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

rms337 said:

1) Has anyone experienced the same issue with the lens? What could I have done wrong? I am not seeing anything.

2) With the lowering of my lens, is the area of capture changed from what others are capturing? I believe it was suggested to NOT use the Kodak zoom, capture the entire frame and crop later. With that, does my framing mirror others or am I getting too much of the top and bottom frames included? (see pic below).

3) When I tried the latest version of Odano's 6.8, ver B, when I hit capture, I ended up with a rectangular X (see pic) for a few seconds before it goes back to the menu. Reverting back to 6.6 works.

4) I will be using Resolve for all editing. While I know how to do most everything else, I am very deficient in color grading. If anyone has any suggestions on training videos for novices on color grading, it would be appreciated. Found a few on youtube, but they often go down so many rabbit holes, makes it tough to follow. Are there any automated options? I also have access to Topaz.

I will have other questions, but wanted to get these answered first before I start capturing. I want to make sure I have the lens completely dialed in first.

Odano - If you have any way I can send you a few bucks to help contribute to your efforts, please PM me. This is outstanding work.

rms337

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1. No idea where the focus would be different.

2. No harm using the zoom. Plus I zoom all the way in to focus.

3. Puzzled, I'm using a type B as my main development system. Anyone else experiencing this one?

4. I do very little color correction on film scans, particularly with the latest with accurate white balance.

Hi guys, I have one question as I'm not familiar with video encoding.
Using Resolve, what export settings should I use? I would like to keep the file size/quality similar as it is after capture (I believe with the new firmware the quality is good enough). Everything I've tried (not much, I confess) returns huge files or degraded quality, to the point that for some basic editing I use losslessCut.
But I'd like to go a bit further ahead and colour correct/clean a bit some frames (especially those from WW2 by my grandfather that have several scratches that I want to remove).
Thank you!

0dan0 said:

3. Puzzled, I'm using a type B as my main development system. Anyone else experiencing this one?

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Like I said (couple of messages back - bottom of the last page for me) I'm using what I *think* is a type C (very recent machine) but with the latest version of your firmware it doesn't record at all. And playback in the machine doesn't work either. It's almost as if, with that firmware, the machine has lost access to the SD card.

The type C firmware from @Mac84 works OK.

What size card are you using and how is it formatted? My 128GB was also not working on exFat. It only started working after formatting it to FAT32 with special software.

0dan0 said:

1. No idea where the focus would be different.

2. No harm using the zoom. Plus I zoom all the way in to focus.

3. Puzzled, I'm using a type B as my main development system. Anyone else experiencing this one?

4. I do very little color correction on film scans, particularly with the latest with accurate white balance.

Click to expand...

Thanks 0dan0.

So you are saying zooming in and then capturing is OK? This thread is getting long, so a little difficult to go back and review prior discussions. I thought I remembered discussion on zooming not being beneficial since it was a digital zoom. I will go back and review.

I will try the B version of 6.8 again later today and if any change, will report back.

On color correction, are you referring to just your v6.8 changes? or what you added to v6.6? I liked what 6.6 had for options, but did not do much with 6.8 since I could not capture. I won't be attempting to modify any binaries myself, so will roll with options you have provided.

For others, since it was recently mentioned, the playback has not worked for a while, even in previous versions, and was acknowledged as likely something that would not be fixed (at least at the time). That has not been a show stopper for me as I believe the other incredible modifications are worth the loss, especially since I can just plug in the USB and pull over to the PC quickly.

Yes, FAT32 formatting got rid of prior issues.

I've now confirmed there is an issue with 128GB cards not working. I expect the exFAT and larger cards are using memory I trying to use as scratch buffer. So v6.8 is working, but only with 32GB FAT32 cards and smaller. I will try to fix that.

> discussion on zooming not being beneficial since it was a digital zoom.

That is true, but post zoom has the same limitations, so zoom/crop in device as you like. There is one tiny benefit, you compress bits will only be used for area you are interested in.

0dan0 said:

View attachment 23217

v6.8 - New firmware hacks for all Kodak Reels versions (A, B & C -- attached)

We now have white balance control for Kelvin and Tint, so full manual. We also have a RGB Histogram to help with you white balancing. The white balance control in pictures settings will only change the red to blue balance (Kelvin) with 9 discrete settings. Out side of the picture settings, even during capture, you can change the tint (green) by a longer press in Left or Right buttons (decrease or increase the green.) The green tint will be remember, even beyond a firmware update.
View attachment 23218

So many other small changes. I'm no longer seeing jitter on my hardware, but I have some code in there to help, just in case. It seems I skipped v6.7 (or never released it.)

Several of the extensions are now in C code, so let me know if you want to see that.

Click to expand...

