Cine Film Conversion Questions

Yes indeed – Just let us know beforehand that you require this at checkout stage in the comment section and mark on your cine reels or package the number sequence please. Happy to help!

We use Digital Telecine Equipment for 8mm and 16mm formats. To the layman, these are machines dedicated for the purposes of transferring cine film. This technology ensures that films are well reproduced without any of the numerous problems associated with the mismatch between modern and past day frame rates. The process delivers generally faithful copies of your precious material as video. We do not aim to be the cheapest but we do aim to be one of the best companies which is reflected in our ever expanding and prestigious client base.

Excellent and very common question! – In short, in most cases, people are pleasantly surprised by how good outcomes are. That’s because of the quality of our processing equipment. Other factors include the gauge (8mm or 16mm (the latter has a larger frame and hence captures more detail) for example), how well your film has been stored, the quality of the original cine camera lens, the light on the day, aperture settings and much more. The good news is that today’s technology can help rectify many of yesterday’s issues! Finally, we’d say that quality is one dimension of value only. Safekeeping your memories is also important. For this reason we always recommend have a digital version along with a hard copy DVD version.

We‘re very proud of our cine film transfers.

The good thing is that we’ve made life really simple for you at Supaphoto!
We just ask you to count the total amount of cine reels that you have really.

Each item is for a specific quantity of items — an item can be either a single cine reel, video tape, audio tape or 25 photos. So if you have one cine reel, one audio tape and 25 photos – then you have 3 items in total – Could not be easier!

Our item costing service will cover the vast majority of people needs. We are able to convert the most common types of cine film, including 8mm cine film (standard 8 or super 8), 9.5mm and also 16mm.

Any 7 inch diametre reels will incur a small additional charge of £20 each to maintain our levels of service and you would be notified.

In rare cases, a cine film reel may have an optical or magnetic soundtrack. You’ll be pleased to know that we can handle this although a nominal additional charge will be incurred per the reel in question and you will be notified.

You can also contact us for our help converting 35mm cine film.

Not much but if you have not viewed your films in recent years, we advise you to scan through the contents of your film(s) using a projector and (assuming they are numbered) check the reel numbers correctly match the numbers on the boxes, particularly numbers 6 and 9. If you haven’t used your projector for a few years, be very careful not to damage your film since long dormant projectors very often do more damage than good to your films when used for the first time again.

Yes! You need not worry about this – any reels with sound are automatically detected.

Opt for an additional set of digital files. Digital files do not fade. Unlike DVDs, they cannot be scratched. They can be easily copied onto other hard drives so that critical backups can be made.

Yes, we can convert all types of cine film with sound. This includes optical and magnetic sound tracks. It also includes magnetic soundtracks on standard 8 film which is rarer!  – Please be aware that there can sometimes be an issue synching the audio when transferring but we are used to this and achieve really good outcomes.

Rest assured that we scan cine film in super clear 2k resolution and provide the MP4 files. The resolution is important but the whole story however since we also employ high end optics for sharpness and can enhance where feasible too.  We can additionally scan in in 4k on request but 2k is more than enough for most applications.

No! For two reasons: i) Firstly, our machines are purpose designed for cine transfers and as such are treat all gauges of film delicately. ii) Secondly, in the rare cases where there are old splices that have come unstuck, we completely absorb the cost of re-splicing them.

No – our studio handles all formats including Standard 8, Super 8, 9,5mm, 16mm and 35mm.

Yes: If you wish to view them in the correct sequence, all reels and boxes must be clearly numbered in advance. Alternatively, we’ll place them in the best date order possible as shown on the reels or packages.

No, your original material will be returned to you unmodified.

Excellent and very common question! – In short, in most cases, people are pleasantly surprised by how good outcomes are. That’s because of the quality of our processing equipment. Other factors include the gauge (8mm or 16mm (the latter has a larger frame and hence captures more detail) for example), how well your film has been stored, the quality of the original cine camera lens, the light on the day, aperture settings and much more. The good news is that today’s technology can help rectify many of yesterday’s issues!  Finally, we’d say that quality is one dimension of value only. Safekeeping your memories is also important. For this reason we always recommend have a digital version along with a hard copy DVD version.

We‘re very proud of our cine film transfers.

We accept all C41 process film. These include 35mm colour film (including disposable cameras), APS, 120, 110 and 126 films.  We can also process 35mm and 120 Black and White film, excluding E6.

Yes of course. As standard we can provide your images in a digital format which we’d normally send via our cloud download service. For a little extra we can supply on a USB stick.

Naturally, We’ll return them as part of order – even if your films are blank.

Again. No problem at all but a small extra charge will apply in such cases.

We develop and process super 8 cine film including Kodachrome, standard 8 cine film, 16mm cine film and occasionally 9.5mm

That’s always a tricky one to answer. Often the undeveloped film  has been sitting in a cartridge for over 50 years. Under such circumstances, it’s often difficult to predict the final quality of the outcome. This having been said,  we’ve quite a high success rate in retrieving images and most of our clients are pleasantly surprised.

Because of the nature of the process, it’s a service that takes quite a while. It also depends on the availability of chemicals and what’s going on at the time. We simply ask for a little patience but the great news is that it’s normally well worth the wait!