We have included a selection of commonly asked questions regarding our transfer service. If you have a question that has not been addressed here, please email us and we will do our best to provide an answer.
This is a link to the Australian Copyright Council that will provide information regarding material you may wish to have copied or transferred to a digital format that could infringe on the rights of others. |
Q. Is my original film harmed in any way during the transfer process?
A. No, your original film is first inspected for any damage prior to projecting and any necessary repairs performed at that stage. We use a low power LED light source to project your film that will not cause heat damage normally associated with standard projection.
Q. Will you send back the original film with my DVD’s?
A. Your original film will be returned to you via registered mail for storage and safekeeping.
Q. How long will a DVD last and is it the best way to store my transferred film.
A. Manufacturing companies claim all sorts of life expectancy from their DVD media, ranging up to 100’s of years of life. This may or may not be true however DVD as a format will be superseded very soon with other emerging formats now in production or in development. Within a few years it may be necessary to convert your DVD’s into another format when DVD goes the way of the VHS video and Betamax format. DVD is a compressed format that works by removing a great deal of the original image information, so this is not the best way to store your family movies as a master backup. MiniDV tape is still considered to be the best master backup at this point in time, as this retains all the original raw data. Tape also has a limited life and can be affected by heat, moisture and strong magnetic contamination. Looking at all the different storage mediums it is highly recommended that your video masters should be transferred to the next succeeding generation every 10 to 15 years. In 50 or so years your DVD player will be a relic similar to the old wind up gramophone which will only be seen in a museum. It is important to make sure your films are stored in the digital format current at the time. Once you have your films in a digital format then successive transfers will not further degrade in quality. It seems that every couple of years a new storage medium becomes available, so keeping up with technology will no doubt be on ongoing saga. Many customers request that their raw film data be transferred to a portable USB hard drive for storage. These drives are quite inexpensive and will store your film in its raw format for later editing. Again hard drives are being replaced with solid state memory with no moving parts so ensure that you keep up to date with the prevailing technology.
Q. I have 16mm film, can this be converted to DVD also.
A. Yes, we have transfer equipment for both 16mm, and 8mm film with and without sound.
Q. How long will my original film last?
A. This is difficult to answer as there are many factors that determine the life of your film. We have converted film taken in 1935 which is over 70 years old, however this film was kept in a good storage location all of its life. Due to the humidity and heat in Australia, film can begin deteriorating within 10 to 15 years with the emulsion becoming brittle and starting to crack or will have mildew forming on the surface. Most film shot during the 1970’s will now be middle aged and will continue to lose image clarity and colour as time progresses, if not kept in a controlled environment. I understand that a lot of the early nitrate film is being lost due to an inability to keep up with the digital conversion process.
Q. I have both standard 8mm and super 8mm film. Can they be copied to the same DVD.
A. Yes, the film format does not matter as it just requires a different projector setting to play either format. The conversion process is still the same.
Q. I have noticed some of my original film is very light and the images are difficult to see. Can this be darkened so we can make out who is on the film?
A. If the age of the film has bleached out the image information some correction can be made however we can not reproduce information that isn't there to begin with. It is for this reason that your films should be converted before this happens to all remaining film. A lot of film was originally captured with incorrect aperture settings and filter selection causing the film to be over or under exposed. Some correction can be applied to film in this condition to help reveal what image information is still present.
Q. How do I know if my film has sound on it?
A. A magnetic strip was added to super 8mm film allowing the recording of sound. Not all super 8mm film had this feature with only a very small percentage of film being shot with sound. The film will display a magnetic strip down both edges if audio has been included. If your film has sound this will be transferred at the same time as the film is converted at no additional cost. Standard 8mm which was always sold as silent film often had a sound strip added after processing to allow audio to be included post production. The film could then include background music or narration when played back through a standard 8mm projector with recording/playback features.
Q. Can I have background music included with my film?
A. Yes, we include background music as standard with all our transfers. If you would like to include your own selection of music we would need to have it supplied to us in mp3 format and joined together forming a continuous audio sequence. Most home computers will allow the music creation of this nature. We are covered by the AMCOS/ARIA licence arrangement for the use of any audio material for domestic use video application.
A. No, many commercial films made on super 8mm film are still owned by the original copyright holder and cannot be reproduced without prior consent. Our service is exclusively for home movies and for copyright holders of the original movies. Films like Star Wars for example came out on super 8mm and these films can be purchased commercially on DVD in far greater quality than you would expect to get from 8mm film.
