Another question on 8mm film to digial ....

[xtal_01]

Same story at others. While cleaning out my mothers house, I came across a box of old 8mm home movies taken back in the late 50's and early 60's (my parents wedding, me and my brother as a children, ...).

I remember way back in the days of VHS tapes, my parents had these "converted" to VHS but that tape has long been lost. Lucky they saved the original films.

I want to have them in digital format.

I did a search and am now totally confused!

Everyone says they have the best method of converting. Some say they scan each frame, some take pictures frame by frame, some say they have custom equipment they built themselves, .....

I am in a very rural area of Vermont so no one is "local".

I then read a bunch of posts on this forum and others .... wow, still confused.

There just does not seem to be a "clear" answer.

So, can anyone give me some guidance?

Is one way of converting better than others?

Is there a company I should look at and others I should stay away from?

I would appreciate any advice you can give.

Thanks ..... Mike

[JVRaines]

"Scan each frame" and "take pictures frame by frame" are probably the same thing. It's most commonly called frame-by-frame scan. Each frame of the film is directly imaged by a digital camera and then compiled into a motion video. Look for

• At least 720p resolution for 8 mm film
• Scan as much of the actual frame as possible, not cropped to 1.33:1
• Proper frame rate. Regular 8 runs at a nominal 16 fps and Super 8 at a nominal 18 fps. Many films were shot at a lower rate, such as 12 fps, to save film. If the digital file plays too fast, you get a "Keystone Kops" artifact.
• Bad splices repaired
• Film cleaned either manually or in the machine before scanning
• Wet gate process for heavily scratched film
• Exposure controlled to avoid excessive crushed blacks or whites