Movie Film & Photo Transfer. Regular 8mm and Super-8 motion picture films are transferred in-house with our telecine projector systems that provide a very good image on DVD, High Definition Blu-ray discs, or flash drive for those who want to edit their own movies. Our system gives us a wide latitude to adjust the image for film that was recorded too dark or too light—sometimes revealing images a movie projector is incapable of displaying. We can also dramatically adjust the timing for precious short film clips that pass too quickly.
8mm films are about a quarter inch wide and typically come on 3”- 50 foot reels as well as 5”-200 foot, 6”-300 foot and 7”-400 foot reels. Pricing is $20 per 3” reel and .30/foot for reels 200 feet or more. Because of set-up time, there is a $75 minimum for film transfers.
The automated movie film & photo transfer systems used by the drug stores and club stores don’t know what the subject is in any given scene—and therefore how to optimally adjust the transfer quality. For example, people standing in snow…the machine will see all the bright light of the snow and darken the image, making people’s faces too dark. Or, with people in a forest or dark background, the machine will lighten the image and wash out the faces. A skilled operator knows what the subject is and adjusts the image accordingly.
For 16mm, 35mm, and other film formats, we have a 20 year relationship with an extremely reliable, top notch transfer source that we coordinate with.
Photo Transfer
We individually scan color slides/transparencies, negatives, and prints from 35mm to 8″ x 10″ films or papers. We also have automated batch scanning of 35mm slides for a less expensive alternative. Having photographed with many of the film formats out there…we are very adept at getting the visual maximum out of copying and transferring film and print originals. These are highly customized services by skilled professionals, not intended to compete with mass-produced drug, mart, or club store pricing.
Digital Snapshot versus Scanning
Individual scans are great at pulling out all the details a print has to offer—or we can shoot digital snapshots which provide a lower-cost option for capturing photos into the digital realm. We usually do digital snapshots when turnaround time is short or when there is a high volume of images…to conserve budget.
As you can see from the examples, a scan provides a far superior result in sharpness, tonality and overall detail. The examples are not Photoshopped in any way. The digital snapshots look exactly like the paper prints they were photographed from—the scans have adjustments made DURING DIGITIZATION to get the visual maximum out of the image…in many cases pulling out details not easily visible in the original.
Scanning cost $100 per hour with an average of 8-12 images per hour depending on the scan resolution desired and variations between images. Images from the same time and place usually scan faster than collections where every image is a different scene. Minimum scanning charge is $25.
Digital snapshots start at $2 each with a minimum charge of $50 to cover set-up. With collections of framed prints or situations where scanning is not possible because photos can’t be moved, etc., we can do more exacting digital snapshots and use Photoshop to optimize the final digital files. Pricing for custom digital photocopying is by quotation.