Odd request - Rent a camera to preserve Star Wars

[Poita]

Okay, this is an odd request, but as this is the place people sell CCD cameras, I thought I'd ask it. If the mods want to remove this post I won't be at all upset.

I have built a 16mm telecine rig to transfer 16mm films to video.

I have recently acquired an original 1978 16mm print of the entire Star Wars Ep IV movie (i.e. the one without the new special effects).
I would like to transfer it to hidef to preserve the film in case the print ever gets damaged or fades.
My current telecine rig uses a 720x576 Sony CCD camera to pickup the image from each frame of the film. It works similarly to a eyepiece mounted camera on a telescope, the camera is mounted at the front of the projector and the image projected directly onto the CCD chip.

Now for the request. If someone has a colour CCD camera that is higher resolution than 620x576, I'd like to purchase or rent it from them for the purposes of preserving Star Wars. I'd probably need the camera for about a month, and I'm happy to wait for whatever month that may be.

Alternatively, if anyone could recommend a good CCD camera to use, (I've been looking at the firewire imaging cameras) I'm also open to purchasing one, that I could later use for astrophotography.

Cheers

-Pete

[el_draco]

In deed, a worth while quest, young Jedi!!

[OICURMT]

Umm... Poita's bio states he's over 40... so I think it's..


"In deed, a worth while quest, middle-aged Jedi!!" :lol:

[DavidU]

Hi Pete, have a look at the specs on one of these.
http://www.officeworks.com.au/retail/products/Technology/Peripherals/Webcams/INLOG4302;jsessionid=%28J2EE5996400 %29ID0619438053DB011493365623377804 21End;saplb_*=%28J2EE5996400%295996 453

[Poita]

Ouch!

[Poita]

Thanks for the link, the problem with most webcams is the noise reduction that often can't be turned off, but I'll check this one out and see how it performs.

[el_draco]

From MY perspective its correct :sadeyes:

[koputai]

How about a DSLR in movie mode? I take it your print is widescreen?

Cheers,
Jason.

[Poita]

Well, it is cinemascope, so the image is compressed or stretched on the film, and only comes out to glorious 2.35:1 when you use a scope lens on the front of the projector.
However when capturing it, I'm not using an anamorphic lens, so it would be captured stretched and resized later.

As for a DSLR, it would be a good option but the shutter wouldn't survive. A movie is 24fps, and star wars runs at over two hours, so that is over 172,000 frames.

In movie mode, the DSLRs can only record for 5 minutes or so before the sensor starts to overheat, and they have aliasing problems because of the line-skip nature of the sensors when used in movie mode.

[Chris.B]

I have a few older Kodak CCD cameras no longer being used.
The oldest is a DC290 not sure if that would suit. It can have scripting to control all settings. May be too old a CCD to give real good picture resolution compared to modern ccd's?
Others are point and shoot Kodak digital cameras.

Chris

[Poita]

I think I'll get a 41K imaging source camera and see how I go.