Modding the Kodak Reels 8mm Film Digitizer (Firmware Hack)

No stabilization needed, you just need a locking ring:


My Type C has the 12mm lens at 26mm, so the 8mm lens at 18mm, for a very similar resolution gain.

Compression at a high bit-rate solves most of the image quality issues (with a new lens, or a moved lens.) JPEG is also a compression format, so that will not solve all the issues either. H.264 (the .MP4s) is a just a more modern from of JPEG (very crudely.)

Type B is finally working fully (matching C.)





The upgrade is significant.

@0dan0 Wow, that looks amazing! Is the Type B v6.2 image sample above with the factory lens?

eyeidea said:

@0dan0 Wow, that looks amazing! Is the Type B v6.2 image sample above with the factory lens?

Click to expand...

This is with the replacement 12mm lens, although it should help the stock lens a tad. As thjakob discovered, you might be able to move the stock lens closer for similar results.

Here is Kodak Vision 3 negative (home developed) through my modified Reels scanner. Not too bad. The white balance was changed to 1,1,1.75 to remove the orange cast of the negative film.

I spent a few hours trying to find the color matrix or some way the invert in the scanner, but that might be unnecessary, as post inversion is easy.



The main issue remaining you can see from the histogram, the negative image is very low contrast. This wouldn't be so much an issue for a professional scanner outputting 10 to 16 bits, but for 8-bit scanner you want a wider histogram. The sensor readout is likely 12-bit (might be 10), so if I can find the black offset, I can get more contrast in 8-bit. Any ideas on where that might be?

Hey. I made an account, just to follow the progress of these efforts. It's incredible.

I've already installed 0dan0's latest firmware hack and I can see the benefits immediately, but now I want to improve the lens.

I have these in my cart and I'm ready to check out, but first I'm here to ask for some guidance.

I have removed the cover over the camera, and this is where I'm nervous. I don't know anything about hardware modification. What do I do at this point, and do I need anything else to hold this new lens in place? I don't have access to a 3D Printer.

This thread has very excellent detailed instructions for all the software side of this, maybe it's worth a write-up for the hardware side too!

Thanks!

I have not found an easy solution.


My first unit (Build #1) was extra messy, this used the 5mm extension ring. This first design is more zoomed in, as the sensor board is raised only 6.5mm. While there is less cutting of the back plastic, the 5mm ring that you have is wider than the plastic lens holder, which meant a lot of cutting was involved to the to where the sensor build is screwed. This wasn't easy.

In Build #2 I used a 7mm spacer. https://www.m12lenses.com/7mm-Metal-Extension-Ring-for-M12-Mount-p/pt-erm12-700m.htm (they are cheap). There is no cutting to the mounting, just a bit more plastic is removed from the back case/housing. You can use a Dremel or soldering iron to cut the case, to make room for the higher sensor board -- be careful not to damage the sensor-board ribbon cable. I disconnected the sensor board to limit accidents.

In either design, it is best to add a M12 locking ring. https://www.m12lenses.com/searchresults.asp?search=locking+ring

Both designs used 3D-printed offsets. Build #2 was pretty nice (ReelsSTandOffv6.zip is a STL file) as this print has some adjustability.


Try using https://printathing.com/order/ to order the 3D part.

I printed in ABS plastic. Seems it will cost about $11 ($0.79 for the part, the reset is handling.) I have not used this service, as I print at home.