Any cheap 16mm to digital transfer services?

[Robert Beh]

Hi everyone,

I have a camera that I am testing to make sure everything works. Are there any labs out there that will transfer 16mm film to digital for a reasonable price? I'm located in the USA, and I've looked at various places including pro8mm and their services are geared towards high quality transfers, with a high price tag. For the purposes of viewing a test film, I don't care about the quality. I just need to view it to make sure the camera works. I shot with negative film stock, so projecting isn't really a solution.

Would appreciate any help!

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

Do you consider DIY route?

[Larry Arpin]

Video film solutions in Maryland does my transfers and is good and reasonable.

[Iain Petrie]

Hi Robert, as mentioned above, the DIY route is worth considering. If quality is not so important you can film the projected film then invert it using free software. Here's an example of mine using VLC but I'm sure there are lots of other ways. The first half of the video shows the inverted footage, then the second half the positive.
For a far better image it's not hard to do your own telecine but it is time consuming, at least it is if you do it my way, which is to photograph each image by advancing the film frame by frame with a pin.

Inverted projected film here:
https://fouragesofsand.blogspot.com/...ol-result.html

And the telecine here. The video shows the comparison of inverted projected and telecine. This was just the first experiment. After lots of practice I'm much better but still not much faster!
https://fouragesofsand.blogspot.com/...16mm-cine.html

Good luck, Iain

[Janice Glesser]

Where in the USA are you located?

[Brad Miller]

Hi Robert,

Might I ask what sort of pricing have you been encountering? And what sort of price are you looking for under the definition of "reasonable"? Opinions vary wildly on quality and what something is worth, that's why I am asking.

[Robert Beh]

Hi everyone, thank you very much for all your response. In terms of pricing, I've been encountering is around .40 cent/foot, which makes it $40 for a 100 foot roll. Honestly, that's not a bad deal, if I were scanning a roll of some value. In my case, I just want to know if the camera works.

A few have suggested the DIY route, I've never done anything like that before, but it's worth a try and is a quick solution to what I need.

Thank you everyone for the input. Please feel free to mention any transfer services that charge less than .40 cents/foot. It's always good to know the prices of various competitors

[Larry Arpin]

Robert-Video Solutions is 22 cents per foot for 1920x1080, that's HD resolution. But there is $95 minimum. Here's the website:

http://www.videofilmsolutions.com/film-scanning

They so excellent work. Talk to Pam Mon to Wed.