A Great Reason to Transfer Your Home Videos


I recently transferred some old 8mm films to DVD for a client. Some of her film reels had suffered water damage. Here is a picture of one of the damaged reels. Much of the reel was covered with a white mold and brown mildew.

We clean all of our client’s reels with a special cleaner made just for film. It really takes care of most of the dirt and hair that accumulates, but her film was severely damaged. Below are some stills from her damaged film after cleaning.

Best to get your films transferred sooner rather than later, and avoid losing any precious memories!

Full Circle

I’ve been playing with a new toy this week. It’s a customized film transfer projector designed to do frame-by-frame transfers of 8mm and Super8 films. In between doing film transfers for clients, I’ve been testing it out with films from my childhood. Films that I had spliced together myself onto big reels, back when I was 13 or 14 years old. I probably haven’t seen these in over 20 years. No one in my family has. They sure will make a nice Christmas presents. Here are a couple of screen captures from my home movies:

Here, my brothers and cousin tear down a gingerbread house on New Year’s Eve (circa 1971).

Here I am in the yellow pajamas, between my cousin and my brother.

The film transfers are going great. We clean all the film before transferring, and the frame-by-frame transfer gives very sharp images, so it looks terrific—and it’s a lot of fun to watch all the old movies. Check your attics, your closets, and your basements. Dig out those old memories. Film won’t last forever—better get it transferred to DVD!