Hello 0Dan0
I'am reading this forum since September 2024. My task was to cut my Super 8 films from 1988 where my daughter was 2 1/2. She wished to see how she acts as she was young. Now I'm retired and had time to do so. In June 2024 I bought an Wolverine and digitized around 150 films from this holiday in 1988. I didn't feel lucky with the results of the scan. The sharpness was awful. So I scanned the internet for other solutions and found the Kodakreels. I bought one and scanned some of the films again. Then I found this forum to optimize. I was so happy that @Mac84 did invest so much time and effort for optimizing the scanner. Thank you so much for your work !

In october 2024 I took the version for my Reels B type and started digitizing. In december I was able to work on these files after I had outlined to change the 20fps to 24fps with ffmpeg, because I had Movies with sound. Now I was able to put the sound ( recorded on a different run with my old sound projector from Bauer on mp3 ) on the film. I put both type files together in Vegas, reel by reel. During that work I recognized, that the color correction on much scenes took 3 to 4 pictures to stabilize. If there was a pan ( hope the word is correct ) in the film and the lighting changes inbetween a scene, another white balance was initiated. Very unpleasant.

January to May 2025 I was not at home, so I could start again with my work in June 2025. All of the 150 reels I processed with sound, color correction and white balancing through vegas. The result didn't convinces me for 100 %.
During this work from June to August I scanned my other older and newer 850 reels ( starting 1969 ). I wanted to Process them starting at end of August.

Inbetween this period of time I saw the effort of 0Dan0 and hoped for a new software version for the reels Type B without automatic white balancing and basic color correction. Then, end of september there was a version 6.8 from you ( thank you, thank you, thank you ! ) which I now installed on my reels.
The last two days I made scannings with only one reel to see the differences in the various RGB settings.
What I recognized was, that the scannings are very dark. That means, that I had to correct this in vegas, in addition to finalize the color.

I'm a complete hobbiest in filming and processing films. I only want to make my memories available for my family. I'm not sure, if all the information is in the digitalized file of the darker digitalized versions with your software 6.8.
Do I have a chance to get the output brighter ?

By the way ( no complain, just noticed behavior ) :
if the scanning stops due to end of the film the scanner goes on the screen for replay/closing. If I'm not in the room and came back after around 35 seconds the display shows automatitic the selection for "close", but it doesn't react on pressing any key. After another around 15 seconds the display changes again and I can see "capture menue settings" - highlighting "settings" after some seconds, than just after that highlighting "menue" and then "settings". It is not possible to choose anything. After, let's say, another 15 seconds, the running through the menue starts again and again ... I have to power off the unit.

Another question : on this posting you wrote that I could change the "green" with the left/right keys if the scanner is in the record mode, but the result could only be seen on the scanned film, not on the display screen. Is that correct ? Have I the change to see the selection on the recorded characteristics section of the file ?
And a second question : I changed the green for testing purposes and now I don't know the setting. You wrote it would be remembered beyond an Firmware upgrade. How do I get rid of it now ?

Before I start to scan my around 1000 reels again, I want to have a stable version in the scanned files which minimizes the additional work to put on each reel.

By the way : I don't want to change the lens, because I don't want to ruin the machine. I'm fine with the sharpness.

Please don't complain on my english. I'm no native speaker and I don't want to use a translator.

Can you show me how dark your images are, compared to where you would like them? The exposure is both trying to avoid constant changes, as well as preserving highlights. Unfortunately the logic is very simple. There is EV bias added in 6.8, I just hadn't mentioned it as it is untested. Up and Down buttons will increase or decrease the brightness in small steps.

>you wrote that I could change the "green" with the left/right keys if the scanner is in the record mode, but the result could only be seen on the scanned film, not on the display screen. Is that correct ?

No. It is showing on the screen too, it is just that our eyes are always compensating, this is why I added the RGB histogram. When use the screen alone I would get the white balance wrong, the screen is very blue.

An area I need to improve is a way to show the green and exposure bias as numeric settings. As the hardware does remember these, and they survive both firmware updates and factory resets. For those that have added serial ports, this is easier to see. In the mean time, find a blank, or overexposed section of film, and white balance using the RGB histogram.

>scanning stops due to end of the film

You will aways need to power off if the auto-end detection occurs. I have yet to find a safe way to simulate a stop action. Instead I basically have to crash the unit, which is slightly better that recording nothing for hours.

0dan0 said:

Can you show me how dark your images are, compared to where you would like them? The exposure is both trying to avoid constant changes, as well as preserving highlights. Unfortunately the logic is very simple. There is EV bias added in 6.8, I just hadn't mentioned it as it is untested. Up and Down buttons will increase or decrease the brightness in small steps.

