Film Transfer
Transfer your 8mm and 16mm film to DVDs! Perfect for archiving your precious memories for years to come these transfers save your videos from the slow losses of time.
How is my film transferred?
First your film is digitized frame by frame, projecting directly into a camera lens with no screen and using a cool white LED bulb. By projecting directly into the camera lens we are able to get all the detail of your movies and not the textures of a screen while our cool LED bulbs protect your film from the damage that can be caused by heat produced by normal bulbs.
Once digitized each frame of your film is digitally composed into a movie and adjusted to the proper frame rate for your film. Most 8mm film runs at 18 frames per second but some can run higher or lower and we are able to compensate for these differences.
Finally a technician reviews your film working to eliminate jitter caused by stretched sprocket holes and color corrects your film by hand to eliminate fading as much as possible.
How much film fits on a DVD?
While it varies somewhat with frame rate, approximately 1600 feet of 8mm or 3200 feet of 16mm can fit to a single DVD. This is about 2 hours worth of video.
How can I tell how much film I have?
Many film reels are labeled with lengths but some are not. Most 8mm film comes on 3, 5, 6 or 7 inch reels which are 50, 200, 300 and 400 ft long respectively. Some 50ft reels may be in boxes labeled "25ft", this is because many 8mm films where shot on a 25ft roll of 16mm, first down one half and then down the other. When developed the film would be cut down the middle and spliced together to produce a single 50 ft roll.
16mm film comes on reels similar to the 8mm reels but also comes in larger reels up to 1,200 feet. These are usually labeled with their lengths.
Why do you limit to 2 hours per disc?
While from a technical standpoint a DVD can hold many more hours of video the more is added onto a disc the lower the quality becomes. Just like a 6 hour VHS tape was lower quality than a 2 hour VHS tape the same applies here. We found through extensive testing that much more than 2 hours begins to cause undesirable quality issues.
How can I tell if I have audio?
99% of 8mm and 16mm film is silent. Most reels with audio will have a thin magnetic tape strip similar to that used on audio cassettes down one side of the film. If you are unsure you can contact us or just leave the "With Audio" dropdown at its default of no. If your film differs from your order when we receive it we will contact you.
Can I edit my videos after they are transferred?
If you wish to edit your videos we recommend having them transferred to a external hard drive instead of or in addition to DVDs. We will provide the raw captures that we used to produce your DVDs on the hard drive allowing the highest quality for editing possible. You can edit off of the DVDs we produce but we do not recommend it as it leads to a lower quality final product similar to copying a VHS tape to another VHS tape does. You can either order a drive from us or provide an external drive for us to upload to. You will need approxmately 13GB of storage space for each hour of video.