8mm Movie to Digital Service? (was: Re: Computing the old way - Is it a thing of the past?)

Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:59:23 -0500 From: John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com> To: <cctech at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Computing the old way - Is it a thing of the past?

Some processes are better today. I recently had some old (1940s to '70s) 8 mm family movies scanned digitally. The service cleans the film and uses a wet-gate process to reduce scratches. They scan each frame digitally at HD resolution (1920 x 1080) using even LED illumination. They scan the entire film edge-to-edge. Many old cameras exposed the entire width of the film while the projector only showed the majority of the middle, so you see more image than ever before. I asked for a digital movie file for editing, so I sent them a hard drive. The results are astoundingly dramatically better from what you got from an old projector. No playback jitter from worn sprocket holes. Bright, even illumination. It's far better than the film-to-VHS transfer I paid for in the early 90s. (Private YouTube example links available on request.) All this for a dime or two per foot. I'll be able to edit digitally and provide family members with DVD or Bluray copies. The same is true for restoration and duplication of old family photographs. With a digital process, you can undo damage and easily multiply copies. As with the classic computer avocation, it can come with regrets, too. I wish I would've rescued 1930s family films from a distant cousin who passed away a decade ago. I had a VHS copy of some of his films, but not the originals. - John