Convert Your 16mm Film to Digital

All film projects include:

• Meeting with you to discuss the details of your project. If you’ve mailed your material, we’ll call you for details.
• Cleaning your film by hand to remove the dust & debris that builds up over time. We also inspect your film & replace old splices as necessary.
• Transferring your film to digital using a true frame-by-frame process.
• Monitoring quality from start to finish to ensure the best possible capture of your original film image.
• Providing either digital MP4 files on your drive or authoring a playable disc(s).

“Files” projects include:

• Providing digital MP4 files that play beginning to end, unedited. The MP4 files we create are high-quality, widely compatible, easy to store and uploadable. We do require a drive to deliver MP4 files. We sell drives or you can provide a drive. We will load any one drive for free. Loading is included when you purchase the drive from us.

“Disc/Edited” projects additionally include:

• Combining up to 2 hours of footage from your reels into an easy-to-watch movie
• Removing the leader and trailer footage from the beginning and end of reels
• Removing blank areas that are 2 seconds or longer
• Placing fade transitions between reels
• Skip ahead marks every five minutes (disc only)
• One original copy of your edited films on disc, or as a digital MP4 file. We do require a drive to deliver MP4 files. We sell drives or you can provide a drive. We will load any one drive for free. Loading is included when you purchase the drive from us.
• A playable disc additionally includes customizing the disc and case label with a photo you provide or a frame shot from your footage, and a title of your choice. View Disc Sample Image

Your original materials are returned to you with your finished project. All film work is done by our professionally trained staff in our local lab.

Note: Digital quality is limited by the quality of your original films. Additional charges may apply for: cleaning, handling or troubleshooting dirty, moldy, damaged or degraded film, etc. Film with adhered dirt and debris, water damage or smoke damage may require wet cleaning for an additional charge. Edited projects include as many discs or MP4 files as footage requires at 2 hours per disc or file. Splitting films to more discs or files than come included adds a set-up of $49.95/additional per additional disc or file. Hard drive sold separately.

1. Number your reels if there is a specific order you’d like us to maintain.
2. For files projects, decide on titles for each reel. Custom naming your MP4 digital video files with up to 10 word filenames is $1.95/file.
3. For film reels with multiple scenes, topics or dates, decide whether to purchase separate files for each so that you can easily play just what you want to watch or share select content with friends & family.
4. For disc projects, select a title. “Richard’s Family Memories”, “Smith Home Movies: 1964-1975” are a couple of examples.
5. Also for disc projects, provide a photo for the cover and disc label. Alternatively, you can elect to allow our editors to select a frame shot from your film.
6. If you are purchasing an edited disc or file, decide on options to enhance your movies. For example, you can add a menu to your disc, text in the footage, music, or request editing to improve color, exposure, delete or rearrange footage, etc. 
7. Think about how many copies you’ll need. We recommend purchasing an archive copy on disc or a drive that can be stored for safekeeping.
8. Get started – pick a location to drop off your media and book an appointment, or simply stop by a location that accepts walk-ins.

A: Here are the reasons to consider capturing your film in 2K or HD instead of SD:

• Film predates pixels and lines of resolution. The image on film is generated when one or more layers of a random pattern of silver halide crystals react to light, and are retained or washed away and replaced by dyes in the developing process.The image detail generated by this process can appear anywhere on the surface of the film.
• The more lines of resolution we scan with, the more of this random placement of image detail is captured and converted to pixels. Standard definition (SD) captures 720×480 pixels of detail, high-definition (HD) captures 1920×1080 pixels of detail, and 2K captures 2560×1440 pixels of detail.
• These days, with HD, 2K and 4K viewing environments – and larger and larger screens – more, smaller pixels is always better because more and smaller pixels provide more detail and a smoother image as the film image is enlarged to a big-screen.
• Sometimes, scanning with more lines captures more of the “grain” of the film, or the crystals that remain on the surface of the film. The grain is more obvious in early, cheaper film stocks that were produced with larger crystals. Especially for some R8, scanning in SD can soften the detail of the grain, providing a more watchable image.

SD can never reproduce the full image detail on a film frame because SD video has a fixed pixel pattern with a density of 720×480 pixels, and the pixels that make up the image are always in the same place from one video frame to the next. But film has a random grain pattern, and the image created by the grains of crystals is in a totally different place from one film frame to the next. These random grains each carry a bit of the detail that make up the complete picture and, at running speed, the random grains overlap each other on the retina of your eye to significantly increase the amount of apparent detail. This is called “accumulative resolution”. If you transfer your 8mm home movies to SD video, even with the very best SD camera, your detail will be limited by the coarse, fixed pixel pattern inherent in SD video. Of course, HD and 2K have a fixed pixel pattern, too, but the number of pixels are so great and the pattern is so insignificant, that HD and 2K are like a fine silk stocking compared to the burlap weave of SD. 

