Digitize 8mm Film. What Equipment Do I Need?

It’s time to digitize your 8mm film. There is a box of film in the basement with a smartphone, smart TV, computer, or other device upstairs. You’d like to play the movie on these devices. You may have discovered how to convert your film to digital, but assembling the equipment is not simple.

The following pieces are required to properly convert 8mm to digital, some of which are combined in some products:

1. A device that projects film. Film was created to be viewed by shining light through it so that it is seen on a screen. Film screens are not today’s electronic screens, but are anything from an empty wall to a “high-tech” self-rollup screen.
2. Devices that capture projected film. Rather than focusing light through film onto screens, images are projected into devices that scan and capture in digital format.
3. Computer with the power to process captured video. Once captured, the film needs to be edited, rotated, color corrected etc. Computers without the needed horsepower will be frustratingly slow if they work at all.
4. Software for editing and encoding. Depending on the type of editing required, captured film correction to the brightness/contrast balance, color correction, clean framing, and more. Most “included” software on new computers is not adequate.

Acquiring, connecting, and installing these devices and software enables the straightforward conversion of 8mm film to digital.

Device That Projects Film to Digitize 8mm Film to Digital

Before reels of film are captured into digital, an analog image must be produced by shining light through it. Originally, capturing used projectors with one reel containing the film and another reel to collect it. As it passes in front of a light bulb, light shines through each film frame onto a screen.

In the early years of 8mm digitizing, old projectors were used as the projecting units, and the image was captured with several different capturing techniques. Today’s custom-built machines project more accurately and light-balanced than the original projectors could, and also because the supply of usable projectors has been almost completely depleted.

Device That Captures Film in Digital Format

Several different options have been used to capture the projected 8mm film into a more modern format so that it can be viewed again.

The simplest of the early formats was to simply use a VHS camera and videotape the screen as it was being projected. The obvious limitations are the resolution of the film itself being captured by a relatively low-resolution VHS camera. At the time, this was a great method for preserving film before it degraded to the unusable point. The same happened with subsequent videotape to digital formats: VHS-C, Hi8, miniDV, and microMV.

Many of these tapes have subsequently been converted into DVDs over the years. All of these videotape formats are now being converted into digital formats with the promise of lasting much longer than its preceding formats. Videotape to digital requires its own set of conversion equipment.

Following the videotape capture method came the improvement of projecting 8mm film directly into a digital camera. This becomes tricky because the projected film must be timed with the camera to take a picture at exactly the right time to capture a whole frame for thousands of frames in a row. The capture device then must automatically or via custom instructions convert all of the individual frames into a video file that can be played.

Improving upon this method, laser-timed capture, high-resolution scanning, and sprocket-less custom film scanning machines have been developed to provide better and better resolution, color, and lighting than ever before. These capture devices scan frame-by-frame and must also process all of the captured frames into a video file. There are now a multitude of both scan-time options as well as process-time options for a broad variety of choices in size, format, and resolution.

Computer With Power to Process Video

As the digital resolution (quality) goes up, so does the computing power needed to process. A medium-level gaming computer with an appropriate video card gives a rough idea of the power required to appropriately take advantage of today’s video options. Advanced editing can require even more power.

The amount of storage required for each video grows dramatically as the quality goes up. The format chosen also makes a drastic difference to the required storage. Mov files (.mov), for example, require about 4 times the storage of an mp4 file of the same quality, but mp4 files have less flexibility for custom editing. The difference between the lowest quality and the best quality of a video file can be 10s of gigabytes per hour or more.

Software for Editing and Encoding

Captured film rarely has a full frame AND a clean border. Producing the most viewable video from converted film, the captured frame must be adjusted, cropped, and/or resized by a small amount. In addition, lighting, brightness, contrast, color balance, and more can be adjusted with good editing software. A wide range of choices and capabilities are available to fit all conversion needs.

Once edited, the captured film must be output to a format that is usable to all devices. Mp4 is the most common format today, but mov and others are occasionally used.

Equipment to Digitize 8mm Film:  Next Steps

1. Call or text Jamey (About Jamey) at 720 204-5464.
2. Set an appointment (every project receives my individual attention).
3. Drop off your tapes (and records, cassettes, slides, or negatives, too). Check Pricing!
4. In a week or less, pick up your new digital conversions.