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

[sheider]

No unit playback for about 6 months. I didn't even notice I had broken that for ages as it wasn't useful for high resolution quality testing. Goals have always been high quality, even at the expense of some convenience.

I concur with your goal to focus on improving image quality before pursuing "convenience" features. That said, a lot of questions / complaints could be avoided if the stock features that no longer work as a result of the firmware mods would be hidden / disabled in the UI. Video playback is one example; I believe that on-device SD card formatting is another.

 

[sheider]

7.0. Will have a fix for the issue would scanning over 16384 frames.

New ideas of v7.0 are welcome.

I want to add support negative film, as this setup currently does a very poorly. I was looking for the color matrix, figuring the Tint control might lead to something useful for inverting the image. I didn't, instead I found how to make a true black and white scan. So in 7.0, setting Tint at -2.0 will now remove all color. This is useful for scanning B&W Film, which would have a slight color cast in current firmware.

I'm ordered a 16mm Macro, to see if that is practical (trying AZURE-1622MAC https://www.rmaelectronics.com/azure-photonics-azure-1622mac/)

I wish you luck with the 16mm macro lens... IMHO, the ultimate "practical" goal would be to determine a lens / spacing combo that maximizes image capture quality while eliminating the need to cut the case or otherwise void the manufacturer's warranty.

I really want to upgrade the stock lens, but I'm equally reluctant to cut into the case, voiding the unit's 1-year warranty. (I'm scheduled to receive my new unit tomorrow.)

 

[0dan0]

What are the chances of having (fairly rapid) auto-exposure that varies through the capture? Set a level on a good frame then try to maintain the same luminance level throughout the capture.

Many old cine films have normal bits followed by overexposed bits followed by dark bits followed by.... Just a few seconds each. The only way to cope with it at the moment is to scan multiple times at different exposure levels, and then chop the scans up in Resolve of FCX or whatever, selecting the best version of each segment.

I know that AGC wouldn't be right for ALL captures - it would ruin some. But to have it as a selectable option would be really good.

It has an AGC, just not as fast as the stock FW. It is has limits to prevent too much gain lift black too much into grey. The speed of the ACG could be a control, but you will find there is not perfect setting.

 

[0dan0]

I concur with your goal to focus on improving image quality before pursuing "convenience" features. That said, a lot of questions / complaints could be avoided if the stock features that no longer work as a result of the firmware mods would be hidden / disabled in the UI. Video playback is one example; I believe that on-device SD card formatting is another.

Unfortunately change anything in the UI is likely much more work than quality enhancement. All changes are through educated guesses at best, modifying the binary of the firmware, there is no source code to work from. The only UI elements I've successful changed is the boot JPEG, and one word, in one language only.

 

[0dan0]

I wish you luck with the 16mm macro lens... IMHO, the ultimate "practical" goal would be to determine a lens / spacing combo that maximizes image capture quality while eliminating the need to cut the case or otherwise void the manufacturer's warranty.

I really want to upgrade the stock lens, but I'm equally reluctant to cut into the case, voiding the unit's 1-year warranty. (I'm scheduled to receive my new unit tomorrow.)

It is very unlikely that there is a macro lens, with sufficient quality, and doesn't require a different mounting position. I've tried a dozen lenses, only one is good so far (with a mount move.)