Transferring 8mm Film to DVD. Need Advice!

[romantico]

I have a box of 8 MM film (home movies) that I want transferred to DVD. Good news is this film has been stored for years at room temperature in a dark closet. Bad news is this film goes back to 1954-1960's and is very brittle. I was going to watch it a few years ago on a old projector we had but feared that the film would break when I tried to feed it into the projector. My question is, has anyone here had this done? Any ideas where to take it? Any suggestions on how best to preserve it? This has my Mom's high school prom,my parent's wedding, birth of cousins and family,celebrating Birthdays and Christmas and a chance to see family who have been gone for decades.Trying to attempt to edit it on my Mac and give out as CHristmas presents but the hard part is transferring it from film to DVD. ANy advice or suggestions would appreciated.

[JesterCS]

1. Hey

Funny you should mention that. We just had some 8mm film from my dad's vacations as a kid back in the 60's. this company xferred it to DVD, and added background music. Did a really good job.

Im sure its available. I'll see if i can get the info for you in case there isnt someone around who does that.

[gmoney]

2. Your local camera store should be able to do that for you

Well, they'll send it out to a service. Transferred ours to VHS a number of years ago, and it looked good. Actually sent the VHS in to get converted to DVD just last week, but haven't gotten it back.

It's not cheap, but it's reasonable... depends on the number of reels of film, largely.

[romantico]

3. Hey Thanks!

I think what worries me most is the age of the film. I fear it will break apart while transferring it but for all I know they have ways today to prevent that from happening. I know some camera stores can transfer vhs but film is so old fashion in this digital age I was not sure how challenging this task would be. Anyway,thanks for the posts!

[gmoney]

4. well, I doubt if it's like the old nitrate prints that would burst into flames

I'm guessing they're from the heyday of 8mm or Super8 home movies (1950-1975?), and I think they had a lot of the stability problems worked out by then. If the movies have been edited (splice) a great deal, those could potentially cause problems, but I'm sure they'll be able to deal with that, as they do it all the time.

I'm sure your movies have one more pass through the projector left in 'em! If you have doubts, talk with the folks at the store, or consider sending 2 or 3 small batches rather than one big batch, but that will probably add a little to the cost.

[MajorChode]

6. There's also lots of mail order places that will do it

And the price will probably be better. The price can get prohibitive if you have lots of rolls.

My guess is that people who do this deal with brittle film all the time, but it's best to talk to them first and see what they have to say on the subject.

Another thing to look for is the quality of the transfer. Usually the higher resolution, the greater the cost. 8mm film will actually transfer to hi-def pretty well and the results will be better than a much lower resolution. I suspect some places will also offer color correction and other post processing options which can greatly increase the quality.

[guitar man]

5. My brother had ours done

He got all our old family movies put to VHS several years ago at a place that does media duplication. When he wakes up I'll call him and ask what it cost. I'm going to have them transferred to DVD. It's really fun to watch, family history from 1954 to 1978.

[romantico]

7. THANKS!

Yeah, it's finding someone who has a good reputation. Obviously I do not want to hand over a box of old home movies to an ameteaur.I will try and hot a couple photo labs in town this week and maybe even do a Google search. Thanks again for the advice!

[guitar man]

8. As I remember

He said the guy was really good and careful to try and preserve the film as best he could but some were so old they broke apart and he had to splice and edit them together as best he could, and he worked side by side with my brother to get them in order etc.

I am going to call him in a bit and I'll see if I can get some more details out of him about the process. We played a gig last night so he's still in bed. He's the old man in the group lol.

[romantico]

10. Thanks!

Hey Thanks! Any advice is helpful!!

[guitar man]

11. Finally heard from bro

He said he got those done in about '98 and it cost him about $75 to transfer about 1 1/2 hours worth of reels. Hope that's helpful

[romantico]

12. thanks

It is. I do not think that price is bad,even 11 years later(which I doubt it still would be) Thanks again!

[guitar man]

9. Well hell

I can't raise him, I guess we wore the poor old guy out last night lol. If I hear from him I'll pass along anything I find out.