The quality of 8MM film

[Richard Brown]

8mm can be transferred quickly and with amazing quality via a Rank 
Cintel Telecine fitted with an 8mm or Super 8mm gate. The time it would 
take to scan, and then manually re-orient 8mm frames using computer 
film scanners would be daunting at the least, and almost certainly will 
not even approach the quality of transferring using a Rank, which puts 
upwards of a million dollars worth of technology into your transfer, 
which you can supervise along with the "colorist" (what a telecine 
operator is called) if you happen to want to spend for this advantage, 
and happen to live nearby a film transfer service so equipped and so 
disposed.

This is not to say there are many of these beasts in the world. Rank 
has been a company in transition, reorganization, and worse over the 
last decade.

Here is a link to help look around for 8mm transfer:

http://lavender.fortunecity.com/lavender/569/#Processing

A caveat about any film transfer: the machines involved can use quite a 
bit of tension. It is important, primarily with older film, to make 
sure the facility is aware of the potential brittle nature of the 
material. Destroying many feet, in terms of sprocket holes being torn, 
is a very real possibility. While this lends credence to the idea of 
scanning 8mm yourself on a stills film scanner, I would consider only 
as a last resort after the sprocket holes have given way to a more 
efficient mode of transfer.

Bosch made a telecine which was favored for its gentle nature amongst 
film archivists.

What is the difference between a telecine and, well, all other 8mm to 
video transfer schemes? Quality. Think of a Rank as a purpose-built 
real-time, at-speed scanner. A three minute reel transfers in 3 minutes 
with maximum quality. The time is slower if you are doing scene to 
scene color correction, but this, on old 8mm, might be begging for 
trouble, as the film must be worked over and over through the gate to 
check each correction.

Film chains and shooting projections on cards do work, but pale to the 
telecine. "Film Chain" is a term referring to filming a projected 
image, and is a FILM CHAIN, NOT a Rank style Telecine.

Well enough, and just my two, make that, four cents' worth.

Richard Brown