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[videorama]

I have a question (2 actually) concerning physical aspect of converting 8mm film to digital (MPEG).

First - I have one of those devices in which you play your 8mm projector in one side and then video (Camcorder) the image from a screen on an adjacent side of the device. The problem seems to be that the resultant video is washed out as if over-exposed. Anyone have any luck with this? Suppose that there could be some adjustment of exposure/shutter speed that can abate this but hate to have to experiment if someone has a good combination.

Second - In lieu of above, I have piece of low sheen poster board on which I project the 8mm film and use my Camcorder to video the resultant image on the poster board. This works pretty well but I don't know what would ultimately give the best results - such as:

   Should the 8mm image be as large as possible or small (seems the larger the projected image the less sharp it is)?

   Should the Camcorder be at telephoto or wide angle. Of course in either case the Camcorder should be positioned to capture a full screen. The reason for this question is that I read that rather than using autofocus, the best capture is achieved by manually focusing at full telephoto and then adjusting the zoom as required to capture the desired scene. Of course this is in situations where the depth of focus remains near constant. In this case the Camcorder can be set and focused at telephoto or wide angle and then physically positioned to capture the projected image.

   Should the room ambient light be day light or a darkened?

As stated above, it is just a matter of experimentation but if someone has already done the leg work I would be happy for the information.