Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/07/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Alan Bearden <healey@uclink.berkeley.edu> asks: >Has anyone any experience in copying 35mm transparencies on to video tape, >either by using a commercial service (how much does it cost?) or by >purchasing >the necessary equipment? Any advice on such equipment? At work we have a thing called a Navitar Videomate. It looks very similar to a Kodak carousel slide projector except there is no lens on it. There are S-video and BNC* video output connections as well as 3 separate BNC outputs for RGB connection. It has two extremely useful features. An iris control with a very wide range allows you to correct exposure and also gives you some creative control. Unfortunately, the iris will not go all the way to black. A zoom control gives you limited cropping ability. In the very short space between slides, the video screen shows black. The image quality is good but not great. I think the main limitation is the NTSC (Never The Same Color) standard. TV monitors are not generally capable of the contrast range of slides very well. Taking some time to tweak your TV controls helps considerably. The Navitar is not cheap, selling for around $3000. And as I understand it, it is at the bottom of the price range for such devices. - ----- *BNC connectors are a pro lock-on type of connector and are much better than the standard RCA connectors. Michael Bell MBell@mail.utexas.edu