Hello to all!

Like many people out there, I have collected my parents old 8MM films. Some of which date back to the 1940's and '50's. I would love to get these movies transferred to DVD and VHS. The problem is that I don't want to pay a company to do it when I don't even know what's on many of the films. I know I would get back several DVD's with footage that is in NO chronological order since it has no meaning to a third party - it's also EXTREMELY expensive to have it done professionally.

I have a great home computer, a Super 8 Digital Video Camera (Sony), and some decent video editing software. I also have a very old 8MM projector that actually works - but I don't trust it all that much nor do I know exactly how to use it.

My thought is to "do it myself" but does anybody have any recommendations, product suggestions, or experience in this that can tell me what I need to do to undertake a project like this? I think it will be a fun winter time project and the result could help to preserve some of my families history for the next generation.

Any advice would be great!

 

At this point we are getting the schooling, & gathering all the hardware to offer 8mm to DVD as well as the Pictures, Slides, & negatives we already do offer. There are fewer people who do 8mm to DVD than any of the other Video formats.

We started by looking for a software program. We found there was none like Photoshop the one we use to repair old or damaged pictures with.

We must have 2 pieces of hardware to start first an 8mm projector with sound output & a Sony Video Cam that works with the small tapes.

You start with playing the 8mm on a screen close in like the picture would be 8.5 x 11 in size. Then take the video cam on a tripod & make a new movie using jacks not a Mic to take the sound to the video cams format through dolby filtered sound.

Now you can hook the Video cam up to the PC both Audio & video then make a copy on your hard drive. You can now send it to a DVD burner & you will have 8mm movies on DVDs. This is a lot of work compared to scanning slides, Pictures & Negatives. We have 2 Nikon Film & Slide scanners & 1 super HQ flatbed for paper pictures also a PF 50 slide only scanner.


Unless we see a profit in doing 8mm we won't do it, & there's still a ton of VCRs that need to be put on DVDs, & we can do that now. In your case you may already have the 8mm projector, & you can look at your films then decide what you want to put on DVD.

So far this is the only way I have learned to transfer 8mms to DVDs. I would do it in a minute for our own 8mm family movies, but we don't have any.

You said:
I also have a very old 8MM projector that actually works.

Well you could do as I'm doing, just keep watching for a good deal on E-bay. Finding one with good sound & is going to take awhile.

 

With some of the things you said you had. I believe you knew that you had to recopy the 8mm to VCR already.

Was there anything I said that helped you? Or do you kneed some links to those who do this & will perhaps give you more detailed info?

Just let me know.

 

Your help was great.

In fact, I started the project today. I bought a tripod for my video camera and I got about 45 minutes of the transfer done including my parents wedding from 1959 and some drag racing footage of my dad's. Then... my OLD Keystone vintage 8MM camera crapped out on me. I opened it up to see if I could fix it but it looks like the motor just gave out. My home's electrical system may have been too much for it to handle. Back in the day this camera was made surge protection / fuses were not really thought of yet.

I've decided to to have the film transferred professionally. The place near my house will do color cleaning, there won't be any flashing in the picture, and they will remove sound. Once it's transferred to DVD, I will be able to edit it on my home computer with the editing software I have.

Live and learn!

Thanks again!

 

I have put a lot of old movies on to VHS then to DVD here on the PC. If I still had the film "1950"and projector, show it on the wall and have the intrel cam on the PC pick it right up to the PC. Are the video cam can plug right into the lntel cam dont have to put it on the tape. Right now I am taking all of my old slides. On the wall to the intel cam and add voice at that time in the PC then down to the DVD. Have also taken some video and just put it on V-CD to see what happens you know they play on my DVD on the big TV just fine.
might look at DVD Xpress ADS tech and ROXIO, all good

ED good luck

 

That's great DK & Ed.

I think we have just scratched the surface, & were so close to finding ways to transfer all our films & pictures into Digital format. Just think we will soon be using double sided double layer DVDs.

Who knows it wont be long before someone designs an 8mm to PC scanner, & then think of all the different size films that can be coppied. I understand that now scanning an 8mm film would be 1 frame at a time unless we coppy it to VCR.

Yet I make moving gifs the same way you would draw a cartoon. Flash, Quicktime all streaming video, & that has me puzzled as to why we can't stream 8mm into our PC using a program.

I fell in love with taking old faded, & damaged Pictures, & slides of growing up around the World. Born in 51 my Mom used a brownie to take pictures until at 18 months I met my Dad in Japan, & he took slides of us from a Zeiss Ikon Contessa 35mm Camera, of myself, & my 2 Sisters until 1976.

Scanning those faded old slides & watching the Magic happen as Digital ICE programs built into the Scanner works it's Magic. All of a sudden the Color & clarity comes back at 1800 dpi Tiffs I saved them in Tiffs, & burned them onto a CDs. When I needed to repair I took the Pics into PhotoShop & saved them into PSDs.

Our work has been met with a good amount of trust & a feeling of we can't put this off any longer. My Father who will be 90 this Dec gave me his Contessa last year, & I became adicted to taking Pictures. All that Film, & numbers + look how much it cost to pay for all those Shoe Box fillers.

