Polavision Super8 Film Transfer and Restoration
This tutorial shows how to extract the film from a Polaroid Polavision cassette and then transfer it to video using a Workprinter. Polavision was Polaroid's instant movie film technology. It was introduced in the late 1970s, but never caught on, probably due to the poor quality of the film, but also because around 1980, the first video cameras became available to consumers. The Polavision film is identical in gague to Super8 film and therefore can be projected and transferred in equipment designed for Super8. However, because the film was developed using chemicals in the cassette, the residue of these chemicals leaves an unpleasant mottling and moldy look to the film. Also the film has the bad grain of Ektachrome, combined with the high contrast of Kodachrome, not a good combination. However, using the Workprinter, I am able to capture the same film two different times, using significantly different exposures. I then combine these two captures together, providing a high-dynamic range (HDR) version of the film. Finally, because the chemical dirt cannot be cleaned with chemicals, I instead use digital techniques to remove about 70-80% of the dirt. You will see the results at the end of this tutorial.
Polavision Workprinter Super8 film transfer restoration Polaroid