Our high definition (HD) film capture offers resolution gains of 667% over a standard definition (SD) capture (more than 6 times better). Our HD capture is not a mere up-conversion from an SD source. Our HD film capture equipment uses a high definition image sensor to take in 5 times the square pixels per frame of film that our SD machine is not capable of picking up. For 8mm films the HD image sensor generates greater than 4000 pixels per inch. Thus, the accumulative resolution effect found in film can be more readily seen in an HD transfer than in an SD transfer.

A: 16mm film is a little more than a half-inch wide, has sprocket holes on both sides (no sound), and is usually on a reel with a quarter-inch center hub. By comparison, Regular 8 and Super 8 film is only about a quarter-inch wide. To help you identify your type of film, here are some images of the film formats:

A: Refer to the image above to identify if your film has audio. Briefly, 16mm film has audio if it only has perforations on one side of the film. You will also see a small waveform on the edge opposite the perforation side. Occasionally, 16mm sound film may have a tan strip on one side, which would signal magnetic sound.

A: 3” reels hold 50’ of film, 5” reels hold 200’ and 7” reels hold 400’

A: Typical 16mm looks spectacular when transferred at HD or 2K, which gives a six times larger image than an SD transfer. SD became obsolete in 1996 and is only recommended for those on a tight budget.

A: Typical 16mm looks spectacular when transferred at HD or 2K. Old film isn’t like new video, which is made up of small rectangles called pixels. Film is made up of incredibly tiny grains that hold a lot of detail. So even Regular 8 film, which has the smallest image of all film, can benefit from a high definition scan. With screen sizes getting larger and higher in definition, it makes sense to digitize your film with the highest resolution possible. Standard Definition (SD) is the old TV standard and it became obsolete in 1996 as High Definition video was introduced. The SD image has dimensions of 720×480 pixels, while the HD image is 1920×1080 – six times larger than SD! 2K video is even larger with dimensions of 2048×1080. So whenever possible, digitize your 16mm film at high definition – after all, you’re probably only going to do this once!

A: We use professional, dedicated film scanners to scan your film frame-by-frame, which gives beautiful, bright, colorful and sharp images, and is by far the best way to convert your 16mm film. Those separate images are then processed into a movie file, running at 15 frames-per-second (fps), 16 fps, 18 fps or 24 fps, depending on what type of film you have. We also hand-clean your film first, which brightens it up and allows us to inspect for damage and replace any broken splices, if necessary.

A: We almost exclusively transfer media to MP4 files, which are the most compatible file format and easily play on all devices, including TVs. MP4s also maintain excellent video quality in a relatively compact file size. We usually recommend against putting your memories to DVDs, as they only hold SD (low-res) video, and are quickly becoming obsolete. In fact, these days people often bring in their old DVDs to have us transfer them to MP4 files.

A: Usually delivering your 16mm film files online is the most convenient option. We can also load files on a USB thumb drive or an external hard drive. Bring in your own, or you can buy one from us.

A: Most 16mm film remains in good shape for decades. However if your film has suffered some damage or degradation we still may be able to digitize it. We can fix broken splices and can handle curled film to a certain degree. We can also splice together broken sections of film. As long as the film is still flexible and not so brittle that it breaks when handled, and is flat enough for the sensor to read, we will do our best to scan the footage.

A: If your film smells like vinegar, it’s likely a sign of vinegar syndrome, also known as acetate film base degradation. This degradation makes the film brittle, prone to shrinking, and can cause other physical distortions. Oftentimes, this is due to storage conditions being too warm and humid. We are occasionally able to convert film with this type of degradation, provided the damage has not become too extreme.

A: We do not offer projector rentals due to the prohibitive maintenance costs associated with them. You can, however, use the light table and loupes provided in each of our stores. This allows you to inspect the first few feet of your film footage, which is usually enough to give you a good indication of the reel’s content. If you feel like you must fully review your film reels first, we recommend eBay where there are many used projectors for sale. Some quality projector brands include Bell & Howell, Chinon, Kodak, Elmo, Eumig, Bauer and Bolex.

A: If your film looks very clear and you can’t see an image, it may have been exposed to light before it was processed, in which case there is very little we can do. Similarly, if the film looks very dark, it’s possible that something happened with the camera during filming that didn’t capture the image.

A: More than likely your film hasn’t been processed yet, therefore there’s nothing for us to convert. It needs to be processed first. We can recommend a couple companies that will do that, however it’s expensive and the results are rarely good. The problem is the containers are not perfect and therefore light has leaked in over the years, exposing the film.

A: Absolutely! We’ve converted hundreds of professional 16mm reels over the years. They look fantastic!

A: Yes, we have the ability to get your 16mm film off the core and onto one of our in-house reels in order to transfer it.

A: Launched in 1923 by Eastman Kodak, 16mm film was popular until about 1950, when Regular 8 was introduced. In its time, 16mm provided amateur creators with a more portable, cost-effective, and secure alternative to the 35mm format. Constructed on a non-flammable “safety film” base of cellulose acetate, it quickly became a staple for educational and industrial projects, as well as television, eventually establishing itself as the preferred standard for independent film production.