As I began reading about our first Nikon Slide & Film Scanner I saw where all you need do is have the film developed & do not have the film roll cut. The Digital pictures I get by scanning my own negatives paid off in more than a savings of money. The Digital Photos were better than anything I could have ever put onto papper at that time.

Keep me up on how it's turning out I may go ahead & get ready to do some 8mm I know their are friends who want their own 8mm Family Films. We are DIYers after all who knows what we can do better than ourselves?

 

You guy's experiences with this stuff is great. Makes me realize there are LOTS of folks out there that want to do the same things we are doing. It's a shame that most of them probably won't do anything with their old analog films and photos and they will all just continue to fade and become more brittle. In the old days people created family trees. Well, in the digital age, our family trees are created when we preserve and catalog all of our families old movies and photos electronically.

My decision to have a professional do the transfer wasn't easy. It will cost around $200 to have it done because I still have 24 more 3' roles of 8MM to transfer and my old projector died. It's okay, I bought it at a swap meet for $30 - no big loss. I could buy a couple more from a guy I know that has them but I'm afraid that it would be more of a headache and potentially more of an expense then if I just have them professionally transferred. I also checked on-line to see how much a truly "REFURBISHED" 8MM projector costs and they are anywhere from $500 to $1000!

Once I get the dvd's back from the guy here in town I can transfer them to my PC and do the editing myself. This way, I will still have control over the music I incorporate, the titles, duration of each segment, the transitions, as well as the dvd labels I create. That will be the fun part in my opinion. Any suggestions on video editing software for PC would be helpful if you have any.

Anyway, thanks again guys. I will keep you posted. This should be a great gift for my parents and family once it's all done.

 

I got into this adventure by doing just what they teach you not to do in the Service. ( Volunteer I'll do it I said before the full impact of the special equipment & software programs I would need hit me.

Paying $25.00 a Month for VTCs Learning Movies. I use PhotoShop 6 remember when that came out? I am still learning that & Paint Shop Pro, NTI CD & DVD Maker 6.8 Platinum & the list goes on & on. Have I had this much fun since I was in my 20s? He11 no I luv every minute of it.


VCD, SVCD and DVD Capturing, Encoding, Authoring and Playing. Good stuff!
http://www.videohelp.com ___________________________

This is a great place to find answers to those what is best questions. As the picture develop it's like going back in time. My Dad just took slides with that German Camera until there are hundreds & hundreds of them. In 16 years I had been in 11 Countries, school was not forgotton I just took a seat & they gave me a book then it was another place & another School this was life.

I don't know where I will be in 10 years but I hope it's still helping people save their precious Family Memories. I have read e-mail from people who tell of their wish to just have the choice again to put their Family Pictures onto DVDs. House fires, stolen trailers while moving to a new place, it's just the worse thing a person can lose.

With DVDs or CVDs I believe people will look at the pictures more than they ever did when we used Film projectors & Slide projectors. Think of the ease & choice of music with an index DVDs offer this has to be the best way since canned 35mm film Photogs used to have to load their own 35mm film from a large reel. I have an old Afga 35mm that has two cans for loading their own 35mm film.

I just knew that 8mm projector would cost a bit, well that's one less thing I have to buy. I live in a Retirement Meca & they have the & to have their Photos, Slides, Films etc saved for their Grand Children. When you think about Photography it's not all that old & yet the film & paper is not going to last another Generation. My advise is if you don't do it yourself then for those who will come after you get it done. You will live to regret not doing it I can't imagine not having the Pictures of my Family & one great adventure.

 

With the high cost of any size film projector I did see on the Nikon site that they now make scanners for film like 8mm.

I know Nikon is high priced but having both Nikon camera lenses & third party ones trust me the eye can tell. Like may elictric devices the Nikon sell at a bargin on e-Bay still they sell for more than you paid 10 of 15 years ago.

Untill you see what the 10mb Tiffs look like coming from a film & slide scanner. Tou can't believe how much better a 35mm film pic looks once it's digitalized.

 

Hi,

My father in law has an 8mm setup which works, Last christmas he showed his collection of old movies of my wife and her family. I had done some research on how to transfer to digital video/DVD and I have a Sony Super 8 Digital Video Camera (I think the model is 560), I tried taping the film from the wall to see if there would be any flicker, there was a slight bit, at the time I thought I needed a camera with a manual shutter speed adjust so I didn't do any more experimenting . I've since discovered that if the 8mm film speed can be adjusted, this might cure the problem, Would this be correct? Would the Super 8 Digital Video Camera have to be any particular model with manual settings etc? I'm in PAL land by the way.

DK,

How did yours turn out, was it flicker free?

 

For those that might be interested:

http://www.jiminger.com/s8/index.html

 

I'm trying to do the same thing. I have done some preliminary research. If you are looking to stay under $2K, my research has so far suggested that WorkPrinter XP is the best. It is a frame by frame scan and runs around $1400. I think the resale market for it is good, too. I've heard decent things about Cinemate, too, but I think the former is a bit better. If you are willing to spend a bit more money, then Sniper Pro seems to be the current winner.

Terri