Two: get rid of the dust. That flak-storm of spots and flakes can be very distracting. There are three ways. A clever person could rig up a long hose to an air compressor and aim two tiny jets across the top and bottom of the film before it reaches the sprocket mechanism and camera. Or, you could rig up some cleaning pads with professional-grade film cleaner ahead of the sprocket (I don't recommend this because of the added drag on the sprocket mechanism and the chance that accumulating dust could badly scratch your film). The best solution is to again use a good video program like Amazon's Adobe Premier Pro and an add-in called NeatVideo which magically get rid of nearly all the dust. It's great!

Conclusion: If you are willing to take your time and do it right, this Kodak digitizer will give you excellent results! With it's far superior camera, I'd certainly choose it over the competitors.

Pretty nifty piece of equipment. I'll share a brief list of the pros and cons at the end of my review for those who don't have a lot of time.

How it works:
This digitizer works in an interesting way. It does not play back the film in real time. Instead, it takes a single picture of each frame of the film automatically at a rate of 2 frames per second. It then turns those pictures into an MP4 video file at a frame rate of 20 FPS. This means the time it takes to digitize your film is 10x as long as the film itself. A 3 minute 8mm film takes 30 minutes to digitize.

It is fairly quiet. I am quite impressed with its ability to automatically line up the film in the center of the frame as well as its consistency in keeping the video stable! I also appreciate the versatile camera controls. You can adjust the video up, down, left, and right and zoom in or zoom out to get your film pretty darn close to perfectly aligned. The picture quality is decent, but quite grainy

Loading the film is fairly easy if you find a video online. The instructions do a poor job of explaining for new users. I did find that I had to babysit the digitizer during the process. At the end of my tapes the film would not always come off the reel. The digitizer would attempt to keep moving. I don't know what the risk to the internal mechanics or to the film are, but to be safe it is best to keep an eye on it when it is close to done and press it a second or 2 early as there is a delay to stop it.

There are a few things that I would like to have seen done better with this. The biggest problem is that this works well as long as your film is in very good condition. I have had several films that were spliced or repaired at multiple points, and the digitizer snapped the film at those points almost every time, leaving me to have to stop the digitization, repair, and continue where I left off.

Addionally, there is not an easy way to clean the backlight without stopping the digitizing process. I had a couple films drop debris onto the scanner which causes a black spot in the video. I then had to stop the process, open the film tray, and be very very careful while taking the film out. It is not designed to allow you to pull film out unless you are at the beginning or the end of a reel.

Pros:

- Excellent camera controls. Includes adjusting the frame up, down, left, right, zoom. It also allows you to adjust exposure, sharpness, and tint.

- Once your recording has finished, it tells you very clearly what the file has been named. For example "Your recording has been saved as "movie 0001"."

- Your film is automatically centered in the frame and is very consistent at keeping the image stable.

- Decently quiet, almost satisfying to listen to.

- It allows for rewinding when finished by taking the reels off and switching sides. No need to keep the film wrapped around all the tension knobs while doing this!

Cons:

- It does not digitize in real time. It takes pictures of each frame automatically at a rate of 2 pictures per second. The videos are exported as an mp4 video file at a frame rate of 20 FPS. This means the time it takes to digitize your film is 10x as long as the film itself. A 3 minute 8mm film takes 30 minutes to digitize.

- There is no easy way to clean the rear projection light mid-digization

- There is not an easy way to remove the film mid digitization. You risk damaging the film. It is safest to remove the film at the beginning or the end of the reel

- If your film has been spliced or repaired previouslt, it is quite likely to rip the film, requiring more repairs. However! Any time my film snapped, it happened after it was already scanned, which was nice. This works best with prestine quality film.

- I would strongly recommend babysitting the digitizer during the process in order to stop it if it snaps film and when the film reel is done, as my film did not always fall off the reel when finished. The motors still attempted to keep pulling the stuck film

- Decent image quality, but quite grainy!

- Instructions are poor. I recommend looking at some videos of others using it before loading your reels

I have a few dozen 3" reels of 8mm film that my mother wanted me to transfer to digital media. After looking at prices to have a company do the work, I decided to try it myself. This machine may work fine with film that has been properly cared for, however, that is not the situation that I'm in.

The film from my mother's collection is showing signs of "vinegar syndrome", where the film has become brittle and warped. After peeling away the crusty layers, I was able to get to film that could be unwound and loaded into the machine, however, because the film is warped into a "U" shape, the reel motor could not provide enough torque to pull the film through. Most "film to digital" conversion companies do not provide the proper services to work with this sort of issue, however there are specialty companies (with specialty company prices).

The estimate to get my mother's films transfered was in the $3000 range. As it is now, I'll most likely be looking to make my own film scanner with a Raspberry Pi and Pi-HQ camera with microscope lens. There are a few YouTube videos available on how to make them.

Not to knock on this device. If I had film that worked in it, I'd be happy with the cost and capabilities. I could load some film backwards into the scanner and get about 20% to 50% of each roll digitized, but then I would have to use some other software to flip and reverse the image, then run it backwards (actually not too hard with modern software).

I've got a lot of 8mm and super 8 from my dad, it would have cost a couple thousand to get all the reels transferred. Pretty simple to use, I'm glad I got it.