Now thread the film into your projector. Get it all cued up and ready to go. If your room lights are on, make sure there's no glare on the screen. Keep the lights dim, if possible; that way you can see what you're doing, and you won't have to worry about reflections. (A little room light will also help to defeat the high contrast and auto iris on your camera, by allowing some illumination to show through when there's black or blank spots of film being projected.)

Next, turn on your VCR or camcorder, and record a "black" signal. You do this by turning down the iris, and recording about 15 seconds of black. At this point, you can insert an opening title, if you desire.

Start the projector, and use the iris to fade up from the black to the film image. (If your camera doesn't have a manual iris, you can first hit pause on your camera or camcorder, then start the film, then hit pause again to begin recording the image.)

If the film breaks --don't panic! These things happen; splices break or old, brittle film occasionally breaks. When this happens, simply stop your VCR. Recue the tape to the existing video so you don't get a glitch on the videotape.You have two options here. First, you can either resplice the film, or you can just run it back through the projector, PAST the break. By re-running the film back into the projector, you may lose a few seconds of a scene, so it's better to resplice the film if you have a splicer on hand.

When there's no picture on the film, it might run all white or black --depending on whether the film was over- or under-exposed. When this happens, pause your VCR, but let the film continue to run. Remember, there's a three minute limit on the Pause function of most VCR's; after that it'll cycle automatically into the Stop mode, so the heads won't be damaged. So if you have more than three minutes of black or white film running, you may have to recue your video tape.

If your film has an image, but it's quite dark, turn the gain up --but remember that this will increase the film grain as well.

When the transfer is done, you may choose to end with a title. If you do this, use a fade or a cut to black when the title has been on the screen for seven or eight seconds. You can fade down with your camera iris, or use a special effects generator, if you have one in your system. The fade looks much better than an abrupt cut to black. Finally, lay down about a minute of black on the end of the transfer videotape.

The first thing you'll need to transfer 35mm slides is a slide projector and some sort of screen. Used projectors are easy to come by and reasonably priced. Again, I don't recommend purchasing one of those little telecine transfer boxes; they're just too much fuss and bother. Instead, simply project the slides onto a piece of heavy paper tacked or fastened to a wall! A light gray, slightly textured paper works well as a screen, as it cuts down excessive contrast on the projected slides.

The same equipment guidelines discussed for film transfers apply for transferring slides and prints; namely, a camcorder or camera/VCR , tripod and monitor. When you set up your monitor, always check the slide register against your viewfinder. You'll want to be watching the monitor rather than checking each slide by peering into the viewfinder, and you need to make sure you're getting a true picture.

If you're using a camcorder, connect its RF modulator to a regular TV, or hook the camera's video output directly to the input jacks of a monitor TV. Set the slide projector up so your screen image is relatively small --between 6 - 12" across is best. Level the projector, then set up your camera slightly above the projector, so it'll shoot slightly downwards. This minimizes any distortion or "keystoning" on the slides. Then, simply project a slide on the screen, line up the camcorder, and focus both it and the slide projector.

At this point, you'll see a picture on the TV. Frame up the slide by moving or zooming the camcorder. It's important to get both as close to the top and bottom of the slides as is possible. If you can't because of the way the photo was composed or shot, then make sure you have the top of the picture in your viewfinder, so you don't cut off anyone's head on the videotape!

Remember, slides and photos have a different aspect ratio than video does, so you'll end up cropping some material off the slides. Your best bet is to center on the most interesting portion of the slide, moving right or left, or zooming in or out to get the most interesting shot.

After your picture is framed, you must set the iris for proper exposure. Use the manual iris to fade up from black at the beginning of the transfer, and fade to black when you've finished all the slides, recording black for about a minute at the end.

It's very important that you set your white balance to make sure your camera picks up true colors from the slides. Do this by simply aiming your camera at a white piece of paper and pushing the white balance button.

Finally, properly load the slides in the projector. It's best if you number slides and prints so they can be transferred in the proper order.

Adjust your monitor and dim the lights. Now with each slide, you'll need to frame the image, check your focus, set your iris (and white balance, if necessary), hit the pause button to record the image for six to eight seconds, and then hit the pause button to stop recording. And index the next slide, and repeat the procedure. Remember that you have about three minutes to set up your next slide before your deck or your camcorder will "lose pause" and shut off. If that happens, hit the play switch, then go back and recue the video so you don't get a glitch between pictures.

A final note: since slides (and photos) are still images, you can enhance their look with your own careful camera moves. Try panning left to right for photos or slides of large groups; zooming in (or out) to catch selected highlights, or even tilting up to get the full view of a large, vertical structure like the Eiffel Tower. It's always best to start your move while your tape is paused; that way, you're less likely to bump or wiggle your camera, too.