Q. I’m hesitant about sending my films through the mail just in case they get lost. Can I drop them off and pick them up when they are finished.
A. We are located in Brisbane and drop-off and pick-up is quite welcomed. Registered Australia post is a very secure method of transport requiring a signature upon collection. This ensures that only the addressee can collect your film. Your film should also only be sent to our PO Box number where it is kept safe until collection.
Q. I have some old wedding film that I would like to get some still images reproduced as a gift. Can you print just one part of the film to be put in a display frame?
A. Yes, this is quite easy to do. All we need to know is which image to capture and that can be printed in full colour ready to be placed in a frame of your choice. Maximum image size would only be about 150mm x 120mm.
Q. I have been told that frame-by-frame scanning of film produces the best results. How does your system compare?
A. As the name implies, frame scanning is a process that captures each complete film frame one at a time. The individual frames are then stitched together to reassemble the movie producing a totally flicker free video. This is a slow process using very expensive equipment therefore commanding a much higher price for this type of transfer. Our transfers are performed in real time with flicker being avoided by careful speed selection of the projector and camera. The quality of the frame scanned image is slightly sharper than the optical system we utilize as the film is not projected through a series of lenses that can soften the transfer very slightly. An advantage using our real time transfer is when sound also needs to be transferred. This allows full synchronization of the audio track which is very important when someone is speaking into the camera. Frame scanners need to record the audio separately and reassemble it in a non linear editing system. This again is more work and added expense.
Q. I have a great deal of family video stored on Betamax and VHS tapes. Is this a good way to archive my material.
A. Unfortunately the older analog Betamax and VHS video tapes have a shorter life than the film they were replacing. We have been told that tapes have a life of around 15 to 20 years so this is not the ideal solution for your video. It is highly recommended that your treasured family events be transferred to DVD in order to keep up with the prevailing technology. There is no technology yet available that will not need to be upgraded every 20 to 30 years. Within a few years DVD will also become obsolete with further upgrades required. Any storage of film using an analog medium will result in a drop in quality every time it is copied also. Once you have a digital file it can be copied many times without any loss in image quality. If you still have the original film I would suggest having it transferred once again to a digital format rather than transferring the tape version to DVD. You will find the quality form the original film will be far better than the transfer from your tape version.
Q. I have a number of 8mm film reels. Some film seems to have kept their colour while other reels have lost much of their clarity with the images being either very blue or in some cases quite orange. Why is this happening?
There are numerous reasons for large variations in the quality of your 8mm films. Firstly there was a huge variation in the quality of the original film that became available from manufacturers such as Agfa, Kodak and many no name distributors. The second factor governing quality was the development process and the chemicals used which seemed to have a huge impact on quality. The conditions in which the film was shot also had an impact with many low light conditions resulting in a very grainy colourless image. Finally the storage of your film over the years will gradually break down the emulsion often causing the chemicals to change colour to display a blue or orange tint. Computer technology can often help with correcting these problems to some degree, but will depending on how much of the original colour is still present. We have found that the standard 8mm film often keeps better colour than the later super 8mm film. This I think is due to the standard 8mm film being manufactured from existing commercial grade 16mm stock which had extra holes punched in the film to allow it to run in the smaller 8mm cameras. The 16mm film stock seemed to be of much higher quality.
Q. I am a little confused. I have a reel of film that I have been told has 50ft of film on it, yet on the box it states that it is 25ft. Am I being charged for 50ft of film when it should only be 25ft.
I agree, this seems to be a contradiction and I will try to explain. The original standard 8mm film was supplied in 25ft rolls of 16mm wide film, as this size of film existed well before the 8mm format became popular. Kodak decided to modify their existing 16mm film stock to be used for the newly emerging 8mm market by created extra sprocket holes in the film to fit the 8mm cameras and then supplying it in 25ft rolls. The camera operator would expose one half of the 16mm film in the camera then take the film out, turn it over and expose the other half. When the film was sent away for developing, the film was split down the middle and joined together end to end forming one continuous 50ft length. If the film was turned over in strong sunlight the film would display bright orange flares on the edges where it was exposed to the light and is a common problem with film that was not handled correctly. This film was called double 8 film simply because it needed to have a double exposure in the camera. The image below is a sample of the uncut 16mm film with two totally different exposures on each side of the film.
