The Transfer Process:

Organization

By marking a number on each reel with a marker, we will catalog and organize your film by arranging it in the order that you provide. If you don't choose the order your want your reels, we'll try to arrange them by date if labels are provided.

Cleaning

We have found that though some film can benefit from cleaning, it may actually do more harm to your film. When cleaning is necessary we use special static-free cleaning solutions and clean your film before it the transfer process.

Splicing

If you provide film on film reels smaller than 200 feet, we will splice those reels onto 400 foot reels - this process helps both in the cleaning process and time-spanning of your film. If you have bad film or extremely under/over exposed film, it is removed before the transfer in order to give you a consistant picture - there's no use in transfering in 1 or 2 minutes of black or white video.

We then mount the reels on our special Elmo 8mm/Super8mm projectors. These modified projectors produce a non-flicker image by using a multi-face optical glass prism which synchronizes standard 18 or 24 frames per second movie film speed to 30 frames per second of video. This process eliminates the shutter bar or flutter-effect associated with using a video camera to record the film projection. The image from the Elmo projector is focused directly on the lens of the Video camera using a special aerial imaging system.

By processing your film directly to the format of your choice (VHS, DVD, CD, Mini-DV, etc...), we promise the highest possible quality of "true" video for you to guarantee no quality loss. "True" video meaning that there is no generation loss (copies of a copy).

Specifications:

The Pro Video Film Estimator

If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know.

Type of Film	Amount	Transfer Cost
	feet x Number of Reels Reel Size Amount 3" 50 ft 4" 100 ft 5" 200 ft 6" 300 ft 7" 400 ft 8" 600 ft 10" 800 ft 12" 1200 ft 14" 2000 ft 8mm film has larger sprocket holes than super 8mm. 8mm film's actual width is 8mm or 5/16" Close Help	Total amount of film: 0 feet Film Cost ( $0.14 per foot ): $0.00 Approx Total Length ( minutes ) 0 minutes DVD Cost ( at $25/ea ) $0.00 Total Cost $0.00*
	feet x Number of Reels Reel Size Amount 3" 50 ft 4" 100 ft 5" 200 ft 6" 300 ft 7" 400 ft 8" 600 ft 10" 800 ft 12" 1200 ft 14" 2000 ft Super 8mm film has smarller spocket holes than regular 8mm. 8mm film's actual size is 8mm or 5/16" Close Help
	feet x Number of Reels Reel Size Amount 3" 50 ft 4" 100 ft 5" 200 ft 6" 300 ft 7" 400 ft 8" 600 ft 10" 800 ft 12" 1200 ft 14" 2000 ft 16mm film's actual width is 16mm or 5/8" Close Help

There are three primary film types that we transfer to video,,,

UNSURE ABOUT HOW MUCH FILM YOU HAVE OR WHICH TYPE OF REELS YOU HAVE? CLICK HERE FOR A CHART.

The film-transfer process cost is $0.14 per foot of film.

You can choose any of the following formats for your film processing...

Format		Cost	Description
	DVD	Add $25 per DVD master (2 hours)	View your film on any table-top DVD player. *
	VHS	$25	Even though technology is making it easier to video digital video, we still get requests for a VHS copy of the film transfer. Most of our customers give their VHS to parents and relatives who have yet to get a DVD player.
	mini-DV	Add $15 per mini-DV**	Some of our customers want to edit their footage on their PC (Windows and Mac both). Some wish to have the film transfered to DV tape so that they can retain a backup of a uncompressed format of their film and also be able to capture it to their computer for editing.
	Digital Files	Add $25	This is for people who want to edit their film, add titles, narration, or music on their own. We can give you many file types including .avi, .mov, .mp4, .mpg. We'll deliver the files on a hard drive you supply, one you purchase from us, or DVD-ROM's.

For an additional cost, we'll transfer your video direct to an external hard drive. For $110, we'll provide an external USB drive suited for Windows or Mac and transfer your film directly to the drive for your viewing and editing pleasure. The size of the drive will be determined by the amount of film and the type of transfer. DVD-Roms may be used to deliver digital files at a cost of $10/disc. Each DVD-ROM will hold roughly 300 feet of film transferred to a digital format.

* Our DVD transfer process uses DVD-R disks. Most table-top DVD players will play our DVDs, but you might want to check your player for DVD-R compatibility. We have a near-100% success rate playing our DVDs on table-top players - even ones that say that they won't play DVD-R disks. Give us a call if you have any questions about DVD-R compatibility.

** There is a minimum charge of $25 if a DVD is not purchased.

STEP 1: ORGANIZE YOUR FILM

Arrange your reels in the order you want them to be viewed. Chronologically is the typical way most of our customers arrange their film. Number each reel with a marker or on a sticky-note so we can process them in your desired order.

STEP 2: ORDER FORM

Fill out our Order Form to begin the ordering process. You may include payment information if you like, or we will contact you once the order is received to receive the payment information. You can find the order form at the top of each page of our website : Secure Online Ordering.

STEP 3: SEND IT

Bring in or ship your film to our Cedar Rapids, IA studio. Most of our customers use UPS or FedEx, however you may use any shipper of your choice. In 20 years, we've never had any problems receiving packages from any delivery method (USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL)

Once we receive your order, we will contact you with a precise estimate of the cost to process the order. After the order is complete, we will process your payment and ship all received materials back to you.