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Film to Digital Converter Review - Kodak Reels Digitizer - Deep Dive #middlesiggy

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Film to Digital Converter Review - Kodak Reels Digitizer - Deep Dive

This is a deep dive review of the Kodak Reels 8mm and Super 8 Film Converter

Film Converters:
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KODAK REELS 8mm & Super 8 Films Digitizer Converter with Big 5” Screen = https://amzn.to/3vuSzK5
Handles 3", 4", 5", 7", and 9" Reels
Produces 1080p digital videos

Wolverine 8mm & Super 8 Reels to Digital Movie Maker Pro Film Digitizer = https://amzn.to/3Z58KHd
Handles 3", 4", 5", 7", and 9" Reels
Produces 1080p digital videos

Wolverine 8mm and Super 8 Film Reel Converter = https://amzn.to/41j6Y7g
Only does 3" and 5" reels:
Produces 720p digital videos

Any Memory Card should work:
SanDisk 32GB 3-Pack -

As an Amazon Affiliate I earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you

Play Time
Reel diameter Feet length Length Digitize Time
------------- ----------- ------------ -------------
3” reel 50 feet 2–3 minutes 30 Min
4” reel 100 feet 5–6 minutes 60 Min
5” reel 200 feet 12–14 minutes 120 Min
6” reel 300 feet 19–22 minutes 180 Min
7” reel 400 feet 26–29 minutes 240 Min

Chapters:
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00:00 Introduction
01:05 Product Overview
02:03 Unboxing
02:34 How to Operate Device
03:24 Processing Times
03:35 The Output
04:23 Pro - The good Stuff
05:18 Options
07:13 Issues
09:04 Closing Opinion
09:54 Sample Conversion

20 Comments

@Ni5ei 3 years ago

The resolution of the sensor is 3280x2464 so the output file is downscaled to half of that! It's a shame there's no way you can get the raw capture from the device which would give you lots more to work with in post processing.

@fotomiete 2 years ago

Thanks for the heads-up. 20 Frames per Second and the erratic color correction with no way to turn it off are def deal-breakers.

@sscarr81 1 year ago

You deserve more subscribers, you just earned one. Thanks for your well done tutorials ,as I am on a mission to convert a ton of these, plus some old vhs tapes as well. Cheers

@johnberzsenyi6163 1 year ago

Really appreciated your honest review of this product. I just ordered and was looking for others that have used it. I'm looking forward to converting my families reels so we can all view at any time. Great review!

@PamWarrick 3 years ago

Thank you so much. I do film editing, now I have my families original 8mm. Thank you again.

@scottsdaleworship 10 months ago

Thank you. This video was very helpful to me. I appreciate your time and effort!

@Stu2366593 3 years ago (edited)

Thank you for your time and effort - very helpful in my self education as I seem to be in a similar thought process as you when you first started down this path. I probably am looking at getting something like this, but geez there are a lot of strong opinions out there. Some swear only by the Magnasonic etc. and wouldn’t touch your machine. However, the way you framed things and your hands-on experience does sway my thought process -its rational and based on hours of work with the machine. For me, 1080p resolution would be important … but maybe I am paying too much attention to this (I have a projector with a large screen, so 1080p is nice). Now, I am starting to think that the “post” conversion process is probably more important than the actual “raw” footage created with the digitizer. Any thoughts? I have liked and subscribed and will be looking at some more of your videos.

@ConwayBob 3 years ago

Thanks. Good review!

@HelloKittyFanMan 3 years ago

Hmm. That was kind of silly. Why did they make this record for a 20FPS output if they knew that's too fast for these films?

@TNTCanada 2 years ago

Thanks for the information and confidence in doing my movies. Great advice

@microbroadcast 1 year ago

Many thanks for your honest review, much appreciated.

@andrewthornley5172 1 year ago

Great info. Really helped me.

@desertfarmguy4900 3 years ago

Very helpful review

@HotWireFoamFactory 4 months ago

A problem that a lot of us are seeing is flickering, reportedly due to the auto-exposure quickly and grossly correcting changes in lights and darks in the film. Some people are also seeing sudden changes in white balance in the same scene. Can't find any fixes for this, yet. It would be nice if Kodak had a manual override so we could have fixed exposures and white balance.

@dalehammond1704 1 year ago

The best way to compare the two scanners is via a side-by-side scan. Scan a segment of a good black and white film such as the Keystone Cops. Compare the two and it will be more than apparent which machine is the best. Both will require software denoising but one will need more help than the other.

@simonhunter1824 5 months ago

Thanks for this. I was looking at spending potentially £1000s to get my Dad's cine collection converted and this seems a much better option.

@BinaHejazi 2 years ago

Many thanks for the fantastic tutorial. One thing you didn't touch upon was the sound. Does the device capture the sound as well? Some of my old 8mm do have sound.

@daverees3267 1 year ago

Yeah. Great review. Will look at this product with video editing software.

@moimonsoulier 11 months ago

Thank you very much, very clear. Do you know devices able to numerize the sound ?

@alohaangel33 1 year ago

This is a great tutorial review! I bought the Magnasonic and it constantly stops because the part that is supposed to guide the film doesn’t engage right. The film holes are not damaged at all. Another issue I have is it sounds like it scans smoothly and then when I review what I scanned it’s jumpy and choppy. Do you think that the Kodak machine you have has less of those issues?