Hacking the Kodak Reels 8mm Film Digitizer (New Thread)

[larryc39]

View attachment 26597

It took me a minute to realize what was going on, that's the front and back view of the knob that is some sort of speed control. I was looking at it and thinking why's there a spare reel holder on your unit.

Dumb mistake on my part. I made the channel between the two walls of this design too narrow for the film to pass through. It's been resolved and updated as a v2 part in my original post.

Probably not easy or useful, but the other one, the one that drops in from the top, it would be useful to have keying on it since it's so almost just a square it's easy to install the wrong way.

Don't use iris lens caps, as that introduces vignetting.

The issue is the plastic camera mount, the thread is too easily messed up, I had trouble with it too. Maybe on my next unit, I will print my own extension tube in TPU, soft enough to thread the lens onto, fill customizable length.

OK didn't realize they weren't good to use, seems like some people had success with them.
I did order that pack of lens mounts from Amazon and might try switching mine out. You're right about the threads, it's like they were never intended to be used once the original lens was removed. It feels like the plastic "shrinks" some from the molding and makes it harder to go in like a taper. But could just be bad threads. Looks like I got some dust on the sensor too in the process minor cloudy/dark spots on my preview images. Also ordered some micro screw kits so I can put all four screws in the lower and upper mounts going forward. After playing with the focus I see how even just a touch is enough pressure to shift the camera so making the board mount as secure as possible seems like a good idea. Ten pounds of junk drawer screws and nothing that small!

 

[0dan0]

It took me a minute to realize what was going on, that's the front and back view of the knob that is some sort of speed control. I was looking at it and thinking why's there a spare reel holder on your unit.

Probably not easy or useful, but the other one, the one that drops in from the top, it would be useful to have keying on it since it's so almost just a square it's easy to install the wrong way.

OK didn't realize they weren't good to use, seems like some people had success with them.
I did order that pack of lens mounts from Amazon and might try switching mine out. You're right about the threads, it's like they were never intended to be used once the original lens was removed. It feels like the plastic "shrinks" some from the molding and makes it harder to go in like a taper. But could just be bad threads. Looks like I got some dust on the sensor too in the process minor cloudy/dark spots on my preview images. Also ordered some micro screw kits so I can put all four screws in the lower and upper mounts going forward. After playing with the focus I see how even just a touch is enough pressure to shift the camera so making the board mount as secure as possible seems like a good idea. Ten pounds of junk drawer screws and nothing that small!

These are great for getting dust off the sensor https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPFHNPBQ

 

[larryc39]

For anyone doing dev work or just wants a "front accessible" SD card slot, I bought on of these SD card extension ribbons on Amazon and I find it very helpful:

Amazon.com

I hadn't thought of that, but I haven't used mine much yet in earnest. I picked up the bare board version to try, maybe I can find a way to front panel mount it with a bracket and a hole in the front.

 

[0dan0]

D type opened, and ready to add a COM port.

 

[larryc39]

D type opened, and ready to add a COM port.
View attachment 26605

Are there any other obvious hardware changes aside from the camera board? I see the camera ribbon cable is still as awkward as ever.

 

[0dan0]

Are there any other obvious hardware changes aside from the camera board? I see the camera ribbon cable is still as awkward as ever.

I expect they had trouble sourcing AR0330 sensors (12 years old), only the sensor board is changed.

 

[videodoctor]

@0dan0 , I know you just got your D unit yesterday---have you had any luck confirming the expo_iso address yet?

In the hist.c code, I kept running into crashes with the histo_rgb_image value at the start of the calc_histogram function, and as I don't fully understand how the hist[] array works, I had to keep re-initializing the histo_rgb_image value to (uint8_t *)hist[3] + 4; and comment out all of your initial if() statements at the start of the function too, which is likely why it's flashing. I know the calc_histogram is firing without a hiccup as I have a blinking LCD square to show me if there's any delays.