Uechi-Ryu.com

Hi gang:
Van Canna Sensei presented me, after last Saturday's class, with what must be the most valuable Christmas gift imaginable. . . 4 reels of rare footage, covering the 1963 1st World Karate Championships in Chicago and other early tournaments.

My question is how can I best transfer this 8mm film to video? I know there are companies who do this, but I'm wondering if this is the best method. (I sense they will simply video tape off a screen, which I can do just as well) Any thoughts will be appreciated.

Sensei,

I did this years back and it came out perfect. First, there are these mirrored boxes on right angles that you play the film through with a projector and put a video camera on the other side. They wanted like $200 for it. What I did was set my 8mm projector (from my dad's era circa early 50's "Keystone" - and it still works) and projected the home movies we had onto the wall (in the dark). I had my video camera slightly to the side of the projector and video taped it off the white wall zooming in on the picture until it covered the entire frame. The results were perfect. I then dubbed in music and gave the tape to my parents, they were amazed. As long as you have an 8mm projector that works, you'll have no problem. Give it a shot, you'll be amazed.

Scott