Cost of 8mm transfer

The most important things probably will be what exactly they do as far as cleaning/restoration, etc. And also the telecine quality will be important, so I'd ask about that as well, since your video is only as good as your transfer. Some places are better equipped to deal with old footage than others - you'll probably get a feel for this as you talk to places.

Most labs are very friendly as far as any questions go, so don't be afraid to talk to them about anything related to the work for as long as you need to, whether over the phone or in person.

Also, definitely find out how long the material is, roughly speaking. Most places charge by telecine time for the majority of the costs, so the longer your material is, the more you'll have to pay. Telecine isn't cheap, unfortunately, so you'll definitely be paying three figures minimum. (If not, please pass along the tip!) I've spec'ed out some similar work for my family and it can be faint-inducing - so definitely ask for a rough estimate.

I'm assuming that you're gonna get this transferred to miniDV, right? Although it might be overkill, I'd also suggest that you ask for a BetaSP or Digibeta copy, just in case ten years down the road you want to re-do this with what replaces DVD. Will save you the cost of another transfer and will also be better for the film if you already have a professional-level master to work with.

That's my probably too intricate advice.

I hadn't thought much about what to transfer it to. When it says transfer to mini-DV, that's a tape just like one I'd put in a camcorder, right?

anybody know of a place in the UK that can process standard 8mm kodachrome? i've a half-exposed reel which i discovered in an old camera that used to belong to my grandfather. after shooting the remainder whilst in New York, I was directed to an awesome subterranean bunker called Pac Lab, where this chill white-haired dude in an animal t-shirt told me that the only place that still processes it was filmrescue.com, who are based in Canada, which seems a long way to send it if the film isn't even going to come out.

i'm also curious about how old film can be before it's no longer salvageable. i know that there's footage of me at 1 yrs from around '81, so it's probably of a similar age. what kind of effects happen to film that's that old? graininess? discolouration? could it be completely blank??

It depends. It can lose colour, perforations can break (if exposed to extremes of heat and/or cold). I doubt it would be blank, but it could be a little crusty. it could also be totally beautiful, of course.

Try calling this place (actually 8mm specialists): http://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/

Or get in touch with Len Thornton at Soho Images. Or any of these:
http://flamin.filmlondon.org.uk/resources/resources_postproduction/film_processing

There may be ways to process it yourself, but I'm guessing you don't want to do that with something so precious!

Oh man, I am so intrigued by this. Will you super-please keep us updated on this and maybe even post some of the shots when you get them developed?

xp thanks dude!

i came across that widescreen website whilst searching but figured it was some kind of telescope shop. turns out that's the place my girlfriend bought me the new film which i went to load before realising that there was some unfinished film in the camera.

anyhow, i really am hoping that any effects *do* add something to it, but i'm not too optimistic. i'll post some images if they work out well.

sadly, but rather appropriately, his camera packed in immediately after i finished shooting. the plastic mechanism in the trigger broke straight off and i was unable to shoot my new roll, despite some efforts to open it up and attempt to fix it.

he never would have trusted me with the thing, so i can't help but feel he sabotaged it from beyond the grave.