After many teases, I finally finished my tapeless 8mm “cinema camera” rig. And then the camera died. And I bought another one. And the camera died. Turns out they’re all doomed to fail.
But in brighter news, I have ported my lessons here over to a more standard consumer handycam for the time being, in a much smaller and more portable package:
This is mostly the same core concept: S-video and audio to RetroTINK 2X Pro, passing through 480i via HDMI to Atomos Ninja Blade to capture to 480i ProRes 422 HQ.
Only instead of rails and v-mount battery powering everything, I have two of these SmallRig giant NPF batteries (link is Amazon affiliate) powering everything. One for the camera, one for the Ninja Blade. The batteries provide a ton of battery life, plus they have USB power output, which powers the RetroTINK. Much more minimal and sane, but far lower quality than the L2.
This summer, I hope to pick up a Canon XL2 and use it tapelessly with a dv grab open source project that lets me capture straight off the firewire without a computer, and the Canon speedbooster, too! But they’re $250-400 so it’ll have to wait until some expenses are taken care of. ^^