Digitizing 8mm film?

[Whirling_Dirvy]

My dad wants to digitize our old 8mm home movies so he can put them on DVD or CD. He has this crazy idea that you can buy some piece of equipment (he doesn't know what, but for some reason thinks I should know) for the home that will transfer film directly to a DVD or CD.

I don't believe that any such equipment exists for home use, but want to make sure. Have any of you ever digitized home movie films? How did you do it?

 

[Morningstar]

One way you could get your film onto a DVD at home afforably, would be to project the film, record it with a dv cam, and then digitize it into your computer, burn the dvd etc. The quality might not be so hot (depending on the quality of the camera), but it works. Or you could send the film out to one of those places online that do film transfers. If you look up "film transfer" on yahoo or google, a bunch of places come up. I'll bet there are some places that do this locally too.

 

[Ute Giddeon]

There are specialized devices for Super8 to Video transfer, contirved in such a way as to match up the frame rate as best as possible. It's a sort of modified projector which projects the image directly onto a CCD (the light-sensitive element of a video camera). They're a bit expensive, though they cost much less than a telecine (the hollywood way of transferring film to video). I haven't heard of any that record directly to CD or DVD, though I imagine that's possible.

You'll get very decent results with Neat-Os suggestion if you're careful about the setup. An advantage to doing it this way is that you can have the family in the room as you tape, and record their conversation as they watch.

If you don't want to tape it yourself, I can do it. Send me a PM.

Good luck!

 

[bcolthurst]

There are cheaper devices that do not match frame rates, but allow a 8mm or super 8mm projector to sort of go nose-to-nose with a consumer (or professional) video camera. It's a step up from taping a projection on the wall. A lot of places that offer transfer services in the city use these nose-to-nose devices, so if you're paying, ask how they transfer.