Telecine converter box

The first part of the project involved stripping everything out of the chassis which is not used for the actual transport of film. I have, however, kept the head assembly so I could add that functionality if required later. I decided straight away that the heart of the unit will be a Raspberry Pi single board computer which will be used to control the electronics of the machine as well carrying out the image capture. The basic idea is the the film will be fed through the machine in the same way as it would be when projected, but at a reduced speed.

When a frame is in position, ie when it would have been ready to be projected onto the screen, the raspberry pi will take a picture of the frame and store it with a sequential frame number. The film will than move forward to the next frame and the process will repeat. Once the whole film is completed, the individual images will be stitched together into a video clip. With this assembly fitted into the projector, and a film loaded in the chassis, I illuminated the film from behind with an LED light, and focused the camera by moving the projector lens in the usual way.

Using this set up, I was able to take the image shown in the gallery below. Although the illumination is not consistent, and the focus not completely accurate, it gives me encouragement that the project should work. As I said above, the plan is to fit a new DC motor to the chassis which will drive the existing film transport mechanism of the spool drive, the claw which moves the film and the drive wheels which pull the film through the film gate.

The reason for a DC motor is so I can more easily control the speed and direction of the film as it is moved through the machine. The reason for the motor control is so I can run the machine at different speeds for different quality of encoding.

For example, if I just want to see what is on a film I might want to get a simple low definition conversion which could run at perhaps 5 frames per second, but if I want a full HD, top quality conversion, the machine may have to run at only 1 or 2 frames per second. The light in the original projector was a powerful bulb which takes a lot of current and produces a lot of heat.

One consideration is the colour of the light which will illuminate the film. The Trigger is needed to signal to the Raspberry pi when a picture is ready to be captured. When the film transport claw has pulled the frame into position and the frame is steady and stable, the trigger will change the state of one of the IO pins on the Pi indicating the frame should be captured. My current plan for this is to fit a micro-switch which will be driven from a disk on the main transport shaft.

With the switch actuation arm resting on the disk I can stick something on the disk at the right place which will sync the camera to take a picture when the frame is in place and stable. This camera will be connected to a Raspberry Pi and I will write my own software to capture a picture every time a trigger pulse comes from the micro switch. The intention is to capture a series of images which will be numbers sequentially and which can then be converted into a movie clip with something like ffmpeg.

Once the machine is running I may purchase a small LCD screen which would make the unit self contained — until then I can use VNC to connect to the Raspberry pi to control the machine and write the software necessary.

I am full of admiration for your technical skills, ambition and lack of trepidation. My knees knock when I try fiddling about with even simple mechanisms, like SLR wind-ons, etc. I wonder if the image recording side of it will have any means for cleaning up cosmetic defects, like hair, dust, etc.

In professional tele-cine machines there was a beam splitter to isolate red, green and blue channels and a fourth, infra-red, optical channel to allow for cosmetic improvement. Like New zoom lens with a range of 1. Specify your make and model of projector and we will supply the correct adaptor for this lens.. Can't find an original belt for your projector? We can supply you with round rubber belt material..

We can also supply you with flat rubber belt material.. Front or rear belt. When replacing the rear arm fabric belt this should be replaced on the inside arm gear if you have a rubber shoe When replacing the rear arm fabric belt this should be replaced if the rubber has worn off, or the rubber is sticky High quality USA Bristol 6 point Allen type wrench set has all of the applicable sizes plus a heavy duty handle for servicing the to Bell and Howell. Needed to remove worm gears, arm gears, fans, etc..

Professional tools used by Bell and Howell repair technicians for the , , and series 16mm projector and all models between. Also for the TQ European models. Includes 3 tools. Extremely helpful in replacing worm gears on the Bell and Howell projectors. Models , , , available. New Original manuals from our stock of new Bell and Howell parts.

A must if you are doing repairs. Complete assembly, disassembly, lubrication, repair. Most 16mm models from to series. Let us know the model you require Please specify model.. Keeps the Elmo running smooth as silk! This is a complete kit of all 4 rollers. Return your worn rollers to us If the upper spindle where the reel attaches on the rear arm is made of metal, or dark gray plastic, this rebuild kit will upgrade the old flat belt system to the new cogged belt system.

The flat belt system was changed by Elmo to a cogged belt system for better take up consistency. Even with a new flat belt, the rewind will not work properly. The solution is to replace the bottom shaft with a cogged pulley, and use the cogged belt.

You will need metric allen wrenches and screwdrivers for disassembly. If your projector has a White, or Dark Gray plastic upper spindle where the reel attaches this new belt will help "take up" issues Improved long life For to series..

For projectors with still function the above worm gear can be used.. Part New, for the Bell and Howell 16mm Slot Load projectors , , , as well as the European slot load versions. This method, amazingly, is still used by many organisations. There are obviously downsides to this method due to the need to manually align the camera to the projector, which means that angle distortion will be visible.

Perhaps the biggest downside is the annoying flickering inherent with 2 processes running at confilicting frame rates. For many years, simple telecine units light proof boxes with reflective mirrors from which projected footage is captured have been used to provide a controlled environment from which to cheaply capture projected footage in real time.

Your transfer will also suffer from the jittering effect due to the confilcting frame rates when capturing film this way.