>you wrote that I could change the "green" with the left/right keys if the scanner is in the record mode, but the result could only be seen on the scanned film, not on the display screen. Is that correct ?

No. It is showing on the screen too, it is just that our eyes are always compensating, this is why I added the RGB histogram. When use the screen alone I would get the white balance wrong, the screen is very blue.

An area I need to improve is a way to show the green and exposure bias as numeric settings. As the hardware does remember these, and they survive both firmware updates and factory resets. For those that have added serial ports, this is easier to see. In the mean time, find a blank, or overexposed section of film, and white balance using the RGB histogram.

>scanning stops due to end of the film

You will aways need to power off if the auto-end detection occurs. I have yet to find a safe way to simulate a stop action. Instead I basically have to crash the unit, which is slightly better that recording nothing for hours.

Click to expand...

I can not recognize changes in green on the display, if I press the keys. I'm in record mode. The Histogram isn't showing the change either.
I don't want to open the unit. I'm no technician. So I don't want to attach a serial port.

I only have pictures of the scanning of @Mac84 and new scannings with in this case Exp -1,5 Sharpness -1,5 Tint 0 of version 6.8. The color is not in this case I would love it. It has to be changed after scanning .... . But this is not the case. Which ISO @Mac84 has emulated ? I would like this much.

If I recognize the stop, I have some seconds to press "close" and after that the unit acts normal on keys pressed. That means if a timer has expired some 35 seconds after a stop the unit goes nuts.

TheElk said:

I can not recognize changes in green on the display, if I press the keys. I'm in record mode. The Histogram isn't showing the change either.
I don't want to open the unit. I'm no technician. So I don't want to attach a serial port.

I only have pictures of the scanning of @Mac84 and new scannings with in this case Exp -1,5 Sharpness -1,5 Tint 0 of version 6.8. The color is not in this case I would love it. It has to be changed after scanning .... . But this is not the case. Which ISO @Mac84 has emulated ? I would like this much.

Click to expand...

These a long presses, at about one second, I was trying to avoid accidental white balance change.

The new 6.6 / 6.8 firmware doesn't have Exp, but now have White Balance, and -1.5 for White balance is very blue shifted. Make sure you set the Red-Blue white balance correctly, as you same image has the wrong WB.


See the Histogram peak are aligning up.


In you samples the exposure of the default image is also not correct, as any detail in the bottom right is clipped to white at 255,255,255. The reason the second is so dark is the incorrect WB, as the white table is now at 5,182,217. The autoexposure is making sure the highest value, the blue, less than 255. Get the WB correct, and the exposure will greatly improve.

I used Super8 in a recent 48 hour film project (make a movie with a genre pulled from a hat in weekend.) We pulled genre "Road Movie". I shot Ektachrome, developed it at home, as scanned with v6.8. While some of the "Super8" moments had to be faked, the opening scene and the pizza scene are used without any color correction with the latest Reels firmware.


The short used these cameras: Beaulieu 4008 ZM4, Fujifilm XT-3, GoPro HERO13 and GoPro MAX2

0dan0 said:

These a long presses, at about one second, I was trying to avoid accidental white balance change.

The new 6.6 / 6.8 firmware doesn't have Exp, but now have White Balance, and -1.5 for White balance is very blue shifted. Make sure you set the Red-Blue white balance correctly, as you same image has the wrong WB.
View attachment 23529

See the Histogram peak are aligning up.

View attachment 23530
In you samples the exposure of the default image is also not correct, as any detail in the bottom right is clipped to white at 255,255,255. The reason the second is so dark is the incorrect WB, as the white table is now at 5,182,217. The autoexposure is making sure the highest value, the blue, less than 255. Get the WB correct, and the exposure will greatly improve.

Click to expand...

i use language german and in this "white Bal" is told "exposure". I put the pictures for White Bal +2 and +1,5 as attachment here. Tomorrow I will scan with this again, but I think it will be nearly as dark as before. Tomorrow.

For correcting the green : We are talking abaout the left/right Keys, correct ? And we are talking about "if the scanner is in the capture position" ?
I also tested ist in the "white balance change" selection and I pressed the keys longer than one second - nothing happened.
I believe it is not working correctly with model B.

TheElk said:

i use language german and in this "white Bal" is told "exposure". I put the pictures for White Bal +2 and +1,5 as attachment here. Tomorrow I will scan with this again, but I think it will be nearly as dark as before. Tomorrow.

For correcting the green : We are talking abaout the left/right Keys, correct ? And we are talking about "if the scanner is in the capture position" ?
I also tested ist in the "white balance change" selection and I pressed the keys longer than one second - nothing happened.
I believe it is not working correctly with model

Click to expand...

Is working on TypeB as that is what I did the development on. I will have to try German to see if that breaks it.