8-millimeter film, and later Super-8 (not to be confused with Sony’s 8mm videotape family), were the main media used for recording home movies before the late 1970’s, when portable consumer video equipment came along. Unlike videotape, where the images are recorded electronically, 8mm film used positive, transparent film stock that had to be developed before it could be viewed. The film is physically small and therefore low resolution, and it is silent. Super-8 tried to increase that resolution by narrowing the perforations and widening the image a bit, but both still look fairly grainy.

The best way to digitize 8/Super-8 is with a film scanner, which scans each individual frame and zips them all into a movie file. WDLN.tv has an 8mm film scanner that will scan reels in 4:3 HD (1440×1080). While you are still limited to the resolution of the film itself, the resulting quality is miles ahead of projecting the picture on a wall and shooting it with a video camera (and that’s if you can even find a working projector).

Contact us today for a quote on your film digitization project.