In some cases people would expose both sides of the film and then turn it a second time in the camera resulting in a double exposure on one side of the film. Nothing can be done to correct this double exposure. Note the batch numbers punched into the very beginning of each reel of film.
The original Double 8mm film was purchased in small 25ft reels of 16mm wide film as shown below. The Kodak box would have "25 feet of Double 8 Film" printed on the outer cover.
Q. I have a number of Polaroid Polavision cassettes that I would like converted to DVD. Is it still possible to play this film and have it transferred to a digital format?
A. Polaroid Polavision film came in a cassette type enclosure and was fully self contained. The cartridge had a small lens seated behind the film gate allowing the special projector lamp to shine through the film. Polavision required a special projector to view their film therefore separating it from the normal 8mm film available at that time that could be played on nearly any projector. Although the concept was good, the film quality was very poor and together with late arrival on the film scene became a financial disaster for Polaroid. Also video was just coming onto the market resulting in the final blow that was instrumental in the demise of this format.
We are still able to transfer the Polavision film to DVD however the quality of the film is generally very dark, grainy and requires modification to be able to project it correctly. When compared to the quality of standard 8mm and super 8mm film it is not difficult to understand why it did not succeed. Because of the extra work involved in the preparation of this film for transfer, it costs a little more to offer this service.
Q. I have a good quality projector and have tried to transfer my film to a miniDV camera by projecting the image onto a white wall and capturing the result. The quality of the image seems to be fine however there is a very strong flicker that I can't rectify. What causes this and how can I resolve this flicker problem?
A. Flicker is caused due to the difference in the capture rate of your camera (25 frames per second for PAL video) and the projection speed of your projector which will generally be running at either 18fps or 24fps. The way your projector work is a 3 bladed circular plate spins in front of the light source effectively turning the lamp on and off at the rate of say 18 times per second. Because your camera is opening and closing its shutter 25 times per second there are times when the camera is actually capturing the moment when the projector lamp is in the off position. This results in the flicker when viewing through the camera viewfinder. To correct this you need to reduce the projection speed to about half the camera capture speed of about 16 2/3fps. This will eliminate about 99% of flicker to a point where the odd half frame that is out of synchronization will not matter. For the reasons given it is essential that your projector has fully variable speed control to be able to reduce the projection rate to around 14 to 18 fps. Not all projectors have this feature so you may need to purchase another machine.
If your film has a sound track the audio will of course sound too slow running at 16fps so when you have transferred your footage to the computer for editing you will need to speed it up once more to achieve the correct pitch. This is easily done with most editing software packages.
Professional transfer companies generally have all the right equipment to achieve the best results and if you want the very best transfer results it is better to have it done by someone who knows all the tricks along the way. The home transfer results will never be quite as good as a professionally produced project. You will no doubt be saving money by performing your own transfers however a professional transfer will generally include a completely flicker free result and colour correction to reveal the very best of your treasured movie memories.
Q. Can you transfer my collection of vinyl records and audio music cassettes to CD or MP3.
In the past there has been a lot of confusion over this issue of backing up your own collection of audio material. While it is fully legal for you to backup your own records and music cassettes for personal use only, we cannot offer this as a service to you. The law is now very clear on this subject and the only material we can legally copy is audio that you have made personally such as your own songs played by you or material that you have full legal ownership such as family gatherings and audio letters on tape or audio cassette. There are numerous people offering this service on the internet which could expose them to litigation. We have the capability to transfer all of the older analog audio formats, we must however observe and protect the rights of the original copyright owners.
More information can be obtained from the Australian Copyright Council regarding this complex issue to ensure that any material that you want copied complies with Copyright regulations.
Q. Our family have quite a number of 16mm reels of film taken in the mid 1950's. There is a strong pungent smell from some of the older reels, is this causing any problems with the film.
The strong smell coming from your film is an indication of serious decomposition of the acetate base layer of the film. The gasses given off are largely acetic acid which is commonly called 'Vinegar Syndrome' due to the strong vinegar like smell. At this point your film is in an advanced state of decomposition and should be transferred to a digital format as soon as possible. The acid smell can also contaminate other film in close proximity so should be kept isolated from your remaining good film. The film suffering from Vinegar Syndrome will begin to twist and buckle or stick together forming a solid block of film that will be impossible to transfer. If the film still looks to be in good condition even though it has the strong vinegar smell act fast or you will lose these precious family memories.