Film Scans

Film Digitizing Services

The History of Motion Picture Film for the Home User and Hobbyist

Back in the day before digital cameras, before video cameras and VCR’s, family activities were recorded on 8mm film, Super 8mm film and to some extent on 16mm film. In 1922, 16mm motion picture film was introduced by Eastman Kodak as the first amateur film gauge. The film, cameras and projectors were all fairly expensive at the time and were not commonly found in your average household because of the tough economic times that the country was going through. Previous to this, motion picture film was available in a 35mm format but was highly flammable and reserved for Hollywood and professional film makers only.

In 1932 Eastman Kodak introduced a brand new film gauge that was based on the 16mm format. The frame size was 1/4th the size of its predecessor and came on 25-foot reels that required splitting and once spliced together yielded double the length of film that you started out with. The end result after processing left you with a 50’ reel that contained around 3 minutes of viewable film. It was then called “Double 8mm” or “Double Run 8mm.” Today it is known almost universally as “Regular” or “Standard 8mm film”. At the end of World War II the economy was given a big boost with the return of GI’s from overseas and taking home movies became a big hit with American families. The 60’s brought us a lot of new changes in the film manufacturing industry.

In 1965 Eastman Kodak introduced the newest film gauge known as “SUPER 8mm film”. This new film as well as regular 8mm was 8mm wide, but had smaller sprocket holes, which resulted in an increased image area of 25%. This was a huge improvement. Unfortunately with the advent of this new super film, it also required that you purchase a new camera as well as a new projector.

By the late 70’s the end was near for movie film as a way that American families captured their family history. A format war erupted as Sony with Betamax and JVC with VHS had competing systems that were totally incompatible with each other. VHS won over the apparently superior Betamax which had a smaller cassette and is widely said to have a better picture quality than the VHS format.

This has become a classic case study in marketing.

You may be surprised to learn that in many cases filmed home movies from the 40’s and 50’s have held up better than VHS or camcorder tapes from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Numerous studies about videotape longevity and stability indicate that the quality of videotapes deteriorates each time they are viewed and will significantly deteriorate after several years even if not viewed regularly. The rate of inevitable video tape deterioration is related to the environment that they are stored in. With heat and humidity being the biggest factors, proper storage has a huge impact on life expectancy. The most common form of physical damage to videotape is running tapes through a VCR that is old or has not been properly maintained. As it worsens, the VCR will start "eating" tapes.

We perform all work on-site, using the same state-of-the-art equipment used by the Academy of Motion Picture Film Archives for true frame-by-frame scanning, at up to full 2k High-Definition. Prior to scanning, your films are inspected, with splices replaced if needed, cleaned and lubricated. Basic post-processing is then performed to adjust color, contrast and brightness.