| Author | Message | ||
     Damnut |
I usually don't get too personal on here but I feel like this one deserves a back story. On April 4th I lost my mentor and hero, my Dad. Now life is a bit hectic as I am in the middle of getting plans and paperwork in order to build an in-law apartment on my house for Mom to live in....... fun times. Should be breaking ground in probably 6 weeks. Anyways I was over my parent's house last night boxing up some stuff and found a box of old 8mm home movies. Most of the ones labeled had my Mom's name on them but one said it was my birthday. I believe these are from the 70's and I would LOVE to get them converted to DVD or digital. I know there are gurus on here from every field so I figured I'd ask here first. I did some looking online but don't feel like sending these rolls of film somewhere in another state if it isn't worth the $$$. Anyone have any experience with this or do it for a living? | ||
| Airbozo |
My F-I-L converted all of their home movies to digital. The place that did it randomly put the movies in whatever order they came out of the box in (the F-I-l's fault for not labeling them). Kind of confusing (like the first time I saw the exorcist; reel1, reel3, reel2, reel4). The quality is good and they did not damage any of the original films. I know there are also a couple of devices you can use to do it yourself, but I have no experience with it. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Costco converted all my family's ancient movies to DVD for a reasonable price. Not sure how much, as my uncle is the one who had it done. The quality is very good, considering these films sat in an outdoor garden shed for over 30 years | ||
| Teeps |
Sorry for your loss Jim. No advice for converting film to digital. But, building the "inlaw unit" I do, by way of a cousin's experience. If possible build a detached cottage. | ||
| Froggy |
To do it properly you need special equipment, that alone usually just makes it worth having a pro do the conversion. The cheap way involves setting up a projector, and then recording it digitally with something like your phone or other digital camera, basically the same way a bootleg movie is filmed. | ||
| 86129squids |
Jim, my deepest condolences. My father was named James, lost him at 57 back in 1990, WAY too young. Still miss him. Good luck in getting all those precious films converted! If there's any way sometime to post up here with any of that content, I for one would love to see it. | ||
| Gregtonn |
You could use this service. https://legacybox.com/pages/reviews Good luck. G | ||
| Greg_e |
Kodak should have their service up by now, if not, there is a place in Europe that handles this for some 8mm film competition/festivals. I think their name is Pro8mm or something like that. The cheap places project the image, good place scan the image. There is also a DIY scanner that you can build if there are boxes of reels to be done. | ||
| Aesquire |
Besides the services online, most local photography shops have the gear. Places that sell high end lenses and often Stereo and Tv on the enthusiasts level. Rowe photo in Rochester NY, for example. | ||
| Damnut |
Gregtonn.... have you used that service? I'd like to get first hand reviews of companies before I sent in my rolls of film. Pwnzor...... I'm not a member of Costco but I wonder if BJ's offers the same service............ I prefer the service of good BJ's.  | ||
| Gregtonn |
Never used it but the reviews I have seen and heard are good. G | ||
| Greg_e |
What about this: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1371442-REG /wolverine_data_f2dmmpro_moviemaker_pro_8mm_and_su per_8.html I can't see the job costing less than this device if you shop it out. Only issue would be if you have sound and then I would probably find a used projector, remove the lamp, and record the sound on a separate device. Then sync up the sound in an editor. Yes a pile of work, but how much money do you want to spend? | ||
| Greg_e |
Here is the Pro8mm site, take a look at decide if you think they know what they are doing with 8mm films (it's all they do). https://www.pro8mm.com/ They will probably be the best scan you can get aside from Kodak, and Kodak doesn't seem to have produced their new cameras, or set up their developing/scanning service. |
